Course Plan / Agreement

Background: Janina would like to improve her Swedish skills in order to communicate with her classmates and local friends. Lina and Elmer are planning to study abroad in Germany.

Task:
We meet weekly to speak, read and listen in both languages and try to teach each other the language basics including grammar and vocabulary.

Goal:
We would like to learn Swedish / German in order to use it for our future plans. We like to get to know to new cultures and new people. Besides we want to create connections and contact to native speakers. Our goal is to learn the language in a practical way. Furthermore we want to develop the skills that are needed in various communicative situations  and understand the distinctive features in the target language and target culture. Furthermore we would like to make intercultural experiences and learn things about the different languages and cultures that we otherwise could not get taught in a typical language course. e.g informal expressions. At the end of the course we all want to know the basic grammar and be able to do small talk.

Content:
Teaching / learning grammar, vocabulary, every day language phrases

Theme: We would like to learn about the following topics:

• Introduce yourself
• talking about interests, hobbies etc.
• daily life needed words/ expressions (asking for help, telling directions etc.)
• small talk
• university (system, differences etc.) + facts about Landshut
• shopping
• restaurant / bar
• administration (fill out papers, questions etc.)
• if you go to a doctor / medicine
• Invitations / parties 
• travelling (booking hotels, renting cars etc.)
• culture: food, traditions, customs etc.
• Does and Don'ts in each country
• cultural simulations (how to behave in the countries)

Learning Methods/Material:

• Meet in our tandem group for talking, listening and reading in each language.
• Reading comprehension / translation: use actual article of newspaper, books, websites etc.
• Teaching grammar: use language books: Mål 2 for Swedish and the German course book
• doing exercises together: use the ones from the book, ask Maria for material
• Studying individually with language books / exercises
• "learning by doing concept" doing practical things together, meet daily life situations  (e.g. cooking together, go shopping, bar, restaurant,café etc.)

Rules:
In every meeting we decide the theme for the next meeting and decide who is responsible for the learning material and what kind of. Everyone is responsible for his individually preparation concerning on how much he /she wants to contribute to his own learning effects.

Blogging:
After each meeting we will write a common blog post together (switching between German/ Swedish). Additionally everyone should post content of his personal learning process (introduction etc.) We will use our language skills, creativity, photos and videos if it is suitable for the theme. We will make use of the recommended blog links.

Time schedule:
We started the course on the 25th of February and it will last until the 16th of April. In order to achieve in total 40h, we will meet once a week for 2h in our tandem group. Additionally we will spend some leisure time together e.g having lunch, going for a coffee etc. Furthermore we will organise small trips together with the other course members.