Университет Шеффилда, BA (Hons), German and History

These 2 subjects are a natural study combination, given the extraordinary impact of Germany on European and world history in the last two centuries. This course offers students the opportunity to develop their language skills while they investigate the past. German, this course aims to improve students’ written and oral proficiency and their presentation and communication skills, as well as extending their academic knowledge; German language is used for teaching in a number of modules, so that students get to hear and use the language as much as possible. In the course the main focus is on the literature, culture and language use in the German and Dutch-speaking countries; level 1 modules develop students’ ability to work independently, and build on the skills and knowledge the students already have acquired; the language classes entail advanced practice in oral and written communication and include work on German grammar, an introduction to contemporary German society and its historical contexts (taught in German), and an introduction to German writing in its social and literary contexts; students can also take beginners' Dutch; at levels 2 and 3, students take a core module in oral and written German language, as well as translation and interpreting skills; further optional modules include Germanic linguistics, literature, society and politics, history, philosophy and film studies; at level 2 students can also take additional Dutch studies modules if students started with Dutch at level 1; at level 3 there is an option for a module on the language and culture of Luxembourg; the 3rd year is spent abroad, usually as a student at a university, as a language assistant in a school, or on a work placement approved by the department; there are also a number of places on summer courses in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. History classes introduce students to the broad structures of Western history; this gives students an understanding of the periodisation of western history and of the major transitions in the process of modernization; level 2 history equips students with the necessary background to develop a more critical approach; students are introduced to some of the most influential and significant developments which have shaped the ways in which historians think about and write about the past; level 3 strives to help students in the final semester of their undergraduate course to rethink the basis of their discipline and to reflect critically on their experience of studying the past.