German-Advanced

The Advanced German group has a small and committed membership, consisting of native speakers, seasoned linguists and some wishing to revive their post A level knowledge. We are always keen to recruit new members in order to keep the group fresh and challenging. During the current restrictions we meet weekly using Zoom for two consecutive 40 minute sessions. We have mirrored our physical meetings by using the first session for general conversation, but in the second session one member provides a topic in advance, which we then discuss during the session. Some of our members have preferred not to join, or been unable to access the Zoom sessions. To cater for them and maintain continuity, we have emailed out a “reading only” text to be used on our normal meeting day.   In pre-Covid times we sought to meet every Tuesday afternoon in members’ homes in the north, south and west of the city – S6, S17, S11 and S10. Meetings normally ran for two hours but have been known to last longer!  To allow each member to be able to participate fully we usually limited the number attending to 6 per meeting.   The first part of the meeting was normally dedicated to an informal conversation on a wide range of topics – visits, events, current affairs, even television programmes. These conversations were unprepared and could lead anywhere. The second hour was usually given over to the translation of a text which might be from German or from English. Members took it in turn to propose texts so these covered a wide selection of interests – current affairs, science, music, art, literature, plants and many others. Those attending the meeting tended to prepare in advance.   Advanced German is suitable for those with a knowledge of German beyond A level who wish to extend that knowledge. We do no teaching although advice is sought from native speakers in attendance. Some members also participate in the German Walk ‘n’ Talk group and others take part in an informal monthly “Kaffeeklatsch” which used to meet in the City Centre. The Kaffeeklatsch also continues to meet on Zoom.   Please contact the group coordinator for further information.