Big Ben Bildungsinstitut Wien

German intensive course A1-C2

German intensive course - level A1

Focus:  speaking, reading, writing,listening

Target group:   People with no knowledge of German language. The only requirement is a command of the Latin script (no illiterate applicants can be accepted)

Course time:  Mon-Thu or on the weekends (morning,noon, afternoon or evening)

Course objectives: elementary language use 1

The course content aims at building learner’s language knowledge sufficient for participation in social, economic and cultural life in Austria,supports the learners in assessing their living situation in Austria and finding their way in the everyday Austrian professional and value structures.

At the end, learners can understand and use familiar, everyday expressions, and simple sentences aimed at satisfying specific needs. You can write simple personal letters, postcards, and emails.

Contents:   work, job and job search; Agencies and public authorities; Shopping, eating and drinking, groceries, money; Family, identity, education, biography, hobbies, leisure, interests; Health and social affairs; Living, neighborhood, living together, house rules; Mobility and transport; Time, daily routine, numbers; Weather and seasons

Grammar:   Articles & Nouns (definite / indefinite article), pronouns (personal, possessive pronouns), prepositions (with dative, accusative), adjective / adverb (comparison, declination)

Verb forms:  Conjugation in the present tense, perfect tense of „have“ and „be“, sentence structures (verb position, word question, imperative, conjunctions), verbs and additions (place, time), negation („not“, „none“)

Learning materials:   Pluspunkt Deutsch Österreich. The Austrian version of Pluspunkt Deutsch. Developed especially for the Austrian integration courses, uses standard German. Aligned with integration, every day, and professional life. Additional self-created learning materials from the teacher. Authentic text and listening materials.

German intensive course - level A2

Focus:  speaking, reading, writing,listening

Target group:   A prerequisite for entering level A2 is the successful completion of the A1 level exam or the placement test to demonstrate the required language skills

Course times:   Mon-Thu or on weekends (morning, noon, afternoon or evening)

Course objectives:   elementary language use 2

The course contents aim to further develop learner’s language knowledge for participation in social, economic, and cultural life in Austria and support the learners in assessing their living situation in Austria and finding their way in the Austrian everyday and, professional life, as well as value structures.

The course aims in particular at imparting knowledge, understanding, and reflecting on the content of the specified values and orientation knowledge.

In the end, the learners have a repertoire of elementary linguistic means to cope with everyday situations with predictable content. The learners can write about familiar people and everyday things and express their opinion on a certain topic.

Contents:  work, job and job search; Offices and authorities, state, administration; Education, school, training, further education; Family, identity biography, hobbies, friends, leisure time, clubs, social contacts; Health, social affairs; Buying and selling, business, banking, and insurance; Media; Mobility and transport, tourism; Living, neighborhood, living together

Grammar:  nouns in the genitive; Article words („this“, „some“, „everyone“); Adjective declension after indefinite article; Comparisons; Ordinal numbers; Cases in prepositions; Pronouns (reflexive, relative, prepositional pronouns).

Verb forms: (reflexive verbs, simple past, modal verbs, subjunctive II), complex sentences (subordinate clauses with “that”, relative clauses, indirect question sentences, infinitive clauses with “zu” and “um… zu”).

Learning materials:   Pluspunkt Deutsch Österreich. The Austrian version of Pluspunkt Deutsch. Developed especially for the Austrian integration courses, uses standard German. Aligned with integration, every day, and professional life. Additional self-created learning materials from the teacher. Authentic text and listening materials.

German intensive course - level B1

Focus:  speaking, reading, writing,listening

Target group: A prerequisite for entry into level B1 is the successful completion of an A2 exam or a placement test to demonstrate the required language skills.

Course times:   Mon-Thu or on weekends (morning, noon, afternoon or evening)

Course objectives:   Independent use of language 1

The course content aims at building learner’s language knowledge sufficient for participation in social, economic and cultural life in Austria,supports the learners in assessing their living situation in Austria and finding their way in the everyday Austrian professional and value structures.

At the end, the course participant can express themselves linguistically and culturally acceptable in everyday life, give their opinion, hold a short presentation and understand and make comments. They can make arguments regarding current issues in discussions. They can write uncomplicated, coherent texts on familiar topics from their field of interest and write personal and semi-formal letters.

Contents:  work, job and job search; Family, identity biography, hobbies, friends, leisure time, clubs, social contacts; Health, social affairs; Buying and selling, business, banking, and insurance; Media; Mobility and transport, travel tourism; Living, neighborhood, living together.

Grammar:  word-formation; Pronouns (reflexive pronouns, generalizing relative pronouns „what“, „who“); Prepositions with genitive; Nouns and adjectives with prepositional addition dative / accusative.

Verb forms: Future I; Past continuous; Present subjunctive; Simple past and perfect; Modal verbs; Passive with modal verbs; Major / minor clause conjunctions (instead of because, during, etc.); Identification, qualification questions.

Learning materials:   Pluspunkt Deutsch Österreich. The Austrian version of Pluspunkt Deutsch. Developed especially for the Austrian integration courses, uses standard German. Aligned with integration, every day, and professional life. Additional self-created learning materials from the teacher. Authentic text and listening materials.

German intensive course - level B2

Focus: speaking,reading,writing, listening

Target group: A prerequisite for entry into level B2 is the successful completion of a B1 exam or a placement test to demonstrate the required language skills.

Course times:   Mon-Thu or on weekends (morning, noon, afternoon or evening)

Course objectives:   Independent use of language 2

The course aims at the in-depth treatment of the content on values and orientation knowledge and thus in particular on participation in social, economic, and cultural life in Austria.

The course aims at acquiring independent, linguistic skills, particularly in the areas of work, work, and education.

The learners can communicate spontaneously and fluently and express themselves clearly and on a wide range of topics, including in discussions. Learners can write clear, detailed texts on various topics and weigh arguments against each other.

Contents:  people (people, CV), language (formal letters,discussions), places (picture description, city portraits),consumption (book review, complaint), love (dialogues,letter to the editor), profession (application letter, telephone), future (radio play, radio criticism) ), Media (newspaper / radio news, PC), health (speaking skills), mobility (statistics, creative writing).

Grammar:  verbs and adjectives; Word formation from verbs and adjectives; Future; Word order in main and subordinate clauses / sentence structure; The double negation; Word formation; Reporting the past - perfect, simple past, plus perfect; Connectors and prepositions (because though, because of, despite, consequently, etc.); Participle I and participle II as an attribute; Nominalization / verbalization / word formation (example: work-the work), conversion of passive sentences into active and vice versa.

Verbforms:  Perfec, Preterite, Past continuous, Future

Learning materials: Focus on German. Successful in everyday life and at work. Developed especially for the Austrian integration courses, uses standard German. Aligned with integration, every day, and professional life. Additional self-created learning materials from the teacher. Authentic text and listening materials.

German intensive course - level C1

Focus: speaking,reading,writing, listening

Target group: Perception for entering level C1 is the completion of a B2 exam or a placement test to demonstrate language proficiency.

Course times:   Mon-Thu or on weekends (morning, noon, afternoon or evening)

Course objectives:  Competent use of language 1

Use the language in social and personal life, in training, studies or flexibly. Understand a wide range of perceptible, true texts and also define implicit meanings. Be able to express yourself spontaneously and demanding without having to search for words. Differentiate yourself clearly, structured and refuted Differentiate between facts and include means of text linking.

Content: Identity and personality, housing and living spaces, daily routines and work, travel, tourism, transport, traffic, leisure, entertainment, sport, artistic creation, interpersonal relationships, democracy, law, health, provision, learning, school, training, consumption, nutrition, public services, places and regions, language, communication and media, nature, climate and environment. Vocabulary from business, psychology, literature and society as well as treatment of general scientific topics.

Grammar: Interjections; modal and degree particle words; blurring at the end and beginning of words; sentence prosody; Future I; subjunctive II in language use; idioms; Subjective use of modal verbs; Indirect speech (subjunctive I, subjunctive II, questions and imperatives, references to speakers); unreal corollaries; Rare Reference Words; concessive and restrictive connectors; Temporal, final, causal, conditional and concessive relationships; modal verb paraphrases; passive paraphrases; complex word formations; participles as adjectives; negation of clauses and adjectives; Fixed noun-verb combinations; variations in sentence order; prepositions with all parts of speech; participle clauses; nominal style; Rare prepositions; adjective declension in the comparative and superlative; pronoun "it"; Separable and inseparable verbs; suffixes for nouns and adjectives; Prepositions with genitive.

German intensive course - level C2

Focus: speaking,reading,writing, listening

Target group: Perception for entering level C2 is the completion of a C1 exam or a placement test to demonstrate language proficiency.

Course times:   Mon-Thu or on weekends (morning, noon, afternoon or evening)

 Course objectives: Competent use of language 2

The practical and effortless understanding of everything you read or hear. Information from various written and oral sources can be used and will be presented in coherent representation. Express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely and be able to make finer nuances of meaning clear even in complex situations.

Content: Communication and media, history and memories, feelings, lies, strengths and weaknesses, school days, career opportunities and occupations, idioms, dialects, technical progress, environment and pollution, medicine, housing, art and creativity, books and literature, politics.

Grammar: Tenses of verbs; Verbs with prefixes that can be both separable and non-separable; Subjunctive I; Future; adverbs; verbs and their complements; nouns in fixed combinations; word formation of nouns; participles; substantiated adjectives; relative clauses; Passive substitute forms; Alternative forms of the passive; Declension and comparison of adjectives; adjectives and their complements; word formation of adjectives; nominal style; prepositions of written language; Objective and subjective meaning of modal verbs; conversion of sentences; adjectives and composition; reformulation of sentences from the verbal style to the nominal style; subjunctive I and subjunctive II; Fixed noun-verb combinations.