Deutsch extension? (1 Viewer)

[xxstef]

Hi,
i need to put in subject choices for year 12 next week, and wondering whether to do german extension.
is it really hard to do well? (as in, around 46+/50)
and is it true that only background speakers can get those kind of marks (esp. in speaking?)

i haven't been to germany before (holiday or exchange). is this a disadvantage?

thanks

 

[Ezzzgi]

Oooh, I'll be checking back here - I'm having the same dilemma. I've been on exchange to Germany once, but it was for 2 weeks and really didn't help at all. I'm going for 10 weeks later this year, and my friend who went last year said I'll regret it if I don't do it, but I'm learning it through Open High School, which sucks.

So, anyone doing extension? How is it?

 

[abcdeg]

i do it and i enjoy the subject. it's a lot more difficult than continuers because you have to write essays and do impromtu monologues (which are scary as hell) but even though they're horrible they really help improve your german and expand your vocab and stuff and you get used to them after a while

 

[theajane]

I would definitely recommend doing german extension...I'm in yr. 12 and got 50/50 assessment mark and I'm not a native speaker...The actual level of german required is not much more than for 2U....it's more about whether you have ideas about societal issues even in english....because if you don't know what ur opinions are in english then you have no hope of expressing them in German!
HSC speaking was a couple of weeks ago...it was pretty scary but you just have to have clear structure and express your ideas clearly and you will do fine. and keep it simple.

 

[steffiiii]

I would definitely recommend doing german extension...I'm in yr. 12 and got 50/50 assessment mark and I'm not a native speaker...The actual level of german required is not much more than for 2U....it's more about whether you have ideas about societal issues even in english....because if you don't know what ur opinions are in english then you have no hope of expressing them in German!
HSC speaking was a couple of weeks ago...it was pretty scary but you just have to have clear structure and express your ideas clearly and you will do fine. and keep it simple.

although theajane is actually a born language freak, she is right - the actual level of german you need for extension isn't that much higher than for 2U. The written exam isn't too difficult if you have a good grounding in the language (and the first section is in English anyway) but you really do need the ideas or it doesn't matter how good you are, you won't have anything to say/write. That's especially true for the speaking and (to a certain extent) the essay. Apart from the oral (grrr!) it is a really good (and actually INTERESTING) subject to do - if you like german.

 

[abcdeg]

yep i agree, alot of the probs we had wasn't with the german itself but with coming up with ideas in english. its a good course though!

 

[qwong92]

Hmm, well I'm doing the extension course through Open High for HSC `o9.

I really want to do it, but skimmi9ng through the texts...there's a LOT of stuff which I don't understand. But seeing as I really want to do this course, I guess I'll just have to work hard and spend more time on it.

 

[Borbor]

I'm having a lot of trouble at the moment with the new course. My main problem is the German writing bits. I don't really understand what is expected, how much detail. Are we suppsoed to write like we do in English? With like all the analytical techniques and crap or are we just meant to write accurate and concise German??/

 

[xxstef]

not too sure. we're doing quite a bit of essay writing atm.

i guess they def wont expect our skills to be anywher near as good as our english essays, but the german should still be sophisticated (to a certain degree) and make sense!

just wondering, are there many asians who take this course?

 

[Borbor]

I think I'm going to drop. The amoun of work/effort needed is waaaaay too disproportionate for one unit. I know it's extension and it is fun but at this point in time, 2 writing tasks a week for Extension alone vs one writing task every two weeks for Cont. seems crazy.

 

[alcalder]

Well, extension courses are meant to be for extension and so for those who find the Continuers or standard course way too easy and are looking for a challenge.

Looking at, say, Maths, Ext 2 is WAY harder and requires a lot more time, but really only if you are struggling. If it is, as it is supposed to be, extension, then it shouldn't be that much more work and shouldn't take that much extra time.

So, if you are finding Ext German too much, then maybe Continuers is all you need. You can always do German at Uni and continue into the Extension area then.

 

[xxstef]

perhaps its just my teacher, but we aren't getting thaat much hw. really. perhaps one writing task or a speech a week..

 

[Borbor]

Well, extension courses are meant to be for extension and so for those who find the Continuers or standard course way too easy and are looking for a challenge.

Looking at, say, Maths, Ext 2 is WAY harder and requires a lot more time, but really only if you are struggling. If it is, as it is supposed to be, extension, then it shouldn't be that much more work and shouldn't take that much extra time.

So, if you are finding Ext German too much, then maybe Continuers is all you need. You can always do German at Uni and continue into the Extension area then.

True, it's just doing Extension via corerspondance is much more difficult, I find, than doing Continuers. There seems to be too much content to cover without the presence of an actual teacher. I get very little "contact hours" with my teacher and it makes it doubly difficult.

 

[Karina92]

i'm doing german extension for 09 HSC and i recon the hardest part of the course is coming up with ideas.
when ppl say they're writing essays, is this like 500-1000 word english essays? cos the longest thing i've got so far is 300 words
okay, n extension is ment to be harder, but it is still a 1 Unit course so should it really take up that much more time....but if it's the same a 3U maths which i spend 50% of my time on then i guess so but really, does it mark that well in the HSC and only being out of 50...?

 

[xxstef]

essays are generally 300words long for language extensions.

true, language extension is meant to take quite a bit of time. but the scaling at the end is worth it
nahh jk, the scaling is an extra bonus. you should really only be taking it if you love the language and want to become better at it
note: you think 3U maths takes up time? try 4u ...