TEACHING GERMAN LITERATURE FOR BEGINNERS: DAS NIBELUNGENLIED
TEACHING GERMAN LITERATURE FOR BEGINNERS: DAS NIBELUNGENLIED

Summary/Abstract: Teaching German Literature for students at our university is challenging from many points of view. One of the first problems to overcome is related to the students’ knowledge of German language. Immediately after their first semester of studying German at A1 level, students should be ready to make the ‘leap’ to literary texts and that is a real shock for them. How could this so-called „literature shock” be avoided? And is it even possible to skillfully and efficiently handle literary texts at A1 level? Therefore, another major challenge for literature teachers is the selection of literary texts that the students could/should handle. The present paper deals with those questions and their answers in relation with the experience I acquired as a lecturer in German literature. The focus will be placed on a very demanding text which is nevertheless highly representative for German and world literature: ‘Das Niebelungenlied’ and on the use of appropriate strategies for text reception by language beginners.

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