Some German Classes Are Still Open: 2, 2A, 2B at the Ocean Campus

Students who took 1B last semester or in previous semesters, here's your chance to continue your German language learning.  Did you have a couple of years of German in high school or previously at the college level?  Take the German advisory placement test to see if a German 2 level class would be right for you.  German 2,  2A, and 2B still have space at the Ocean Campus:

Some German classes are still open and waiting for you to stop by and sign up!

German 2 (73666)     Tuesdays, Thursdays  12:00-2:30       Ocean       SCIE 255

German 2A (73667)   Tuesdays, Thursdays  12:00-2:30      Ocean      SCIE 255

German 2B (73668)   Tuesdays, Thursdays   12:00-2:30      Ocean      SCIE 255

Deutsch im Sommer - in San Francisco?

Summer 2012: CCSF will be offering a German for Travelers class through Continuing Education beginning July 2 – August 3, 2012.  The class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00-6:30 p.m.; the course fee is $150 ($15 discount if registered by June 26).   This will prepare you well for venturing to German-speaking countries this summer, or even to Eastern Europe, where German is also widely spoken.

If you're staying in San Francisco for the cool, gray summer, then you can still experience a bit of German culture at various San Francisco venues.  Start with the Goethe Institute for regular events, then visit a German restaurant for some good beer and Schnitzel.  Here are some suggestions for finding that special German place in the City or East Bay:

Try the Suppenküche at Laguna and Hayes for fine German fare in surroundings inspired by a Bavarian monastery. For some “East German” specialities, hammer on into the Walzwerk, south of Market. And don’t forget to try some “cold dog” (kalter Hund) for dessert!? And on Folsom at 20th there’s Schmidt’s, offering such specialities as Zungenwurst and Sülze, as well as baked cheese Spätzle for vegetarians. Wash everything down with a hearty selection of German beers! Prosit! 

 

If you’re in the East Bay, the Speisekammer in Alameda, owned by the folks at Süppenküche, serves up lots of Gemütlichkeit.  And in Berkeley check out  Gaumenkitzel, offering fresh, local, and seasonal cooking and baking with a North-German twist.

53 Million Americans Claim German Heritage

Did you know that it was a German who gave America its name? The cartographer Martin Waldseemüller (1470-1520) was the first to draw the New World as a continent on his map Universalis cosmographia, part of which you see on your right, calling it "America" after Amerigo Vespucci, whom Waldseemüller thought to be the real discoverer of America.

But that was by far not the only footprint that Germans left in America. Since the arrival of a German botanist in the Jamestown in 1608, German immigrants and their descendants have made an indelible imprint on this country.  Today, some 43 million Americans claim German heritage.  Read more here (from the German Information Service) about how Germany and German immigrants have left their mark on American culture (think beer, brats, and, oh, yes, Christmas).

German Films at the San Francisco International Film Festival - April and May

The San Francisco International Film Festival is in full gear, and Germany weighs in with a three-part drama/mystery Dreileben: 

All three films of Dreileben’s character-driven crime drama trilogy are set in and around a small town by the Thuringian Forest. This opening entry taps into the Grimm nature of the setting. Two protagonists as green as the leaves face more romantic trouble than they can handle, while a murderer lurks nearby.

Another German entry is Sleeping Sickness (Schlafkrankheit) 

A German doctor working to fight an epidemic in Cameroon must make difficult choices in director Ulrich Köhler’s subtle examination of African postcolonial ties with the West. Echoes of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and a sense of dread pervade this lush meditation on the experience of being European in Africa.