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HAI A20 - Danish – Integrated Skills*

Faculty
Mikael B. Andersen, Part-time lecturer, Steven Gardner, External teaching assistant
Course Coordinator
Lise Mourier
Prerequisite/progression of the course
This course is not intended for speakers of other Scandinavian languages or students with prior training in Danish. The students may be grouped into classes based on students who successfully completed the Danish Crash Course offered prior to semester start and for those students who did not have the Danish Crash Course.
Course content, structure and teaching
This course is an introduction to Danish language and culture, designed to enable students to perform basic tasks in a Danish-speaking context. Practical language skills will be acquired through grammar drills, role-playing, and interpersonal activities. Discussions will focus on the issues of everyday life: travel, shopping, ordering food, social customs, and basic reading and communication skills.
Attendance and participation are essential for success in this course.
Teaching: A workshop style course that offers many opportunities to practice and develop English skills. Relevant grammar and vocabulary will also be covered. Regular attendance and active participation in discussion is essential for success in this course.
36 contact hours in total. Classes meet twice a week for two teaching hours each time. Written test during the final week of teaching. 15 minutes individual oral exam with no preperation.
The course's development of personal competences
Interpersonal and intercultural competences.
Learning Objectives
The learning objectives to achieve within Danish- Integrated Skills are:
  • To understand what is said clearly, slowly and directly in simple everyday conversation; if the speaker can accommodate;
  • To understand phrases, words and expressions related to areas of most immediate priority (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local area, employment);
  • To understand the essential information in short recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters which are spoken slowly and clearly;
  • To identify important information in news summaries or simple newspaper articles in which numbers and names play an important role and which are clearly structured and illustrated;
  • To understand a simple personal letter in which the writer tells or asks about aspects of everyday life;
  • To skim small advertisements in newspapers, locate the heading or column needed and identify the most important pieces of information (prices, size of apt, cars, computers, etc.);
  • To understand short narratives about everyday things dealing with topics which are familiar to me if the text is written in simple language;
  • To handle basic dialogue in everyday situations – simple transactions in shops, post office or banks, public transport, restaurants, etc.;
  • To ask and give directions referring to a map or plan;
  • To make and respond to invitations;
  • To describe oneself, family and other people, including educational background, hobbies and interests;
  • To describe activities past and present – personal experiences;
  • To describe in writing an event in simple sentences and report what happened and aspects of everyday life;
  • To write sentences using connectors (ie ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘because’) and connecting words to indicate the chronological order of events (first, then, after, later).
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
15-minute individual oral exam with the examiner based on the content of the course.
Course literature
.
Recommended literature
Compendium of readings and exercises: Aktiv dansk – text book and grammer book

Last updated by The Electives Office 25/02/2010