Young Writers Society

For my German A-Level, I have to write a 500 word German essay for coursework. That's not the hard part, it's what to write about.

I was originally going to do about the Video game regulations and the BPjM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien), but I got so much information on that I'm doing it for my 1000 word essay instead.

My teacher wants it in by the end of January so we can start work on the next one, and I still have no idea what to write about O_O I know that I have to be looking at it from a critical perpective, and that's about all.

Hilfe Mich!

Right, first of all... it's 'Hilf Mir' and not 'Hilfe Mich'.

Secondly, does this have to be to do with German? It's just that when we took our orals last year, it had to be related to German culture or whatever.

Um, get back to me and I'll see what I can do. I'm actually going to be going to Germany in a few days though, so if it looks like I'm not responding then try e-mailing me or something instead.

Good luck with it!

Kay.

Right, first of all... it's 'Hilf Mir' and not 'Hilfe Mich'.

Things like that could explain why I'm not doing so well in German


Our oral can be on anything in the world, but our coursework has to be based on something German, or in a German speaking country. I was going to do about the relationship with Isreal and link it to Lebanon and the Holocaust, but my teacher checked with the board and they say that it's too global a topic...

Little Tin Fish wrote:

Right, first of all... it's 'Hilf Mir' and not 'Hilfe Mich'.

Things like that could explain why I'm not doing so well in German

Don't worry -- I do that all the time, and I've finished my A-levels. Um, just to warn you... didn't do as well as I wanted, so I can offer advice, but don't feel you have to take it.

Anyways, the 'hilf mir' thing is a weird one... It's one of those verbs that takes the dative for some reason.

*digs German Verbs book out from mess on desk*

Actually... thinking about it, it'd probably be 'Helfen Sie Mir' or something, 'cause you're talking to many people.

Our oral can be on anything in the world, but our coursework has to be based on something German, or in a German speaking country. I was going to do about the relationship with Isreal and link it to Lebanon and the Holocaust, but my teacher checked with the board and they say that it's too global a topic...

I'd agree with your teacher. You don't want to do all that work and then find out that the examiners have disallowed it or marked you down.

For my AS oral - which had to be related to Germany - I did Mozart and Beethoven. That's not a bad choice in general, but it was for me as I didn't actually know that much about them, and worst of all, I'm not hugely interested...

What I'm trying to say is that it's got to be a good choice for you personally. I could give you a topic, but it should preferably be something you care enough about that you'll put feeling into it and research it well. Of course, this counts more for an oral than for coursework, but you get the idea.

Also! If it's something like an essay, you might want to find a topic that you can make points for and points against. (This is called discursive by the way, and you may well get discursive essays in the exam.)

Possible topics:

- Stories of the Rhein.
- Life and/or works of... [Mozart, Beethoven, Goethe, Durrenmatt, Böll, u.s.w.]
- German school system.
- German history [though if you do this then pick a specific time/place/setting so that it doesn't get too vague...]
- German literature.
- Munich/Berlin/some other city.
- Berlin wall, how it went up, how it went down, etc.
- Environmental issues in Germany.
- Cars. [BMW, Volkswagen u.s.w.]
- German music.
- Youth culture. [Like how you need written permission from an adult to be out, though possibly only in some places, after a certain time.]
- Oktoberfest.
- Christkindl Markt. [Think that's how you spell it...] Alternatively Christmas Market. There's a lot to say about that one.

Um... that's just off the top of my head. Already, I'm sure you can see which ones are better than others, and which you know/care more about.

Let me know if any of those are any good for you.

Kay.

.. The Holocaust, the invasion of Europe, voting in a world dictator... the list could go on

Thanks Kay, and Phorcys too ^^

I'm slightly limited by what other people are doing, what we did last year and what the year before us did, but thanks for the ideas, I'm thinking of doing something enviromental, based on renewable energy, although I don't know where my focus would be on that, we have to be very specific O_O

This is called discursive by the way, and you may well get discursive essays in the exam.

I'm sure that one of our exams is a discursive essay... I'm pretty certain of it

Thanks again!