Learn German in Melbourne

German class with Marlies

Guten Tag!

All our languages including German are taught using the communicative method, which means that the majority of class time is spent on improving students’ oral skills. Given that the average class size at Lyceum is about six, each student can spend a large share of the overall class time on speaking. Our native-speaking teachers make it possible to rapidly achieve a good accent.

By the end of 60 hours of tuition (levels 1-4), students are able to cope with the following everyday situations:

Social interaction
Planning outings
Getting about town
Shopping and other transactions, such as the bank and post office
Booking accommodation and talking about the home

This level is recommended to people who wish to travel to a German-speaking country such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland or tiny Liechtenstein, and also for those who plan to use German with their family and friends here in Melbourne.

As part of your course, our teachers will encourage you to seek out the German speaking community in Melbourne, in order to help you practice your speaking and listening skills. Melbourne has a large population of German speakers, which affords you great opportunities to practice the language and learn about the culture.
Teachers will give you information about the German radio and television programmes, and newspapers available in Melbourne, and also about German festivals & events in Melbourne.

As a group you will pool information about the best Melbourne German restaurants, German food stores, bookshops and German clubs to help you further immerse yourself in the culture. With Lyceum's help, groups often plan outings together.

Lyceum has a very good retention rate for German students. Beyond the recommended sixty hours of tuition, most students continue on to Intermediate level and Advanced, where naturally spoken German is used in a wide range of topics, and includes all grammatical structures. By this stage students can converse with an excellent level of fluency.

Each level of study at Lyceum corresponds to 15 hours of adult tuition, or twelve to eighteen months at high school. Check our course guide to see which level would suit you best, then call us to discuss and confirm.

German School in Melbourne German Class, German School Melbourne
Sabine, our German teacher; and German class with Andrea

German Language Course - Level 1

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 1-2)

Content of Classes:

General overview of Germany and the German language
The alphabet and how to pronounce German sounds
Greetings, welcomes, and the situations in which to use formal, or informal speech
How to introduce yourself, giving your profession, nationality and hobbies
Sentences in the present tense, for example 'I come from Australia'
Conjugation of the irregular verbs "haben" und "sein" = to have and to be
Sentence structure for affirmative sentences and questions
How to ask questions
How to agree or disagree
Pronouns: how to say 'I', 'you', 'he', 'she', 'we', 'they', etc
Introduction to gender in German nouns. Der, die, das: three ways to say 'the'
The numbers up to 1000. Putting them into practice by asking each other for:
Telephone numbers, addresses, times of the day, age
Possessive pronouns: 'mine', 'yours', 'his' etc.

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Level 2

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 3-4)

Content of Classes:

Eating out: Ordering in restaurant, translating menus
Introduction to the case system in general and the accusative in particular
Vocabulary for days, times, weeks, months, seasons, festivals
Vocabulary: Typical German foods
Introduction of strong verbs and their conjugation in the present tense
Expression of quantities like litres, grams and kilos
Roleplay: At the supermarket
Introduction of imperative. This is used when asking people to do things
or making a suggestion, such as 'Let's go to the Hofbrauhaus' or 'Please close the door.'
Conversations based around the daily routine:
Shopping, going to the market, eating and drinking
Vocabulary: Holidays and leisure activities
Introduction of modal verbs: can, must, should, ...
Conjugation of modal verbs in the present tense
Sentence structure of sentences with two verbs
Making appointments for going out together:
Discussing time and options.

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Level 3

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 4-5)

Content of Classes:

Introduction of separable verbs: 'aufstehen'~ 'ich stehe auf'= I get up
sking for and stating time in colloquial way and 24-hour-time
Vocabulary: Describing the rooms and furnishings of your house
Introducing definite and indefinite pronouns. For example:
Wie findest du die Stühle? Die sind bequem.
'How do you like the chairs? They are comfy.'
Hast du ein Bier? Nein, ich habe keins
'Do you have a beer? No, I don't have one'
House hunting in Frankfurt and surrounds - reading advertisements in the Wohnungsmarkt
Germany versus Australia: What are the differences in the housing market
Describing your dream house
Comprehension: Reading a set of simplified tenancy regulations
Introduction of dative articles
Use of prepositions in, an, auf with dative: in the garden = im Garten (in dem Garten)
Vocabulary: Travel, holidays , furniture, houses and housing market
Reading: "Insel Hiddensee" a German holiday retreat

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Level 4

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 6-7)

Content of Classes:

Parts of the body
Health and illnesses
Role play: At the doctor's surgery
Making an appointment at the doctor
Listening: Native speakers describe their health problems. Discuss in pairs, then report back to the class
Revision of the imperative.
Giving advice to others, modal verbs "sollen" and "wollen"
Reading: The sorrow corner - Dr Brown gives advice
Introduction of the colloquial past tense = present perfect tense
The perfect tense of irregular verbs, separable/ inseparable verbs and verbs ending on '-ieren' : fotografieren
Putting perfect tense into practice by asking each other questions:
How was your weekend?
What did you do over the holidays?
How was your trip to Switzerland?
Vocabular: Winter holidays, skiing

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Level 5

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 7-8)

Content of Classes:

Practice of the past tense on different topics:
Monday morning in the office: 'How was your weekend?'
Gossiping 'have you heard this?'
Round the house and household: a working day at home
Boy forgotten at service station: how could that happen?
Trouble with moving house: things that went wrong
Listening: Two friends didn't see each other for several years. What happened in the mean time?
Simple past tense (preterite) of 'haben' und 'sein' = "had" (to have) and "was" (to be)
Introducing demonstrative and personal pronouns in the accusative
Use of prepositions "in, an auf" with the accusative case: into the garden = "in den Garten" to describe movemente
First understanding of "Wechselprepositionen" = two-way-prepositions, which would take either dative or accusative depending on whether they describe position or movement
Reading literature such as recipes, newspaper articles, personal letters
Vocabulary: shops and shopping, directions, travelling etc.
Reading maps and understanding directions

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Level 6

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1, chapters 8-9)

Content of Classes:

Introduction of more two-way-prepositions , such as neben (near) zwischen (between) to describe movement or position
Sightseeing in Berlin: "Listen to a tour guide in a Berlin sightseeing bus"
Traveling around greater Berlin
Reading: "Berlin 30 Jahre spater" - A Swiss Journalist reports.
Vocabulary: Giving presents and gift ideas
Introduction of dative for 'indirect object'
Introduction of dative verbs
Verbs that can have two objects: The father buys the child a bike
Sentence structure with two objects
Introducing dative pronouns. For example, 'to me'= mir, 'to us' = uns
Telling the date and writing invitations
Introduction of comparison (more than/ most)
Discuss 'What do you consider important?', using the phrases 'more important than' and 'most important'
Free conversation using comparative and superlative
Irregular forms of the comparative
Interview with a bakery / café owner in Hamburg
Auf der Fotomesse": On the High-Tech-Fair introducing the
Video Phase"

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Lower Intermediate 1

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 1 chapter 10, Themen Aktuell 2 chapter 1)

Content of Classes:

Images of Germany (tourism, famous people, fairy tales etc)
Discussion: People's perceptions of Germany around the globe
Quiz: 'Who is who?' describe the live of famous people
Study of the German-speaking regions: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein
The different forms of the question word "welch- ?"
Introduction of the genitive case, which is used when speaking about possession / belonging. For example, in einem Teil der Schweiz = 'in a part of Switzerland' (in a part which belongs to Switzerland)
Reading: A tourist brochure about der Bodensee (Lake Constance)
Listening: A native speaker telling about his holidays at Lake Constance
Understand some features of German dialects
Revision of all dative and accusative prepositions
Revision of the grammar learnt so far

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Lower Intermediate 2

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 2, chapters 1-2)

Content of Classes:

Vocabulary: Describing people, clothes and accessories
Revision: Comparing people (who is taller, who is the youngest etc)
Reading: An article about someone's 'makeover' - discussion of what the person looked like before and after
Learn to change the adjective endings according to whether the case is nominative, accusative or dative
Reading: Complete a psychological quiz, as found in magazines
Discussion: The issue of 'tolerance' in Germany
Learn to distinguish different types of conjunctions
Introduction of the subordinate conjunctions "weil" = because,
wenn" = if and "obwohl" = though
The sentence structure of subordinate clauses versus main clauses
Preterite of modal verbs
How to express being content or not with one's profession and giving reasons for it

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Intermediate

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 2, chapters 2-4)

Content of Classes:

Vocabulary: Schooling systems, job search
The schooling system in Germany
Talk about your own schooling experience
Reading: Graduates from University today - without future?
Writing a CV
How to reply to a job advertisement
Reading: Job advertisements
The job interview: positives and negatives
Vocabulary: Media, TV, Film
Introduction of reflexive verbs
phrasal verbs and resulting "wo-" and "da-compounds"
Introduction of some subjunctive forms, especially of "haben" and "sein"
Introduction of the conditional with "würde" (to avoid subjunctive)
Subjunctive in songs to express unreal situations and wishful thinking
Giving advice in the subjunctive: If I were you, I would ...
Reading: Street artists
Roleplay: Discuss your attitude towards street artists
Vocabulary: Dealing with car trouble; service stations and the mechanic's workshop
Revision of the comparative: After reading an excerpt from a car magazine, decide which car is best value for money
Role play:
Have an argument with a mechanic who has not done a good job on your car
Introduction of the passive tense. For example, 'The car was washed', as opposed to the active 'I washed the car'
Reading: The process of manufacturing a car
Reading: Professions that are to do with cars
Reading: shift work
Role play: Conducting an interview about work situation and working hours

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Upper Intermediate

Learn German (Lessons from Themen Aktuell 2, chapters 5-7)

Content of Classes:

Vocabulary: Family life - relationships, children, grandchildren, marriage
Introduction of infinitive with "zu"
Reading: Descriptions of family routines (and disputes) in various households
Discussion: What do you like/ dislike about people?
Discussion: Career vs children? Are people having children later in life nowadays?
Family history - revision of the tenses required when referring to the past (ie My parents were married in 1975) or present tense (I have 3 brothers)
Reading: "Funf Generationen auf dem Sofa"
Revision of strong verbs (irregular verbs)
Introduction of the Preterite (=simple past) of weak and strong verbs
(this past tense is mainly used for written texts i.e. newspapers, magazines, stories, novels)
The subordinate clause with "dass"
Ich habe gehort, dass Burglind geheiratet hat.
Vocabulary: The environment; seasons, weather, landscapes and countryside
Reading: The weather forecast
Introduction of the relative pronouns and the sentence structure of relative clauses
Discussion: The problem of efficient waste disposal
Reading: Geographical description of Germany - the mountainous, flat, and coastal regions
Vocabulary: Travelling, working overseas
Sentences of purpose: the subordinate conjunction "damit"
versus sentence construction with "um ... zu"
Indirect questions
Reading: once working overseas - a good experience
Reading: good career live - bad family life
Discussion: why would people emigrate

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)

German Language Course - Advanced

German Advanced

Content of Classes:

We will aim to finish the contents of our text book Themen Aktuell 2. But at these levels, teachers are free to bring in their own materials to stimulate conversation in class. Each teacher will have their own creative ideas, however here is a sample of what a typical class might include:

Role Plays
This is a common technique used by teachers to place topics in a realistic setting. For example: Students might study vocabulary related to renting a house. Following this, the teacher would give each person a role (such as real estate agent, landlord, share-house tenants) and ask them to enact a hypothetical situation.
Literature
A short story or poem is read by the class. Themes, characters and related issues are discussed in pairs and then shared with the other students.
News and current affairs
Students watch parts of the news in German. The class is then split into pairs, and each student prepares a set of questions to ask their partner.
Conversations are initiated centering on economic, political and social situations around the globe.
Debates
The class is split into those 'for' and 'against' and given 10 minutes to prepare an argument. The topic may either be serious and controversial, or comical.
Slides
The teacher brings in slides or photographs and describes them to the class. Students may also bring in their own materials and give a presentation.
Cultural themes
Traditions such as Valentine's Day, Christmas, and other festival celebrations are discussed and explored.
Brief revision of grammar topics as requested by students

See timetable for courses at:

Kew, Fitzroy, Malvern, Melbourne City (Flinders Lane)