A few thoughts on the teaching of business German courses

With the increasingly frequent economic exchanges between China and Germany, the demand for compound talents who are proficient in both foreign languages and professional knowledge is increasing. In this regard, the author has carefully discussed the teaching of business German courses based on his actual teaching experience.

I. Teaching objectives, content and teaching materials for business German courses

(1) Teaching objectives

The teaching goal of the Business German course is to familiarize students with the process and knowledge of simple business activities through situational teaching, to train students in strict listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating skills, and to cultivate students' practical use of language and business communication skills, so as to lay a solid foundation for future society. Through the study and training of this course, students can master the basic vocabulary and basic sentence patterns of business German, understand the process and various links of enterprise work, and be able to communicate with Germans more fluently.

(2) Teaching content and arrangement

The teaching content of the Business German course should be practical and include the main parts of general business activities, which may include the following topics: job interviews, customer reception, scheduling, corporate profiles, marketing, business meetings, participation in trade fairs, international trade, etc.

(3) Selection of teaching materials

At present, the number of business German textbooks available for Domestic German majors is small, and the teaching materials that are more suitable for the application-oriented talent training program are Unternehmen Deutsch Grundkurs "Basics of Business German Tutorials" introduced in Germany, Unternehmen Deutsch Aufbaukurs "Business German Tutorial Improvement", Wirtschaftskommunikation Deutsch "Economic German Communication", Deutsch am Arbeitsplatz,"German in the workplace", supplemented by Kommunizieren im Beruf "Spoken German in the Workplace: 1000 Examples of Common Sentence Patterns" and other textbooks. These textbooks are authentic in language, appropriate in difficulty, interesting in nature, novel and modern in content, practical in practice, diverse in practice, focusing on cultivating cross-cultural communication skills, emphasizing the mastery of various knowledge points through practice and exercise, which is very suitable for the cultivation of application-oriented talents. Therefore, teachers can use domestic and foreign teaching materials at the same time, learn from each other's strengths, and use them for my own use.

2. Teaching methods for business German courses

Teachers should be student-centered in the teaching process of business German, have a lot of interaction with students in the classroom, give full play to students' initiative in learning, and improve the teaching effect. In the teaching process, a step-by-step approach should be adopted, the complexity should be simplified, the teaching links should be set up reasonably, and the intensive lectures should be carried out. The teaching methods adopted by teachers mainly include listening and speaking, situational communication and task teaching. The application of these three pedagogies is described in detail below.

(1) Hearing and speaking of the Law

The main characteristics of the listening and speaking method are: pay attention to oral language, listen and speak leading, take sentence patterns as the center, repeated practice, and repeated practice with imitation, repetition and memory methods, form automated language habits, and cultivate a sense of language. There are a large number of practical sentence patterns to practice in the textbook. Unternehmen Deutsch Aufbaukurs "Business German Tutorial Improvement" There are many listening texts in the textbook that are also suitable for listening and speaking. The teacher first asks students to listen to the recording (mainly sentence patterns) and then asks students to repeat what they hear. In addition, teachers can also take the form of asking questions to let students practice without reading books. In previous German classes, students used to look at books and practice. Such a learning method is easy to make students inert, too dependent on books, not conducive to their independent thinking and mastery of knowledge points. The students did a lot of exercises, but they didn't remember many words and sentences, and they didn't achieve the desired teaching effect. This is reflected in the fact that when they actually communicate with foreigners, they do not have a ready-made sentence pattern in their minds, and sometimes they have to think for a long time to barely say a complete sentence, so the expression is often not satisfactory. The author proves through the use of listening and speaking methods that students through listening and speaking training, coupled with a large number of repeated recitation exercises, have a deep memory of knowledge points, and finally can skillfully use each sentence pattern for dialogue, and can express their ideas in German fluently and accurately without thinking more about grammar in actual communication. Teachers should also make extensive use of modern educational technology, such as recording, video, computer operation, etc., and use visual and auditory stimulation to strengthen memory.

(2) Situational communication method

The main features of the situational communication method are: the classroom is student-centered, and the teacher creates vivid and specific scenes in the teaching process for students to learn in the simulated real context, so as to cultivate students' actual language communication skills, but does not emphasize grammar too much, and does not affect the communication errors as much as possible.

In the teaching of business German, teachers can simulate business situations that are close to real communication, such as job interviews, receiving foreign businessmen, making phone calls, business negotiations, organizing meetings, attending exhibitions, etc. Teachers let students conduct practical training in different roles, students make up their own dialogues or interpret according to different situations, apply the knowledge they have learned to practical communication, and teachers control and guide the entire classroom in this link.

Take Unternehmen Deutsch Aufbaukurs "Business German Tutorial Improvement" Unit 1 Herzlich Willkommen! (Welcome) As an example, the author simulates the actual work scene, groups the students, and each group member plays the scene of the reception of foreign guests in different roles. For example, a Chinese company sent Assistant A to the airport to receive representatives B, C, D and others from a German company. A is responsible for several foreign businessmen's airport reception, accommodation arrangement, negotiation schedule, city visits, enterprise visits, invitations to banquets, farewell and a series of other work. B, C, D and others can ask questions, express wishes and requests and express their gratitude during the reception.

Unit 10 of the book, Ich möchte hier arbeiten (I want to work here), is also a great fit to adopt the situational communication method. The author simulates the scene of the recruitment interview, and asks the student to play the role of employer and job seeker. Employers ask questions that often arise during interviews, and job seekers answer them one by one. Teachers and other students can comment on and make suggestions on issues. Practice has proved that such practical exercises not only improve students' learning interest and autonomy, but also help them consolidate and apply the knowledge points they have learned, and cultivate their comprehensive application ability. Several students are also quickly offered interviews or internships.

(3) Task pedagogy

The main features of the task pedagogy are: the teacher assigns tasks to the students, introduces the requirements of the tasks and the implementation steps. Students perform tasks individually or in small groups, etc., then report the completion of tasks to the class, and finally the teacher summarizes the completion of the tasks.

In business German teaching, teachers can assign tasks to students in small groups, such as arranging meetings, making product plans, product research, preparing business contracts and explaining terms. Students can make full use of multimedia for presentations.

Taking Unternehmen Deutsch Aufbaukurs "Business German Tutorial Improvement" Unit 2 Rund um die Firma (About Enterprises) as an example, after the author finished this unit, the students were divided into several groups, each group made a report around a well-known company in Germany, and each group member assigned tasks to themselves, looked up information, and made ppt. Students need to apply the language expression means and business knowledge learned in this unit to introduce the general situation of the enterprise from the aspects of business scope, enterprise products, enterprise structure, corporate history, and corporate culture. Practice has proved that the task teaching method can improve students' enthusiasm for learning, cultivate students' language ability, and use German to carry out work in a certain working environment, such as communication ability, teamwork ability and problem-solving ability, so as to meet the social communication needs of real life.

Third, the problems and suggestions in the teaching of business German at this stage

(1) Establishment of courses

Business German courses are offered for a short time, with fewer courses related to them, and students lack knowledge of business. Schools can try to add similar courses such as economics to enrich the teaching of business German, so that the teaching of business German can form a relatively complete curriculum system.

(2) The basic skills of students

Students should have solid basic skills. The basic skills of foreign languages are the premise and foundation for cultivating composite talents. Only with a solid foundation in the language can we learn professionally with ease and ease. In the process of teaching, the author found that the basic Skills of German for some students are not solid enough, such as inaccurate pronunciation of individual words, insufficient vocabulary, more grammatical errors, and inability to express their ideas fluently. This is also a question that we should reflect on at the basic teaching stage. Therefore, as a teacher, you should train students' basic skills very strictly in the basic learning stage, so that students have a more pure voice, intonation, master basic grammar and vocabulary, have a good sense of language, strong language expression ability, and prepare for future professional learning.

(3) Teachers' practical experience

College teachers often prefer theory in teaching, lack practical work experience in enterprises, and do not understand the needs of enterprises. Business German courses often require teachers to be able to link theoretical knowledge with practice, explain practical cases in corporate work, and make constructive suggestions for students to go to employment in the future. In order to solve this problem, schools can provide teachers with more opportunities for off-the-job training and further education. Through in-depth enterprise off-the-job training and further education, teachers can better understand the needs of enterprises for talents, accumulate practical work experience in enterprises, so as to give students relevant guidance and suggestions in future teaching. The school can also hire some part-time teachers with rich work experience, such as translators or engineers from German companies, to come to the school to teach or give lectures.

In summary, university teachers teach students not only German knowledge, but more importantly, cultivate students' comprehensive quality, so that they can quickly adapt to the working atmosphere of the enterprise. Through the Business German course, students can improve their comprehensive abilities, develop their self-confidence and prepare them for the future of society.

About author:Qinan Zheng, Associate Professor, Ph.D