From communicative to symbolic competence

Drehort Neubrandenburg is a new kind of language documentary specially produced for language students: silent documentary passages, a low-threshold narrative voice, and short authentic speech passages are some of the important features. The material is ideal for the intermediate German classroom since the careful integration of narrative voice and authentic speech insures that it is within the skills of most intermediate language students. It exposes students to rich language in various socio-linguistic contexts and presents intellectually challenging information to students with limited language knowledge.

Furthermore, Drehort Neubrandenburg presents up-to-date historical and cultural information with the goal to encourage the acquisition of cultural-historical knowledge and to experience and discuss a culture’s multiple facets. As such, Drehort Neubrandenburg emphasizes that understanding history is an important piece in understanding a culture and learning its language.

In order to understand others, we have to understand what they remember from the past, what they imagine and project onto the future, and how they position themselves in the present. Claire Kramsch, MLJ, 90 (4), 2006