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| "The Scream" (1893) by Edvard Munch (1863-1941). |
The German program at Williams offers a wide range of courses: a five-semester language sequence; seminars on issues of current social and political interest in Central Europe; and the traditional review of literary and intellectual history. Faculty are strongly committed to the "natural-approach," a method that emphasizes the acquisition of practical communication skills, and from the first day of German 101 on, instruction is conducted almost entirely in German.
The German program involves its students in a number of extra-curricular activities: the popular weekly German lunch table attended by both the language faculty and other German-speaking professors from other departments; the Munich Oktoberfest in the Fall; the Wiener Walzerabend in the Spring; and guest lectures. The Program's two teaching associates - university students from Austria and Germany - arrange occasional activities during their year at Williams, ranging from poetry readings to sledding parties.
Each year several students usually spend a semester or a year studying in a German-speaking country enrolling directly in a German or Austrian university. In recent years Williams students have studied in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Graz, Trier, Freiburg and Marburg. Students also have the opportunity for short-term study during the Winter Study period with the German in Germany Program, offered through the Goethe Institute in Prien, Bavaria.
In addition, the German program has set up a summer work experience in collaboration with the Schering AG pharmaceutical firm, which allows three German Williams students to intern at its headquarters in Berlin and board with families of Shering employees.