German@Oxford

Kevin Hilliard

St. Peter’s CollegeHertford College

German@Oxford

• The course

• Admissions

• The year abroad

• Careers

The Course

• Combinations of subjects

• Course structure

• Core and options (2nd and 4th year)

• The 1st-year course

• Teaching methods

CombinationsG erm an

P o lish

M od ern G reek

S p an ish

P ortu g u ese

F ren ch

M id d le E as te rn

C zech /S lovak

R u ss ian

Ita lian

Another m odern language Linguistics

H is to ry

C lass ics

P h ilosop h y

E n g lish

Another subject

Combinations

… or all German

Course structure

• Preliminary Examination at the end of the first year

• No examinations in second year

• Final examination in fourth year

• Some finals options examined by coursework

Core and options (yrs 2 and 4)

Tran s la tion O ra l

Language

M ed ieva l R en a issan ce an d B aroq u e M od ern

P eriodO N E O F

Literature

CORE O p tio n s

Core and options (yrs 2 and 4)

Co re

Y id d ish

A d van ced tran s la tion

E ssay

Language

S p ec ia l top ics

A u th ors

Literature

C on tem p orary

H is to rica l

Linguistics

e tc .

P h ilosop h ers

E u rop ean film

Other

OPT IONS

First-year course

A ll u n d erg rad u ates

O ra l

G ram m ar

Tran s la tion

C om p reh en s ion an d essay

Language Gesellschaft und Kultur

N arra tive fic t ion

D ram a

L yric p oe try

Literature

First-year course

G erm an so le

In trod u c tion to m ed ieva l lite ra tu re G erm an th ou g h t G erm an film o f th e 1 9 2 0 s

Grammar

Intensive pre-entry grammar course

Teaching methodsA ll u n d erg rad u ates

G ram m arU n ivers ity c lasses

(+ C A L L )

Tran s la tionC o lleg e c lasses

C om p reh en s ion , essay, o ra l(tau g h t in G erm an )

L ek to ren in C o lleg e c lasses

Language Gesellschaft und Kultur(taught in Germ an)

Lektoren in College classesLectures and sem inars

N arra tive fic t ion

D ram a

L yric p oe try

LiteratureTutorials in College

Lectures

Teaching methods

G erm an so leIn te r-co lleg ia te sem in ars

In trod u c tion to m ed ieva l lite ra tu re G erm an th ou g h t G erm an film o f th e 1 9 2 0 s

Admissions

• How do I apply?

• How do I choose a college?

• How will my application be assessed?

• What are my chances of getting in?

Applying

• Apply to UCAS by 15 October

• Oxford application form by 15 October

• Submit written work by 15 November

• Interviews in December

Which college?

• Eliminate those that don’t offer Modern Languages …

• … and then?

Which college?

Hertford College St. Peter’s College

Which college?

… (it doesn’t really matter …!)

How will my application be assessed?

• UCAS form– Record at GCSE/AS/A-Level or other

qualification– Predicted grades (need at least AAB or IB38)– Reference– Personal statement

• Schoolwork

• Interview

Interview

• Language test

• Interview

Assessment criteria• Success in official examinations as measured by GCSE

results and A level predictions. • Ability to write fluently, intelligently and effectively,

including in the target language, as evidenced in the submission of schoolwork.

• Knowledge of the grammatical structures of the target language, as evidenced in the grammar test.

• Enthusiasm for ideas, potential for developing sensitive and coherent responses to intellectual problems; responsiveness to a tutorial mode of questioning; oral fluency in the target language; motivation and capacity for sustained and intense work, as evidenced in the interview and in references.

What are my chances of getting in?

German@Oxford

The Year AbroadProfessor Helen Watanabe

Exeter College

German@Oxford

Career Options

Who needs modern languages?

… or, ‘Don’t they all speak English anyway?’

German and ‘employability’

• 94.7% in postgraduate education or employment 6 months after graduation

• 72.8% in postgraduate education, graduate or ‘graduate-track’ employment 6 months after graduation

Why Oxford?

• General value of Oxford degree

• Specific skills

Careers

Business Education Transla ting C iv il Serv ice Pro fessions In ternationa lO rgan iza tions

Career Options

O ther

Career Options

Business

Thomson

One2One

Rolls-Royce

Mini

Kleinwort Benson

Mannesmann

Thames Water

Preussag

Deutsche Telekom

Volkswagen

Dresdner Bank

BMW

Vodafone

RWE

Education

Secondary

FE colleges

University

£6000 bursary£4000 ‘golden hello’

Translation

Translation

Interpreting

Commercial

Technical

Literary

Civil Service

Whitehall

Diplomatic Service

European Union

Local government

Professions

The law

Chartered accountancy

The media

Journalism

Publishing

The arts

The church(es)

International Organizations

United Nations

World Bank

World Health Organization

Non-governmental organizations

Etc.

Careers service

Case studies

Case studies

Rights Controller at Hodder Children's Books in London, with responsibility for rights sales in Germany and Eastern Europe.

(St. Peter’s 1999)

Case studies

Consultant in the fievld of licensing rights in the media(St. Peter’s, 1980s)

Case studies

‘I worked for a Lib Dem MEP in Brussels for 9 months, while applying to be a fast stream Civil Servant. I got in and am now working for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).’

(St. Peter’s 1997)

Case studies

Marketing manager, EMEALucent Technologies Microelectronics Group Munich,

Germany(St. Peter’s 1997)

Case studies

Project Co-ordinator at Quest, an advisory body to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

(Hertford 1999)

Case studies

Management Consulting‘I couldn't really have asked for more in terms of setting my career up. I have been allowed to specialise in the industries

that interest me the most (new media, high tech, and telecoms businesses), and have had a very broad range of experience in terms of consulting roles […]. This is due in no small part to the fact that linguists are in short supply, and consequently a great deal more opportunities present themselves to me than they do to my contemporaries. I have spent close on eight

months of my time […] working in Germany, in Hamburg, Berlin, and in Munich; a couple of months in Zurich; and six

months at the beginning of this year in Paris.’(St. Peter’s 2001)

Case studies

Teaching English in Kyoto, Japan, 2001-2003Teacher training 2003-2004

Teaching French and German 2004-?(Hertford 1999)

Case studies

Associate Director of Barclays Capital (Barclays Bank investment banking)

(Magdalen, 1994)

Case studies

International finance department of London law firm, based in Frankfurt office

(Magdalen)

Case studies

Managment training at ICL, now working in Frankfurt office.(Somerville)

Case studies

Translator for a patent lawyer in Munich. (Somerville)

Case studies

Free-lance translator of internet travel guides.(Somerville)

Case studies

‘I trained with KPMG as a chartered accountant and then joined their Forensic Department, whose main role is fraud

investigation. There I worked for three years in Switzerland, on the study into dormant accounts at Swiss banks dating from the

Nazi period, the so-called 'Nazi gold' project. Again German was the key thing.’

(Pembroke)

Case studies

Officer in the Salvation Army, Berlin(St. Hugh’s)

Case studies

Lawyer with a firm in Hamburg(St. Hugh’s)

Careers ...

… Life!

German@Oxford

http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/german/index.html