This course is designed to develop all four language skills: namely: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. With regard to listening, the focus will be on listening for gist as well as for specific information. Formal discussions, debating, spontaneous speaking and presentations will be the main areas concentrated on during the speaking sections.  In reading, the focus is on comprehension, vocabulary development and reading rate.  In writing, the emphasis will be on sentence structure, paragraph organization and the use of formal vocabulary. The Leistungsnachweis will be awarded on the basis of regular and active participation as well as successful completion of the final test. The test will take place on the Monday of the last week and will consist of listening and vocabulary sections. The final grade will additionally contain a speaking component, based on the course participant’s performance in class over the duration of the course and a short class presentation to be done during the course.