The German Programme: Wie Sagt Man...?
Wie Sagt Man...? is a unit of the ITV Schools series The German Programme from the 1980s, covering German language for Secondary pupils.
Five clearly structured programmes supporting pupils preparing for their German language exams, and especially the oral part of the exams.
The German presenter Irmgard Meyer talks to viewers in English and speaks German to others in the programmes. Each episode has four distinct sections which are announced as they begin:
- First a conversation between German people in a situation such as shopping or buying tickets in a travel agency.
- Second an analysis in English of some of the language used in the conversation, showing sentence construction on screen.
- Third a mock oral exam in which Irmgard asks questions of an English student, they attempt to answer, and their answers are analysed afterwards
- Finally the same questions from the oral exam are asked in vox pops of real German people.
The programmes were modelled closely on Thames Television's successful series Comment Dit-On...? for French students of a few years earlier, and the Germany-set sections were recorded in Hamelin
in the early summer of 1980[1].
Episode List
| # | Title | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | In der Stadt | 3 Nov 1980 |
| 2. | Bei Bekannten | 10 Nov 1980 |
| 3. | Einkaufen | 17 Nov 1980 |
| 4. | Im Café | 24 Nov 1980 |
| 5. | Auf dem Bahnhof | 1 Dec 1980 |
Broadcasts
| Year | Term | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Channel | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-81 | Autumn 1980 | Monday, 10:40am | Friday, 10:15am | ITV | ||||
| Summer 1981 | Friday, 9:30am | ITV | ||||||
| 1981-82 | Spring 1982 | Tuesday, 11:39am | Wednesday, 10:16am | ITV | ||||
| 1982-83 | Spring 1983 | Tuesday, 11:39am | Friday, 10:35am | ITV |
Credits
| Presenter | Irmgard Meyer |
| Series development | Gisela Cumming |
| Graphics | John Stamp |
| Education Officer | Mary Law |
| Director & Producer | Tony Davenall |
Resources
Teacher's Notes
A teacher's booklet initially cost 83p in 1980.
A revised version was issued the following year, after the programmes had been made, containing transcripts of the German sections of each programme, for £1, and by 1983 the price rose to £1.25.
Video
Thames Television International released the unit on VHS video around 1986, priced £25 plus VAT[2].
Sources & references
- Davenall, A.M. (1980) 'Making Programmes' in British Journal of Language Teaching volume 9, number 2 & 3, autumn 1980. pp.115-119
- ITV Schools Annual Programme Guides 1980-83.
- Thames TV (1986) advertisement in Times Educational Supplement issue 3670, 31 October 1986. p.34
- TV Times listings, 1980-83. London: BBC.
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