<p>My primary question is targeted towards current yale students/uber experienced parents. How are foreign languages taught at Yale? I have found that schools often place emphasis on writing in lieu of what I believe to be the most important aspect of languages: speaking. At yale, (for german or any language) is the oral aspect stressed more than reading and writing? I'm asking this because this foreign language will be VERY important for my future, since I may be working there and often even visit family. I opted out of taking this language in HS because the teacher is a southerner with a mediocre accent who knows the technicalities of the language yet creates a false impression in speech. If I do somehow get into this school, I am prepared to take 4 years of advanced courses while also studying abroad.</p>
<p>But back to my main inquiry: what is the classroom experience like?</p>
<p>My daughter considered taking beginning German last year. She decided against it because, while German 1 does emphasize speaking, the intensive course she wanted to take did not. She got her information from course evaluations, available here: [Yale</a> Online Course Information | Search Courses](<a href=“Yale Course Search | University Registrar's Office”>Yale Course Search | University Registrar's Office) (go to "search Yale College course evaluations on the left side of the page). There’s quite a lot of useful information there.</p>
<p>All Yale language courses for levels 1-4 meet 5 days a week and are taught entirely in the language beginning in level 1. I am not a German student myself, but I do know a fairly large number of students taking German who have said that upon the completion of L4 they felt “nearly fluent” in German. The Yale languages in general are almost all very successful because they do meet so often and are taught in seminars in the language. If you want a higher level of fluency over time, I would recommend not taking the intensive course and instead go through the regular track of one level per semester (with the exception of study abroad in which I would totally recommend the L3/L4 summer course you can use your ISA for) because it will give you more speaking experience over a larger period of time. If you take the sequence through L5 and then take 1 or 2 additional German courses you should be very nearly fluent by the time you graduate.</p>