Focus German

Fokus Deutsch

Fokus Deutsch is a German-language course developed by Robert "Bob" Di Donato, Professor of German at the Miami University in Ohio. It was produced by WGBH Boston, Inter Nationes, and the Goethe-Institut in 1999. It was funded by Annenberg/CPB, and has been aired frequently on PBS since then. The course includes workbooks, textbooks, and a 36-episode television series with audio CDs comprising 24 audio programs. It focuses on the story of Marion Koslowski and her family, intermixed with interviews of native speakers of German from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, including Erika, a survivor from the World War II years; Guy, a student from Cameroon studying in Germany at RWTH Aachen; Grace, a Zimbabwean-German; and Gürkan, a Turkish-German. There are also documentaries on German history and society, past and present.