Appendix 2: Prescribed literary texts and films — Edexcel A-Level German

This row lists Andorra by Max Frisch, published in 1961, as a prescribed play in Appendix 2 of the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). It is a text-selection entry, not an assessed answer target, so learners should treat it as one of the works available for study within the prescribed literary texts and films. When studying it, learners should read the play as a whole, track its characters, structure and central concerns, and gather precise evidence for later analytical work. A useful method is to keep a reading log organised by scene, recording key events, character development and thematic patterns, together with short references. Teachers should confirm which texts and films their centre has chosen to teach, because the specification lists options and the taught route determines what is assessed.

This row lists Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, published in 1956, as a prescribed play in Appendix 2 of the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). It is a text-selection entry rather than an assessed answer target, so learners should treat it as one of the works available for study within the prescribed literary texts and films. When studying it, learners should read the whole play, follow its dramatic structure and central concerns, and collect precise evidence for later analytical work. A useful method is a reading log organised by act, noting key events, character development and recurring themes with short references. Teachers should confirm which texts and films their centre has chosen to teach, since the specification lists options and the taught route determines what is assessed.

This row lists Der kaukasische Kreidekreis by Bertolt Brecht, dated 1944, as a play on the prescribed list in Appendix 2. Guided reading means you study the whole play as a set text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0), not that you memorise a plot summary. Read the play in German, tracking how Brecht builds the dispute over the child and how the chalk-circle test resolves it. Note the framing device of the prologue and the play-within-a-play, the role of the singer-narrator, and the way scenes are structured to invite critical judgement rather than simple sympathy. Build a scene-by-scene log with page references, key vocabulary and short quotations you can locate precisely. Link themes such as justice, motherhood and ownership to the social conditions the play presents.

This row lists Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink, dated 1995, as a novel on the prescribed list in Appendix 2. Guided reading means you work through the whole novel in German as a set text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Follow the three-part structure and how the narrator, Michael Berg, recounts events from a later standpoint, so that memory, guilt and retrospective judgement are built into the telling. Track the reading-aloud motif, the relationship between Michael and Hanna, the trial scenes and the later reflections. Keep a chapter log with page references, key vocabulary and short quotations you can place precisely. Connect themes such as guilt, responsibility, illiteracy, shame and the legacy of the past to the narrative method that presents them.

This row lists Die Entdeckung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm, dated 1993, as a novella on the prescribed list in Appendix 2. Guided reading means you study the whole novella in German as a set text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Follow the frame narrative: the first-person narrator recalls a conversation with Lena Brücker and reconstructs her story from the final weeks of the Second World War, including her relationship with the younger sailor Hermann Bremer and her claim to have invented the currywurst. Track how memory, invention and food culture interact, and how the narrator's research and uncertainty are part of the telling. Keep a section log with page references, key vocabulary and short quotations you can place precisely, and link themes such as memory, survival and everyday life in wartime to the narrative method.

This row lists Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf, dated 1972, as a novel on the prescribed list in Appendix 2. Guided reading means you study the whole novel in German as a set text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Follow the montage structure: after Edgar Wibeau's death, his story is pieced together from tape recordings, documents and the recollections of people who knew him, including his father and his employer. Track how the novel reworks Goethe's Werther, how Edgar's language and attitudes set him against the expectations of his society, and how the assembled evidence creates gaps and competing versions. Keep a section log with page references, key vocabulary and short quotations you can place precisely, and link themes such as individuality, work, love and generational conflict to the way the narrative is constructed.

This row names Kafka's 1915 novella as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German. Study it as a whole work: track Gregor Samsa's transformation, the family's shifting reactions and the household's economic pressures across the three-part structure. Build a bank of textual evidence — the opening awakening, Gregor's attempts to communicate, Grete's changing role, the lodgers episode and the closing family outing — and note how Kafka's precise, matter-of-fact narration makes the fantastic premise feel ordinary. Prepare to write analytical essays in German that respond to a question, sustain an argument and support it with close reference to the text.

This row names Böll's 1974 novel as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German. Read it as a whole work and track how Katharina Blum's life is destroyed by press intrusion after a night with a wanted man. Note the novel's documentary-style narration, its shifting perspectives and its explicit attack on sensationalist journalism and the misuse of language. Build evidence around key episodes — the party, the interrogation, the newspaper's campaign, the shooting of the journalist Tötges and Katharina's confession — and prepare to write analytical essays in German that respond to a question, sustain an argument and support it with close reference to the text.

This row lists Karin König's 1994 novella as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German. Guided reading means working through the whole text with a purpose: build a chapter-by-chapter map of plot, characters and settings; note the first-person narrative perspective of the 14-year-old protagonist Sabine and how her feelings about identity, family and belonging develop following her family's move from East to West Germany; collect short quotations and page references for later essay work. Read in German, using a dictionary sparingly, and record new vocabulary in context. The aim is secure knowledge of the whole novella and a bank of evidence you can use in analytical writing.

This row lists Alfred Andersch's 1957 novel as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German. Guided reading means working through the whole novel with a purpose: map the multiple perspectives and the shifting narrative voice; follow the five central figures and their decisions in a small Baltic town during the Nazi period; note the motifs of escape, freedom, art and conscience, including Ernst Barlach's sculpture 'Der lesende Klosterschüler'. Read in German, collect short quotations with speaker and location, and build a glossary of key vocabulary. The aim is secure knowledge of the whole novel and a bank of evidence for analytical essays.

This row lists Judith Hermann's 1998 debut collection Sommerhaus, später und andere Erzählungen as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Guided reading means you study the whole collection as a set of short stories, not a single extract. Read each Erzählung closely, tracking its narrator, setting, central relationship and ending, then compare how recurring concerns develop across the collection. Build a working file per story: a short plot summary in German, a list of named characters with their roles, key motifs such as departure, waiting, memory and missed connection, and three short quotations you can locate precisely. Note that the collection is a prescribed text, so your reading feeds the literary essay and the speaking discussion; it is not itself an assessed task.

This row lists Leonie Ossowski's 1958 novel Stern ohne Himmel as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Guided reading means you work through the whole novel, not isolated extracts. Read with attention to the historical setting in the final phase of the Second World War, the group of young characters, their relationships and the moral pressures they face. Keep a chapter-by-chapter log in German: who acts, where, and what changes. Track how the author builds tension and how symbols such as the star function. Note that the novel is a prescribed text, so your reading supports the literary essay and the speaking discussion; the reading itself is not an assessed task.

This row lists Thomas Mann's 1903 novella Tonio Kröger as a prescribed literary text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Guided reading means studying the complete novella. Read it in sections, following Tonio from his northern childhood through his life as a writer and his return north. Track the contrast between bourgeois life and artistic existence, the figures of Hans Hansen and Ingeborg Holm, and the narrator's reflective, ironic tone. Keep a reading journal in German with a short summary of each section, a character list and precise references for quotations. The novella is a prescribed text, so your reading supports the literary essay and the speaking discussion; the reading itself is not an assessed task.

This row lists Yasemin Samdereli's 2011 film Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland as a prescribed film text for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). For an extended response you analyse the film as a constructed text: narrative structure, the multi-generational family story, the use of flashback and voice-over, comedy and music, and the themes of migration, identity and belonging. Prepare by watching with and without subtitles, taking notes on key scenes with approximate timings, and building a bank of precise film vocabulary such as Kameraperspektive, Schnitt, Rückblende, Erzählerstimme. Plan an essay that answers the exact question, uses located evidence and reaches a supported judgement.

This row names Das Leben der Anderen, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in 2006, as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Studying it means watching the whole film closely and building detailed knowledge of its plot, characters, settings and stylistic choices, then using that knowledge to answer an extended essay question in German. You should track how the director uses camera work, lighting, sound, editing and recurring motifs to shape meaning, and collect precise evidence such as named scenes, character actions and short quotations where you can verify the exact wording. Prepare by making a scene-by-scene log, noting who does what to whom and in what order, and by revising themes such as surveillance, loyalty, conscience and personal change.

This row names Das Wunder von Bern, directed by Sönke Wortmann in 2003, as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Studying it means watching the whole film closely and building detailed knowledge of its plot, characters, settings and stylistic choices, then using that knowledge to answer an extended essay question in German. You should track how the director uses camera work, lighting, sound, editing and recurring motifs to shape meaning, and collect precise evidence such as named scenes, character actions and short quotations where you can verify the exact wording. Prepare by making a scene-by-scene log, noting who does what to whom and in what order, and by revising themes such as family, post-war recovery, national identity and hope.

This row names Der Untergang, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel in 2004, as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Studying it means watching the whole film closely and building detailed knowledge of its plot, characters, settings and stylistic choices, then using that knowledge to answer an extended essay question in German. You should track how the director uses camera work, lighting, sound, editing and recurring motifs to shape meaning, and collect precise evidence such as named scenes, character actions and short quotations where you can verify the exact wording. Prepare by making a scene-by-scene log, noting who does what to whom and in what order, and by revising themes such as power, loyalty, collapse and moral responsibility.

This row names Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen, directed by Maren Ade in 2003, as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Studying it means watching the whole film closely and building detailed knowledge of its plot, characters, settings and stylistic choices, then using that knowledge to answer an extended essay question in German. You should track how the director uses camera work, lighting, sound, editing and recurring motifs to shape meaning, and collect precise evidence such as named scenes, character actions and short quotations where you can verify the exact wording. Prepare by making a scene-by-scene log, noting who does what to whom and in what order, and by revising themes such as loneliness, social awkwardness, work and self-perception.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it lists Hans Weingartner's 2004 film Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Your job is to study the film itself, not to answer a question here. Watch it at least twice: first for the whole narrative, then in short sequences with the German subtitles or soundtrack. Build a scene log that records who does what to whom, in order, and note how the film's ending re-frames earlier events. Track the three central figures and their changing relationships, the political ideas they argue about, and the way the film uses Berlin and other settings. Collect precise vocabulary for describing character, motive, conflict and film technique, and practise summarising a sequence aloud in German without reading a script.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it lists Dennis Gansel's 2008 film Die Welle as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Study the film itself. Watch it twice, the second time in sequences, and keep a log of who acts, in what order, and with what consequence, especially as the classroom experiment spreads through the school. Note how the teacher's project changes the students' behaviour and how the film builds tension through group imagery, colour, music and crowd shots. Collect German vocabulary for authority, conformity, group pressure, resistance and guilt, and practise explaining a turning point aloud in German. Then confirm with your centre which prescribed title and which theme your own assessment route uses, because that choice belongs to the centre, not to this list.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it lists Wolfgang Becker's 2003 film Good Bye, Lenin! as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Study the film itself. Watch it twice and keep a scene log that records who does what, in order, and how each deception is built and maintained, since the son's invented news bulletins drive the plot. Note how the film uses archive-style footage, television screens, music and domestic interiors to present the changes in East Germany around 1989–1990 and the family's response to them. Collect German vocabulary for memory, truth, family loyalty and political change, and practise explaining one staged broadcast aloud in German. Then confirm with your centre which prescribed title and theme your assessment route uses, because that choice is the centre's.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it lists Tom Tykwer's 1998 film Lola rennt as one prescribed film for the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in German (9GN0). Study the film itself. Watch it twice and keep a log of the three runs, recording for each run who does what, in what order, and how small differences produce different outcomes. Note the film's distinctive form: fast editing, animation inserts, split screen, still photographs and a driving soundtrack, and how these create urgency and the sense of branching possibilities. Collect German vocabulary for time, chance, choice and consequence, and practise explaining one run aloud in German, comparing it with another. Then confirm with your centre which prescribed title and theme your assessment route uses, because that choice belongs to the centre.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it names Nirgendwo in Afrika, directed by Caroline Link and released in 2001, as one of the films prescribed in Appendix 2. Your job is to confirm that this exact film is on the list your centre is teaching, then study it as a whole text for the A-Level German course. Watch the film in German with German subtitles where possible, keeping a viewing log of key scenes, characters and turning points. Build a bank of precise vocabulary for discussing film, for example Regie, Kamera, Schnitt and Handlung, and note how the director presents the family's displacement and their life in Kenya. Because the film is a prescribed work, it is assessed through an analytical essay in the Paper 2 written examination, so prepare flexible evidence rather than memorising one fixed essay.

This entry is course guidance rather than an assessed question: it lists Rosenstraße, directed by Margarethe von Trotta and released in 2003, among the films prescribed in Appendix 2. Confirm that this exact title and director match your centre's chosen text, then study the whole film for the A-Level German course. Watch it in German, keeping notes on the historical setting, the protest by the women and the way the narrative moves between time frames. Build vocabulary for discussing history and film, for example Widerstand, Erinnerung, Rückblende and Erzählperspektive. Because the film is a prescribed work, it is assessed through an analytical essay in the Paper 2 written examination, so gather flexible evidence rather than a single memorised answer.

This row is course guidance, not an assessed task: it names Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage, directed by Marc Rothemund and released in 2005, as one of the films prescribed in Appendix 2. Check that this exact title and director match your centre's chosen text, then study the complete film for the A-Level German course. Watch it in German, logging key scenes such as the interrogation and the trial, and note how the film builds tension and presents Sophie Scholl's convictions. Build vocabulary for discussing resistance, justice and conscience, for example Widerstand, Verhör, Gewissen and Urteil. Because the film is a prescribed work, it is assessed through an analytical essay in the Paper 2 written examination, so prepare adaptable evidence rather than one memorised essay.