This article documents a curriculum reform of the second-year German program at the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. This curricular reform had two goals: (1) compressing two semesters of intermediate-level language instruction into a single semester; (2) incorporating a strategy-based approach to literary reading in the second language. The article will first compare the previous curriculum and then introduce a conceptual framework for the reform process. This framework is based on three distinct pedagogical principles that the article will outline. Further, the article will describe the planning and implementation stages of the reform and trace decision-making processes that relate to the selection and design of teaching materials as well as teaching approaches that target at the intensification of the second-year curriculum. This approach emphasizes the explicit development of literary reading skills to facilitate the learners' transition into the upper-level curriculum. We conclude with concrete recommendations for departments that embark on similar projects.