German

I would like to say ‘herzlich willkommen!’ (welcome!) to all our new students and ‘willkommen zurück!’ (welcome back!) to those returning to Cheltenham PS in 2024. I will be working with all year levels again this year, supported by the wonderful Mrs Hewson in the Foundation classes. I am passionate about the benefits of language learning and developing intercultural understanding and hope to foster these passions in the students. Our aim is to make language learning relevant, engaging and fun. 

Below is a summary of the different topics we will be exploring across the different year levels this term:

In Foundation, we will be exploring the different cultural backgrounds and languages spoken within our own learning communities and discussing why we learn about other languages and cultures. The children will be introduced to German and the country where German stems from, Germany. Students will learn how to greet each other and introduce themselves, as well as how to count from 1-5 in German. Songs, simple rhymes and videos will be used to help the children to acquire new sounds and words, which we will practise through simple role plays, games and activity sheets. 

Years 1 and 2 students will be building on their basic conversational skills and knowledge of German sounds and words. A closer look at the German alphabet will help them with the different sounds used in German. Students will learn how to ask how someone is and talk about their basic feelings in German. Simplified role plays, videos, songs, games and written activities will be used to develop their language skills. Practising structured verbal interactions aims to support students’ developing interpersonal skills while the written activities are designed to support their basic literacy skills.

Years 3 and 4 students will be learning how to form dates and say when something takes place in German, incorporating the months of the year. To do so, students will be consolidating and extending on their knowledge of German numbers to be able to count up to 31, as well the corresponding ordinal numbers. We will cover both how to say and write dates. Students will practice by asking and answering questions about their Birthdays. A range of multimedia texts, classroom dialogue, games and activity sheets will be used to support their learning. 

Years 5 and 6 will be focusing on family this term. We will be revising and building on existing knowledge to increase students’ vocabulary and language skills. Students will create their own family tree and work at their own level to talk about and describe family members. There will continue to be a strong focus on functional language incorporating listening and speaking skills through classroom dialogues and multimedia texts, while also developing students’ reading and writing skills. 

If you have any questions or would like to contribute to the German language and culture program, please feel free to reach out. 

Tschüss!

Lisa Hunt

LOTE Specialist