PreK-K Language class at co-op

[4KookieKids]

I'd love to start a German foreign language class at our local co-op. They have lots of families there with just one or two "big kids" and lots and lots of "little kids", which means that they could really use more preschool classes. I have lots of resources (board books, music, rhymes, finger games, etc.) that I use raising my own kids to speak German, but have no idea how to translate that into a class. I just don't understand how I'd structure it - should I speak German the whole time? Bits and pieces? Read a book? Translate it? Show them pictures and teach one word at a time? Teach them a song by explaining each word or phrase? I feel clueless! These kids will be coming in with ZERO German exposure, and I'll only have them once a week. Is something like this even possible? Would it be better to wait until they're older and reading (like 1st - 5th)?

[3 ladybugs]

I know of a teacher locally who was doing something like this (then she moved to Switzerland...), she did it in a mono language environment. I noticed for my son (currently 6) he does best with this environment too. 

 

I think what would be best (coming at it from the standpoint of a parent) is if you were to plan your lesson plan and print out a worksheet (for lack of a better term) of all the things that you were focusing on that day, so that parents could reinforce it during the week. So if you worked on colors you would list all the colors and then the german for them. If you really wanted to encourage retention you could even do a You-tube video of you saying all the words in german so that parents could hear it to get the pronunciation correct. However since German is phonetic language that may not be needed. 

 

I would read books, play games, sing songs for children that age. So read something like Brown bear, brown bear in german, then sing Grun, Grun, Grun, and then play a game like touch something rot. Eventually you will have one kid that the kids will follow (provided your own children are not in the class) that will get them to get it. I would do it all in German though. 

 

You might also try contacting german schools (there are several around the country if there are none near you) for ideas for this age group. I am enrolling my son in a class and he will have workbooks and such at this age. 

[Chris in VA]

I would start off in English until routines are established, mixing in German songs, games, and art experiences. Are they pre-k or 3yos?

I'd prob just structure it like an hour of preschool. Start with coming to a circle time. You can shake hands at the door, greeting in German, then sit on a rug or carpet squares.(If the carpet squares are different colors, use them for games to teach counting and colors.)

Then I would prob sing a children's song in Germa that you could teach them. Make it a predictable opening. Then, I would prob use a globe to point out Germany.

Kids can come up the next eeek to point it out for you.

A game would follow--something simple and active. Do you have any German kid song cds or whatever? Then maybe you could do an art project combined with a center time. If you have a box of dress up clothes, some blocks and loose parts for building, playdough and a doll house, you are good to go. Make your art projects process-oriented, and comment about color and shapes. Some examples would be collages of one color or shape,print circles with toilet paper tubes, use blocks to print squares and rectangles, etc. Make a color book, where every child uses one color to make a page and you write the Germancolor word and their names on it for them. Read it to the class.

Go around during art/time and comment in German on what they are doing. Then gather again and describe what each child did-- "Sally what did you do? Ah, you played with the ( German word for house!)" etc. Hold up objects as you talk, pass around and have them repeat. A short book, a fingerplay, and you are done.

 

Or something like that!

 

You could do foods, objects at home, family words, colors, polite expressions, introductions...all in a very playful, active way.

[eternallytired]

I'd agree that going complete immersion might be a bit terrifying to little ones off the bat, but I think it'd be cool to gradually do more and more of your speaking in German.  For that age, in particular, routine and predictability are key--if a child knows what's coming (more or less), they are less stressed about that as an unknown and more able to relax and focus on other things, like learning.  So as they're familiar with the routine, you can gradually switch your instruction to more German without causing them a major stress-out.

 

I'd have the same basic structure every time.  Something like--circle time greeting/weather/whatever, song, story, game, vocab review, active song/fingerplay, craft, free play, farewell song--depending how much time you have and how big your group is, I think my sequence would take about 75 minutes, if free play was mostly whatever time kids had if they finished the craft in a hurry.  You can have some things that change (new game and craft each week, rotate through various songs and finger plays).  Select a theme for each week or have in mind a general progression or series of things to cover and break it into bite-size chunks.

 

Use books, songs, games, and crafts to teach the vocab.  For books, if you can find ones that are familiar stories or ones that have a really obvious storyline, then you can focus on the vocab, stopping to point out/discuss the pictures in German and have kids repeat some words as you read.  For songs, you can teach a line at a time and then explain its meaning, asking if the kids remember in subsequent singings.  Games can be anything active/interactive, from Simon Says to relays to I Spy.  Crafts can include coloring pages, cut-and-paste, or make-it type things like paper dolls (start with basic labeled body parts to put together and provide labeled clothes to color and dress them in a subsequent week?).

 

I guess my overview would be--familiar sequence, small bites of info, repeat elements multiple weeks for mastery, gradually increase immersion, alternate sit-down and active activities, and limit each activity block to 10 minutes or so (with a few minutes to transition between activities).  Hope that's remotely helpful.

[Xahm]

I'm answering this as the mother of a bright 3-year old who is learning French.  I previously taught English as a Foreign language, mostly to teens and twenties, but also kindergarten and elementary, and one time I had to teach a 2 year old English.  

One big thing is to manage parents' expectations.  So many parents, especially those without a strong foreign language background, have heard so much about how little kids are these sponges who pick up a second language without any effort.  Clearly I don't know the parents you will be working with, but I would set goals for the class and let the parents know these. Something like "To help the children begin to understand that people speak in different languages. To help the children start to understand geography and an appreciation of the culture of Germany. To give the children a positive experience with foreign language so they will approach it with enthusiasm in the future. To provide children with a very basic foundation in German that parents can later build on."  Maybe the parents you will work with have more reasonable expectations, but I've seen parents sure that their preschoolers are gaining fluency in two hours a week, and that could lead to difficulties or disappointment.

I like the advice you've already gotten about switching activities frequently, speaking German as much as possible but not insisting on it (so you don't freak little kids out), and mixing lots of story time, crafts, songs, and whole-body movement. I found it very helpful to, at some point in the lesson, have the kids working on something like a coloring page so that I could go around the room to talk one-on-one with each child to be sure that the quieter children were picking up on things and to give opportunities to the faster children to learn a little more vocabulary. 

Good communication of what was learned in class is also good.  A vocabulary list, links to a good youtube video of the song you are learning, and maybe a take-it-further idea for a game or activity the family can do later. If your local library offers language learning software online free, like Mango or Tell Me More, you may want to let parents know about that, too, so they can learn a little ahead of their kids and feel more comfortable supporting what you do in class.

[4KookieKids]

Thanks all! These are great ideas!

 

 

One big thing is to manage parents' expectations.  So many parents, especially those without a strong foreign language background, have heard so much about how little kids are these sponges who pick up a second language without any effort.  Clearly I don't know the parents you will be working with, but I would set goals for the class and let the parents know these. Something like "To help the children begin to understand that people speak in different languages. To help the children start to understand geography and an appreciation of the culture of Germany. To give the children a positive experience with foreign language so they will approach it with enthusiasm in the future. To provide children with a very basic foundation in German that parents can later build on."  Maybe the parents you will work with have more reasonable expectations, but I've seen parents sure that their preschoolers are gaining fluency in two hours a week, and that could lead to difficulties or disappointment.

 

And this is a great point. As someone who grew up in a multilingual culture and who's doing my best to raise bilingual children, I fully understand that no one gains fluency in a few hours a week, no matter how bright they are... But it never occurred to me that other parents may not realize that.

[duckens]

I have some foreign language games that I use with my kids listed on this thread, entry #6.