6 children. 5 days. 3 hours daily. 1 goal:
Fun and joy while learning German!
Our summer crash course for preschool children has come to an end, with many smiles on the children's faces and certificates in their hands. The small group of 6 children, who were speaking various first languages, worked intensively and playfully on the German language for 5 days in a row at the LIMU-Academy. The German levels of the children were very diverse, but every child was able to take something with them in the end. The insecurities at the start and the fear to not understand something got smaller and smaller every single day!
During the course learning periods were alternated with playing periods. During the learning periods the children engaged with the German language in a conscious way:
One of the activities was to place a ball on different body parts to practise new words and prepositions. For example, the children put a ball on or under a certain body part and had to say where they have placed it: unter dem Fuß, auf der Hand (under the foot, on the hand) etc.
The children also played memory with pictures of animals. Through this they expanded their vocabulary and practised the singular and plural forms of the nouns. While turning over the memory cards, they said: Ein Pferd und ein Vogel (a horse and a bird). Or: Zwei Pferde (two horses)!
While drawing the children internalised the topics they had learned together with the course teacher in a creative way. Children learn very effectively when using their hands and working with colours.
During the learning period the children could also make up their own games. They made up the following game: "Wo ist die Maus Zuhaus?" (something like: "Where is the house of the mouse?"). One child hid a mouse toy under a traffic cone and mixed it with other traffic cones. Now the others had to guess where the mouse was hidden. Together they clapped the phrase divided into syllabels: Wo-ist-die-Maus-Zu-haus? When one child found the mouse, then everyone clapped the phrase: Da-ist-die-Maus-Zu-haus. (something like This-is-the-house-of-the-mouse.) Childrenlove rhymes and memorise sentences easier with them. The clapping gives the sentences extra rhythm and makes learning the language playful and melodic.
In between the learning periods the children had playing periods in which they could play and move freely. The course teacher was observing the children while they played and analysed how they spoke German spontaneously. This way she could react to the children individually and practise words and sentences with them during the playing period. The children repeated the words or sentences after the course teacher and clapped them together while playing at the same time. Here, the focus for German beginners was on nouns, while the more advanced children practised whole sentences and clauses.
The free playing periods served as a frame for the children to live out their needs for creativity and movement. This way they were more concentrated and motivated during the learning periods. The diverse activities helped the children expand their vocabulary in German and strengthen their grammatical skills.
At the end of the crash course all children received a language talent certificate. This way they will be able to remember the crash course at the LIMU-Academy for a long time!
