Transcript

BIRGIT GEDICKE

My name is Birgit Gedicke. I’m an English and German teacher at Roter Hahn Schule in Lubeck Germany.

I think that they are very concentrated in listening. Listening comprehension is a very important point. I think that the children like to listen to the English language. They are used to it by songs and they use it for games, and I think they like it. And yah, I think therefore this is the best for them to have it very early, these lessons.

I don’t see any problems by teaching children when they are so young in English. For me it’s important that they are very young because they learn very quickly. They have a better ear to understand the English language. They get used to it very early and they get used to the listening concentration. And I think this is a good thing for them.

I try to speak as much English as I can with them. I avoid to translate. I show a lot. I use pictures. We used lots of TPR so that the children do something by speaking and it should be something that is used every day, things they do every day. So they are topics which come from their normal lives. And yah, I think this is what is very important, that you have topics which the children like.

I started reading and writing a little bit later, the beginning of the second form. In the first class we did a lot of talking and acting, acting out, singing, playing games. And starting with Class 2 I started showing them the words and started to write down some little sentences. And now in Class 3 they really can write some little texts in English.

I want them to be sure that they understand everything, all the most important things. And when I have a special aim for the lesson I want them to get this aim, to reach this aim so I can be sure that they reach this aim I have in my mind. So I want them to speak mostly in English if it’s possible but sometimes they must change in to German so that they can ask me questions they can’t ask in English. They’re not able to, the words they don’t know. And it’s speaking about problems and sometimes about feelings, and this is what they can’t do in English so very well.

I think the children are very relaxed to know that they can switch over into German if it’s possible or if they have to, and if they don’t know how to explain it in English, but they try to do it in English if it’s possible for them.

I try to use it in all subjects, English. I try to say what they have to do, what is the next step. I try to do that in English, to say that in English. Mostly the children know what I want from them. But some things I must do in German because it’s too complicated. For example, when there are special problems I have to clear with the children when they had a quarrel, I do that in German. So that I’m sure that they understand the problem and how to handle it.

The children love learning English. They are very proud of doing it. And they are very proud that they understand special texts, for example, in songs. And that they feel that there is a progress, that they are getting better and understand more than in the first grade. I think they like it very much, yah.

Outside the school they are looking for English words. Sometimes they come back the next day and say, oh I saw on the internet this word, that word, can you translate it. Or they have special t-shirts. There are some sentences on their t-shirts and they want to know the meaning of the sentence or the words. This is the normal life. We live with English here in Germany, in all surroundings and I think this is why children see that it is so important to learn English. And they always come and ask me questions about English words, mmm.

I think that globalisation is so normal for us. For example, when you are travelling or there is a tourist downtown, people talk in English. And I think that in our normal lives English is a very important language here in Europe. So I think that they will use it very often, especially when they are adults. They know how to ask a question or how to answer a question when they meet persons they don’t know and they have another language so they can talk to them.

I think the job market is a very important fact. Nowadays I think you must use English in so many jobs. I think of computer expressions or special handouts they have. I think they will use it very often in other jobs, yes.

For me it’s so much fun to teach English in primary school beginning with the first class. Because I think the children are free of anything. They are not shy. They try to do it without thinking. And, yes, they are spontaneous and they do it without thinking what they are doing and therefore they do it very well and learn it very quickly.