Examples will open a window into what this looks like in practice in the first school years, giving the reader a taste of what it feels like to learn and teach in this way. We will explore teaching methods and the aims of language teaching in Waldorf schools, which go beyond the obvious goal of language acquisition. This article is an invitation to join me in my English lessons. Children encounter the richness of the language itself, and connect to the world in which they live through meaningful experiences and the involvement of the senses. It is a hands-on approach built on direct experience. English lessons in the first school years include recitation, singing, role play, stories, musical instruments, drawing, games, and movement - and perhaps even gardening and cookery. This brought a new dimension to the experience, since these were people who had not practiced the phrases with us in the classroom beforehand.Īt Waldorf schools children usually learn two new languages from grade one. These were simple little exchanges, but it was a delight to watch my class of eight-year-old English learners skipping about and offering each other food in English during our “English picnic.” The children discovered that they could speak English not only to each other, but also to the parents who had accompanied us on our outing. She is particularly interested in language acquisition and bilingualism in young children. She currently lives in Freiburg and teaches at the Freie Waldorfschule Freiburg-Wiehre. Kavita Desai grew up in England and has been teaching English and French, mainly at German Waldorf schools, for the past 16 years.
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