In many courses, learners do not talk about their experiences. Yet these experiences are crucial for resonance in the classroom. Through writing, sharing, mirroring back and responding to prompts, a space is created in which resonance can emerge and everyone can take part.
Anyone who’s taught youngsters will certainly confirm several of the observations listed here—and probably add some more. But learning a foreign language isn’t always easy for grownups either, as teachers in adult education—and adult learners—know all too well. We need to be in the right frame of mind—otherwise learning can be a painstaking ordeal!
(Foreign) languages open up new worlds to us, but we generally feel most at home in our mother tongue. And yet, as Professor Thorsten Piske at Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen and Nuremburg explains in an interview, our native language isn’t always the language we speak best.
How do you motivate youngsters to stay on the ball when learning a foreign language? How can schools contribute to personality development? Experience shows that strategy games can help achieve both of these goals, as well as giving kids a better understanding of democratic decision-making processes.
You must have incorporated a video into your lesson at some point? But have learners ever produced videos of their own in your classroom? These tips and tutorial film clips will help you to try this out in lessons.
German lessons with more than 100 pupils in the classroom is the norm in some countries. Naturally this poses some particular challenges for the teacher and for their lessons. What can be done to ensure that all pupils learn at the same time without chaos breaking out?
Approaches based on drama in education have been increasing in popularity for some years now, including in the MFL curriculum. Why does this strategy work, and what’s the best way of integrating it into lessons? Experiment for yourself using our ideas for drama games.
Youth meetings have long been an integral part of school and extra-curricular educational offerings. But do they have a lasting significance for the development of young people?
The crises in the Middle East and in Europe have brought thousands of young refugees to Germany. They learn German in specially organised courses, but this also poses major challenges for the teachers.
