German in UK Primary Schools (state or private)?

[ConfusedMover]

Apart from the European School Culham & the German School in London has anyone come across german being taught at Primary level (i.e. from Year 1) in the UK? I've Googled it to death but can find nothing.

...should have said German as a 2nd language....

I think where a second language is taught in primary schools it is still normally French, and perhaps some Spanish. I haven't known of a primary school doing German, although German is a common language to be taught at secondary level.

I guess you would need to identify some possible school you are interested in and contact them to ask.

Even if you do find a state school that claims to do German at primary level it may well be extremely basic. My dd1 has supposedly been learning French for 2 years now and can say maybe 5 sentences and count to 10 - she knows a heck of a lot more Spanish just from going to Spain on holiday once a year.

I read 80 percent of UK primary schools teach French as foreign language, so that doesn't leave much.

Is there some central educational authority you could ask?

geekgirl at what age did she start learning French?

Wish dd didn't have to have French as 1st foreign language but the other option would be English!

I've heard that German is still held back as a difficult language (let's face it , it is) and you only get to do it if you show a talent in other languages like french or German so I doubt that it would be on offer in primary schools.

Sorry I meant like French or Spanish there!

Yes, I know its' a really long shot. LEA would be best but we have some flexibility over location so it's just knowing where to start, needle in a haystack stuff . I am waiting for am application form & more info from Culham where I know they do 45 mins per day in their 2nd language (5 choices), or indeed majority teaching in one of 5 mother tongues.

waves to admylin Hope you're feeling a bit better. With ear-ache (had it once and God was it painful, I got antibiotics and it helped fast). I think you need a break.

Actually I remember mum saying when she was at school, it was the weaker stream (thickos) that had to learn German and the rest had French so she assumed that was because German was considered easier.

I wish they could learn something other than French though. It sounds nice and I have nothing against the French but I'd find Italian or Spanish or something different more interesting.

More interesting for me at least

Wonder if the Goethe Institut would know which schools offer German

It's got to be Chinese nowadays though hasn't it! Every private school in Berlin seems to be offering it as a first or second choice even from year 1.

ConfusedMover have you tried the German Embassy? They might have lists?

I'm sure Chinese is brilliant but you know how it is, if they have to learn it, guess what, YOU will have to learn it too to help them with it and I just can't be bothered with Chinese rising and sinking vowels

my ds1 and ds3 both did (well ds3 is still doing) German in private primary. They start in Y3 with it, and to a reasonable level - written and spoken. It's taught by a specilalist language teacher though. Ds2 did French, ds4 starts y3 in sept so don't know yet what he will do.

SSSandy & admylin - German Embassy & Goethe Institut sound good ideas

Loshad - not being nosy but what part of the country are you in?

Yorkshire, kids at school in Leeds

SSSandy, She started in Y3, she'd just turned 7 then. I think part of the problem is that all they're doing is trying to fulfill the requirement for languages at primary level and it's a tiny village school so the options are limited. The teacher's only French qualification is having done it at A level 25 years ago
Her accent is atricious and as a result so is dd's.

atrocious even

(atrocious typing from me today!)

German is slipping out of favour even at secondary level. When I was at secondary school (late 80s) it was always the second foreign langauge of choice after French - Spanish was the minority interest. These days Spanish seems to be the standard next choice and is even coming up on the rails behind French. Makes sense, given its global prominence.

German is still a big business language and very useful. It also teaches you a lot about language - despite its many irregular verbs it is very structured and logical.

unquietdad, the logicality and structure of it is why ds1 and 3 are doing it, they are both dyslexic and the school felt it was easier for them than french. DS1 will do it for GCSE.

Both my children have done German since they started school in P1. However, their knowledge is extremely limited!! They do not get a specialist teacher - just one of the class teachers who I think has done additional training.

haggisaggis - whereabouts? Not being nosey but really keen to hear about any school that does it.

I live in the Perth & Kinross region of Scotland. Most of the primaries close to us do German - I guess there will be others that do French. I will reiterate though that it is VERY basic!

I have found the following statistics on the internet (which implies that whatever little language teaching is available at primary level, it can't be that effective....). But I think the Government has plans to make languages compulsory for all 7 years old by 2010?

Key statistics about modern foreign language teaching in England

Only about 21% of primary schools offer some form of language teaching
The most frequently cited reason schools stop teaching modern languages is that fulfilling the statutory requirements of the national curriculum is a higher priority
The time allocated to language teaching increases through the primary years, reaching an average peak of one hour a week in independent schools and 45 minutes in state schools
Most of those teaching languages in primary schools do not have languages as their main responsibility
The most frequently taught languages in primary schools are in order: French, German, Spanish and Italian
Many primaries have no link with their local secondaries for language teaching

(Source: Findings from the most recent QCA report (2000) on the language teaching available to key stage 2 pupils - seven to 11-year-olds)