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Literacy and German
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- Literacy and German
Last updated 2 April 2025 Victorian Curriculum V2: Literacy Definition "Literacy is defined as students’ ability to comprehend and create texts with accuracy, confidence, fluency and efficacy for learning in and out of school, and for participating in the workplace and community. Literacy is fundamental to a student’s ability to learn at school and to engage productively in society. In the Victorian Curriculum F–10, students develop literacy by listening to, reading, viewing, speaking and writing different texts, and using language for different purposes in a range of contexts. While much of the explicit teaching of literacy occurs in the English learning area, it is strengthened, made specific and, in some cases, extended in other learning areas as students engage in a range of learning activities with literacy demands. Success in any learning area depends on being able to use the significant, identifiable and distinctive literacy skills important for learning and representative of the content of that learning area."
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Flaticon Languages Curriculum for German 2.0 Learning German develops learners’:
LTV: Literacy and Language Learning Visit the Languages Teachers Victoria* (LTV) website page on literacy. *LTV is the new name for MLTAV German and English are in the same language family. Five phases of reading in German
Extract from eKidz Phonetik Read about and watch an Online-Seminar: Phonetik im Deutschunterrich - Referentin: Sandra Kroemer AGTV Colour Posters to Download Produced with the support of the Victorian Government. Choose which size you want to print: A3 or A4
 
Anlaute and das Alphabet - und mehr A collection of videos and other materials for all ages. Tongue TwistersA tried and true and fun way to practise the sounds of German.
ISL Collective Worksheets: Aussprache Phonics in Victorian Schools A structured progression of grapheme-phoneme correspondences using a systematic synthetic phonics approach Transforming L2 Listening Instruction: Powerful Insights from Prof. John Field
The Power of Dictation - What, Why, HowA video about the benefits of dictation with strategies applicable for all languages.
Note-taking is an important skill for students in VCE German when completing listening tasks. Dictation starts to build the skills for writing down what you hear. Word of the Day Ask students to subscribe to this service. A German word is emailed every day. The subscriber learns-
The words are very useful words for e.g. Years 5 to 9 or older as revision. Student can go back to see what the words. A small but daily opportunity to read and hear German. German Verbs
Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA) Literacy is a cross-language skill. Learning another language enhances literacy skills across languages. There are observable indicators of literacy skills as they develop. Download the indicators for Literacy (and Numeracy) as identified by ACARA in March 2020, which are relevant teachers of Languages. Goethe-Institut Posters The Goethe-Institut in Barcelona have reproduced and old but groovy Goethe-Institut poster for 'Guten Morgen' showing the position of the mouth. They have also produced another in a similar vein for introductory sentences.
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Teaching Literacy in Languages in Year 7 German
An older but still useful resource for language teachers produced by the (then) NSW Department of Education and Training. Shared with permission: © State of New South Wales (Department of Education) 2024 [Except as otherwise noted] this document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Literacy skills are learnt in any language and transferable to and from other languages. Learning German supports a student’s general literacy skills in their first language and any other language the student may know. German and English are in the same language family. Linking Languages to Literacy Responses to commonly asked questions: Achieving literacy is difficult so isn’t it better to focus on English rather than on other languages? Learning another language can enhance literacy in English. Through the study of another language students have the opportunity to compare how the two languages work and so gain a better understanding of English as a language system. Furthermore, in an age of new technologies, multimedia and increasing global connections, it is important for children to know how to manage communication and knowledge transfer across languages and cultures. The study of a language in addition to English supports the development of these skills. English is the only learning area where literacy can really be addressed. Literacy is developed in all areas of the curriculum. As such, all teachers are responsible for supporting the literacy development of their students. However, because literacy is about language, the study of another language can enhance literacy, language and communication skills. How can learning a second language help English literacy? There is a lot of evidence to suggest that learning a second language can enhance English literacy. Some of the ways are listed below:
Languages are only for academically able students so less able students shouldn’t have to do them. It is quite normal for people to speak more than one language. The assumption that only academically able students should learn another language is based on a tradition of associating language study with the classics. This historical practice has nothing to do with the ability of people to acquire language because we know that this ability is not linked to particular intelligence. If English is already a second language should a child study a third? Most people in the world speak more than one language. None of the studies of multilingual acquisition demonstrates negative effects from learning more than two languages. In fact, it seems the more languages you learn the more able you are to learn language. Added to this are the advantages of being able to experience the cultures and ideas of different people through their language. For English as a Second Language students, learning a third language can be a positive experience because their skills in that language are comparable to the skills of their classmates. It also provides these students with further opportunities to consider English as a language system. Will studying another language be confusing for children? Successful second language learners transfer their knowledge about language from on language to another. By using cross-linguistic strategies, learning and literacy in both languages are enhanced. It is when learners try to keep language separate, by not recognizing the connections that all languages have, there is the possibility of confusion. What is the point in studying another language when English is now the international language?* An important part of being literate in the 21st century is to be able to manage communication and knowledge transfer across languages and cultures. To understand the cultures of other people it is essential to understand how their language works. [*Most people in the world don’t speak English and many speak more than one language.] Literacy in the 21st Century 21st century children need a different literacy from that of their parents. Being able to read books and write with pen and paper does not have the same place it had previously. The practices that parents often associate with literacy are only a part of what their children encounter in this age of information technology and global connectedness. Children today not only use a wide range of language conventions that didn’t exist when their parents were growing up; they are in fact, creating them through new technologies. This is expressed in a recent definition of literacy as:
The Languages and Literacy Partnership Learning a language means learning about language and what is means to be literate. Research tells us that the experience of learning a second language not only improves our knowledge of how languages work but also enhances our thinking skills. What we learn to do in one language helps us with any other language we might encounter. This means that our first language and other languages work in partnership to strengthen and enrich our repertoire of literacy practices. Through learning languages other than English we have the opportunity to appreciate better that literacy in English is also about culture and about distinctive ways of thinking and being. ____________________________________________ Excerpts from ‘Linking Languages and Literacy’ © Commonwealth of Australia 2002 - Reprinted in SZENE with permission Download the text above in the original brochure: And if the student claims "I'm never going to use German", you can reply "No problem, you can use it here [in our classroom]" - and take them to the German for the future website to show them you don't know where it will lead. |
