Australia: Immersion school drops textbook methods

[Francis Hult]

The Age

 

Immersion school drops textbook methods

 

Fifteen bright-eyed, smiling-faced prep students are singing a song. It's about the sun shining, the wind blowing, owls hooting, and the fact that it's a beautiful morning. Or a guten morgen, to be precise. The students are singing in German, you see, but this isn't your average primary school language class.

 

Before being charmed by the song of six-year-olds, I've attended a year 6 science class on the seasons and an assembly of dancing, clapping year 4 students - with barely a word of English spoken in either.

 

Another day, I might have taken a class in social studies, technology, music, art or even physical education, each taught in German.

 

This is called immersion learning, and for the teachers and students of Bayswater South Primary School - one of 13 schools in Victoria to offer language immersion programs - learning German isn't about one class a week with a musty set of textbooks. Rather, it's about integrating a foreign language into everything you study, learning it as you would your mother tongue, and in the process understanding how it functions on a practical, day-to-day level.

 

Full story:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/immersion-school-drops-textbook-methods-20081011-4ysv.html

 

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