Programmes

We offer a language education programme to students from Kinder, Foundation right through to prep VCE, that is complementary to that provided by mainstream schools and the Victorian School of Languages, in alignment with the Australian Curriculum F – 10. Since we also offer the Goethe Zertifikat A1+2 exams and the DSD 1 exam, which correspond to the six proficiency levels, ranging from A1, for beginners to C2, for those who master the language, from the Common European Framework of References (CEFR), our year levels can be aligned with the CEFR as follows:

Kinder
Foundation
Year 1&2 – A1
Year 3&4 – A1
Year 5&6 – A1
Year 7&8 – A2.1 <==> Goethe Zertifikat A1
Year 9&10 – A.2./B1 <==> Goethe Zertifikat A2
prep VCE – B1/B1+ <==> DSD 1

While our Years 1-6 also follows these language levels, the markers and descriptions are not entirely representative. Take into account that students in Grade 1-2 are learning to read and write “from scratch”, with much work in those grades going towards letter and word segment recognition and phonetic sounding.
Student progress is reported formally twice a year and parents, students, and teachers communicate regularly on an informal basis. The school places a high value on cooperation between parents and the school, and parent interest and support are consistently high.
Furthermore, native speakers and non-native speakers are learning together to support immersion processes.
Please note that ages may vary and are contingent on enrollment.

Kindergarten class
The aim of this class is to foster and gently introduce German into the lives of children in a playful manner through rhymes, songs, stories and games with a focus on cognitive, physical and social development of our students. With oral language, including developing good pronunciation and a feeling of the intrinsic rhythm of the language, being a central point, the students are taught greetings, introducing themselves, family, colours, pets, food and kitchen, house, body-parts, toys, simple sentences, questions, numbers, days of the week, months and Easter and Christmas in Germany.

Foundation/Prep class
The focus is still the development of the oral language skills. Grammar and vocabulary are taught in context and with meaningful tasks – hands on. The curriculum is structured so that the themes covered relate to seasonal and daily routines that the students are familiar with from their experience of the home. Students also learn how to identify letter-sound relationships and copy and trace letters and letter clusters and match them to sounds and words.

Grade 1 & 2
From “oral language”, the language development starts to progress more and more into written language; students are taught to write words/letters in context and in modelled sentences. Grammatical structures are slowly introduced. Songs and vocabulary games are employed by the teacher to help the students retain vocabulary and grammatical structures in a fun manner.

Grade 3 & 4
The teaching is a balanced approach of listening/speaking/ writing/reading skills. Grammar and vocabulary are explicitly taught and discussed. The students play various educational games to deepen their knowledge of German traditions and geography. Grammar lessons focus on sentence structure, correct usage of articles and adjective endings, singular and plural forms of nouns, verb conjugations, nouns and pronouns, negation, question and answer, modal verbs, , and the time. Hands-on activities, songs, and poems are also included.

Grade 5 & 6
Students are extending their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to prepare them for the transition into secondary level. The focus is on the fundamental structures of the German language to enable the students to have conversations about leisure time and sports, family and housing, school, animals and the circus, food and drink, health, and travels. Students continue their study of verb conjugations, questions, personal pronouns, articles, possessive pronouns, modal verbs, prepositions, accusative and dative forms of nouns and past perfect with “haben” and “sein”.

Grade 7 & 8
At this level, the students are prepared to sit the Goethe Zertifikat A 1 exam. They are further developing their vocabulary and grammatical understandings within the world of teenage experience and topics of general interest relating to everyday life in German speaking countries. Grammar activities focus on verbs, subordinate clauses, reflexive verbs, indirect questions, preterit, past perfect, prepositions followed both by the accusative and dative.

Grade 9 & 10
At this level, the students prepare for the Goethe Zertifiakt A2. Students consolidate their understanding and use of German, their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, and the micro-skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, covering topics such as problems facing young people, contemporary youth-culture including music, film, TV, digital media, art, festivals and traditions. Learning builds on the concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will revisit and reinforce these as required.

Grade 11 &12: prep VCE
At this level, the students prepare for the DSD 1 exam.The VCE years develop and extend the knowledge and understanding of language and culture acquired by the students in the previous years. In particular, more complex vocabulary, topics and grammatical concepts as well as writing conventions and text types are covered, preparing students for the required outcomes in the VCE exam. Attention is given to the standards and requirements necessary to successfully pass the final VCE examination. The content, structure and assessment required for Units 1-4 follows the course requirements as outlined in the VCAA VCE German study guide and the VCEE VCE assessment handbook.