Completed projects

Project description:

MiteinandR German as a Second Language was a project run by the Chair of German as a Second Language at the University of Regensburg to promote language learning amongst children and young people from migrant backgrounds at schools in Regensburg, in cooperation with the City of Regensburg and the Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

The project ran from October 2013 to July 2016.

Teacher training students, who received specialist training and supervision from the Chair of German as a Second Language at the University of Regensburg, taught German as a second language at partner schools in Regensburg in groups of no more than six pupils. The German lessons, tailored to the individual linguistic needs of the children and young people, took place weekly, comprising two lessons each time, and were designed in particular to support the development of academic language skills in German as the language of schooling.

Academic basis:

Second language acquisition in childhood and adolescence is essentially characterised by the following three features:

1. The long-term nature of the second-language acquisition process

Achieving a level of academic language proficiency relevant to school in a second language takes 5–7 years under favourable learning conditions.

2. The distinction between everyday and academic language skills

Academic language skills in the language of schooling are a key prerequisite for successful learning. To acquire academic language skills in German as a second language (DaZ), pupils are dependent on support from the school.

3. Individual progression in second language acquisition

In contrast to first-language acquisition, second-language development is characterised by considerable individual variation.

Effective language support takes these three characteristics of second-language acquisition into account. In the miteinandR DaZ project, this was achieved through:

1. the continuity of DaZ support from primary to secondary level. miteinandR DaZ collaborates with primary schools, middle schools, Realschulen and Gymnasien in Regensburg.
2. the targeted development of academic language skills in DaZ.
3. the identification of individual language proficiency profiles based on a detailed assessment of each pupil’s language skills in DaZ.
4. DaZ lessons tailored to the individual language needs of each pupil, delivered in small groups.

Ms Aysin Makas-Reichinger and Dr Simone Hein-Khatibwere responsible for the project .

The ProSALAMANDER programme, funded by the Mercator Foundation (external link, opens in a new window) and aimed at providing further training for foreign academics, supported foreign scholarship holders at the Universities of Regensburg and Duisburg-Essen.

The aim of the programme was to provide further training for highly educated migrants who had obtained a degree in their home country but whose qualifications were not recognised on the German labour market, either formally or in practice. In Regensburg, funding was offered for the following fields of study:

• Economics
• Information and Media Studies, Media Informatics, and Language and Cultural Studies at the Institute for Information and Media, Language and Culture
• Natural Sciences (in individual cases --> please consult us!)

The study programme, which was tailored to individual retraining needs, was designed to enable participants to obtain their first German higher education qualification (Bachelor’s or Master’s) (usually within 12 to 18 months) with the aim of improving their prospects on the German labour market.

As part of the study programme, participants acquired specialist knowledge and skills in the relevant subject-specific language, as well as specific methodological and social skills. Students received individual on-site guidance and support from mentors.

In Regensburg, 17 scholarships of up to 800 euros per month were awarded.

The ProSALAMANDER project was awarded the German Diversity Prize in 2013.

The team consisted of:

• Kristin Frauenhoffer MA (Coordination)
• Joanna Sommer, Dipl.-Päd. (Clearing)
• Christine König (language training)
• Christian Nowack, B.Com (Subject Tutor: Economics)
• Hermann Wellner MA (Subject Tutor, Institute for Information and Media, Language and Culture)

The basic idea: What is the Mercator Project?

The Mercator Foundation, based in Essen (www.stiftung-mercator.de (external link, opens in a new window)), is committed to the integration of multilingual people in Germany. Specifically, it supports language development for pupils from migrant backgrounds in lower secondary education. Nationwide, there were 35 locations during the first phase of the project (2004–2011), including three in Bavaria.

In addition to regular lessons, multilingual pupils received support in small groups in the afternoons. This was not provided by the teachers at the respective schools, but by students acting as language support teachers, who had been trained for this role at nearby universities. During the first phase of the project, the Mercator Foundation covered the students’ expense allowances.

The Mercator Project in Regensburg:

From 2006 onwards, the Mercator project at the Regensburg site was organised and academically supervised by the Chair of German as a Second Language. Students on the German as a Second Language degree programme were trained in both theory and practice to become competent language support teachers, culminating in a certificate or the state examination.

A new generation of teachers was familiarised with and made aware of issues such as migration, integration, language-aware teaching and multilingualism right from the first phase of their training. The small groups, with a maximum of eight learners, were highly diverse, meaning that the students worked in a flexible and differentiated manner right from the start. As a result, a total of over 350 students have been qualified through the Mercator Project in Regensburg since 2006.

Multilingual pupils:

Educational objective: language of instruction

Multilingual children often have a good command of the German language in spoken communication. However, they often lack an adequate breadth and depth of vocabulary, the ability to use more complex sentence structures, and knowledge of idioms and rhetorical devices such as irony, metaphor or hyperbole. These are features of the language of education that are essential for success in the school system.

Target age group: secondary level

At present, there is still an above-average number of multilingual children in middle schools and, correspondingly, few in Bavarian Realschulen and Gymnasien.

For this reason, language support within the Mercator Project has deliberately targeted lower secondary level (Years 5–10).

There are various projects across Bavaria designed to support the language development of multilingual children in pre-school and primary education. However, these must be continued in the higher year groups as part of a consistent and long-term approach to language support. Ultimately, the aim is not only to enable as many children from migrant backgrounds as possible – provided they have the necessary aptitude – to gain access to secondary schools, but also to ensure that they achieve long-term success at these schools, right through to obtaining the relevant educational qualification.

Students:

The School of the 21st Century – Expanding Teaching Skills

The ‘monolingual classroom’ has become a rarity. Today’s teachers are increasingly faced with a multi-ethnic student body. To prepare for this, you can gain the necessary qualifications through the ‘Support lessons for pupils from migrant backgrounds in Regensburg schools’ programme.

• Expanding teaching experience and preparing to teach in classes with a multi-ethnic composition
• Weekly teaching as a German support teacher ( two hours per week, small group at a school in Regensburg)
• Paid position
• Support from the university and the school
• Extensive practical knowledge
• Opportunity to try out new ideas creatively and without the pressure of grading

Testimonials from student language support teachers

“I have nothing but positive things to say about working with the pupils. The pupils were and remain highly motivated, cooperate well and are keen to improve and develop their language skills. I see my work as a support teacher as a unique opportunity for me and am very happy to be able to take part in the Mercator Project. It has enabled me to gain an exceptional amount of experience, particularly in relation to my two additional qualifications in German as a Foreign Language and German as a Second Language, but also in dealing with children and young people in a school setting.” – Heidi Martin

“Dear fellow students,

I am in my sixth semester of studying German and Latin to become a secondary school teacher at the University of Regensburg, and I saw the Mercator Project as a welcome opportunity to put the teaching theories I had learnt into practice.

I was assigned a support group of six Year 5 pupils. In my lessons, I tried to address my pupils’ interests and areas of difficulty. I often had to improvise during my lessons, for example when the pupils encountered grammatical problems whilst preparing at home for their next German test and wanted me to explain them again. Furthermore, I placed great emphasis on oral communication, as many of my pupils in the support group said that they did not speak German at home, but rather their mother tongue. For this reason, I would regularly ask my pupils to talk about their holiday experiences, their leisure activities, their home country, etc., or, for example, to recount the plot of the last film they’d seen. It was not uncommon for the discussion to take a direction I hadn’t planned, but which I nevertheless tolerated. I believe it is important that pupils in special needs classes are able to work and learn in a relaxed, anxiety-free atmosphere. There should be plenty of fun and games; after all, you cannot expect Year 5 pupils to maintain 100 per cent concentration and performance after a six-hour school day. For this reason, I endeavoured to turn every grammar and composition exercise into a quiz or a competition, in order to boost the pupils’ motivation.

(...)

Personally, I believe that I learnt at least as much from the remedial lessons as my pupils did. Although preparing for and following up on the lessons took more time than I had initially anticipated, I learnt a great deal about pupils’ behaviour and how to interact with them.” – Annemarie Simeth

Partner schools:

Testimonials from some partner schools

‘(...) The Mercator Project has helped many children at our school. They improved their German language skills and, as a result, also made progress in other subjects. (...). At the start of the school year, many of my colleagues ask me when the Mercator Project begins and when the registration forms will be handed out. For them, too, it has already become an established practice to be able to provide additional support to children from migrant backgrounds who need extra help through the Mercator Project. To understand the great value of this project from our pupils’ perspective, just consider this: Pupils voluntarily attend extra German lessons in their free time, on top of their already full timetable; they wouldn’t do this if there weren’t ‘something in it for them’, i.e. if they weren’t succeeding!!! (...)” – Doris Seidl, Pestalozzi Secondary School, Regensburg

“The young ladies did a very good job and showed great commitment to the task! The pupils appreciated the help and accepted it with gratitude.” – Brigitte Bauer, St Wolfgang Secondary School, Regensburg

“I am delighted that Ms *** will be able to continue working at our school in the coming academic year. I really enjoy working with her and I believe this provides excellent support for our pupils from migrant backgrounds.” – Brigitte Hümmer-Mehrbrey, Otto-Schwerdt Secondary School, Burgweinting

“I’m delighted to take the good news about our continued collaboration with me into the holidays. The language support provided by the Mercator Project has almost become an ‘integral part’ of our transition classes.” – W . Wolf, Headteacher, Clermont-Ferrand School, Regensburg

“(…) The success of this initiative can be empirically demonstrated simply by the fact that the rate of pupils repeating a year in this group is no higher than the average, and encouraging examples, such as two female pupils from resettled families from the CIS region who achieved an average mark below 2.00 in the 2009/10 academic year and are among the best in their class, demonstrate the effectiveness of this support. These two are by no means isolated cases.

The WvS Gymnasium will continue to be in urgent need of support from the Mercator Project and is very grateful for the excellent cooperation with the Chair of German as a Second Language. (…)” – J . Thalhammer, Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium, Regensburg

“I had a very weak pupil (Year 5) from a Russian migrant background who, in the first term, was really struggling in German lessons, but who, through the Mercator lessons, was able to achieve a mark of 4 and thus progress to the next year. Pupils from Italy, as well as a British pupil, have also been able to make further progress thanks to Mercator. The response from parents has also been very positive; for instance, right at the start of the school year, parents of Year 5 pupils approached us to ask about the lessons, as they had already heard about them. These are just a few practical examples.

For us, who work with children from migrant backgrounds on a daily basis, Mercator is a great help.” – Claudia Neuner, Staatliche Realschule am Judenstein Regensburg I

Project partner:

• Migration Adviser to the Government of the Upper Palatinate
• The Ministerial Representative for Grammar Schools in the Upper Palatinate administrative district
• The Ministerial Representative for Realschulen in the Upper Palatinate administrative district
• Chair of German as a Foreign Language
• Government of the Upper Palatinate
• State Education Authorities for the District and City of Regensburg
• City of Regensburg
• Mercator Foundation GmbH, Essen
• University of Regensburg

Cooperation partners:

• Bavarian State Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Family and Integration
• State Institute for Early Childhood Education (IFP)
• Regensburg Diocesan Caritas Association
• 30 childcare centres in Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate

Implementation and scientific supervision:

• R. Hochholzer
• N. Ehrmann
• M. Vogel

Between September 2009 and July 2011, the Chair of German as a Second Language collaborated with the StMAS, the State Institute for Early Childhood Education and the Regensburg Diocesan Caritas Association as part of the project ‘Language Support in Childcare Centres’. The project, initiated by the StMAS, was designed to provide further professional development for early years practitioners in the field of language education within childcare centres. The University of Regensburg was involved in the implementation and evaluation of the language consultancy project.

The language consultancy project in childcare centres run by the Regensburg Diocesan Caritas Association:

Research assistants from the Chair of German as a Second Language completed training as language advisers and subsequently worked in twenty childcare centres run by the Regensburg Diocesan Caritas Association.

The language consultancy focused on language assessment and methods of language support with a view to providing continuous language education. The main priorities were the development of everyday and academic language skills, the promotion of multilingualism and German as a second language, the identification of language difficulties, and collaboration with parents.

The language consultancy comprised 170 hours per centre and consisted of observation phases, one-to-one consultations, discussion groups, team training sessions and the organisation of parents’ evenings.

Academic support for the language consultancy project:

The Chair of German as a Second Language also provided academic support for the project as part of a survey to evaluate the project. For this purpose, a control group was formed alongside an experimental group drawn from the language consultancy project. Questionnaires developed by the State Institute for Early Childhood Education (IFP) were used at various points in time. The analysis was carried out by the IFP.

Key details:

• Co-ordinators: R . Hochholzer / U. Boller
• Implementation: Students from the University of Regensburg
• Funding: Town of Neutraubling – Regensburg District Office
• Project report: Boller , Ulrike (2009): Successes and challenges in language support for children whose mother tongue is not German in childcare centres – Report on a project by the University of Regensburg.

Contents:

Between 2004 and 2007, students from the University of Regensburg provided language support to 120 children from migrant backgrounds, aged between three and six, in four nursery schools in Neutraubling. The main focus of the support was on expanding vocabulary, active speaking in multi-word sentences, learning pronunciation, listening comprehension and learning basic syntactic patterns. Language assessments carried out at the start and end of the programme revealed significant improvements in all test areas and confirmed the need for early language support for multilingual children.

Project description:

Project IMpuLs! – Participatory development of inclusion and multilingualism: university teacher training with a practical focus!

• a sub-project of the university-wide KOLEG project (Shaping Cooperative Teacher Training)
• carried out by the Chair of German as a Second Language in cooperation with the Chair of Primary School Education
• Project start: June 2015

As part of the IMpuLs! project, the language development of newly arrived children and young people who had migrated to Germany at school age – either alone or with their parents – was monitored over the long term.

The study’s main research focuses:

• entry into the German school system from the pupils’ perspective,
• language assessment of multilingual pupils, and
• the language (acquisition) histories of individual pupils.

Pilot study:

Conferences

2015

• July 2015: Anna Ritter: Researching and teaching with a case database on inclusion and multilingualism. Colloquium with Dr Elias Avramidis (University of Thessaly, Greece) and Associate Professor Dr Markus Scholz (University of Koblenz-Landau), University of Regensburg.
• Dec 2015: Anna Ritter, Nicole Ehrmann: Multilingualism in Bavarian schools. Colloquium ‘Multilingual Regions in Germany and Italy’, European Academy (EURAC), Bolzano, Italy.

2016

• March 2016: Rupert Hochholzer: Study on multilingualism among children and young people with a migration background. Conference ‘Perspectives on German-Slavic Multilingualism’, University of Regensburg.
• May 2016: Rupert Hochholzer: Multilingualism in the Upper Palatinate. Lecture series by international academics, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic.
• June 2016: Anna Ritter, Nicole Ehrmann: Newcomers to the German school system. Workshop ‘Multilingualism at School’ with colleagues from the European Academy (EURAC) in Bolzano, Italy, at the University of Regensburg.
• July 2016: Anna Ritter, Nicole Ehrmann: Multilingual children and young people as latecomers to the German school system – initial findings from the IMpuLs! project; screening of the short film ‘Reading in Arabic and German’. 3rd meeting of the Committee for Inclusion and Multilingualism, University of Regensburg.
• July 2016: Rupert Hochholzer: Support measures for multilingual pupils in the city of Regensburg. 3rd meeting of the Committee for Inclusion and Multilingualism, University of Regensburg.