This year, two rather significant changes have taken place in Baden-Württemberg: firstly, the gymnasiums are switching back to 9 years of learning, and secondly, they are again trying to limit the free choice of the type of secondary school. One is connected with the other: it is believed that increasing the number of years will attract those parents who are dissatisfied with the intensity of the current gymnasial education.
I am periodically asked what is Antolin, as people have heard that it’s a good thing or that it’s recommended to use it at school. Most of my children’s teachers, however, are not enthusiastic about Antolin, and I will briefly explain why below.
In Germany, there are different forms of education for kids with speech delay and speech development problems. These can be pure special schools for children with speech problems, general special schools for children with special needs, and inclusion (education in regular classes). In each specific federal state, this can be only one of the options or a combination of them.
In this post I will explain why these special schools for kids with speech delay are nothing to be afraid of, what is good about them, how they differ from regular schools and inclusion and where to find them in different federal states in Germany.
For a long time, Germany drove its education model of the Weimar Republic, like an excellent Benz car. And in 2001, it suddenly turned out that the car was slightly outdated. The surprise was called a PISA shock. Then the educational machine was given a kick, without changing anything in the construction. The kick didn’t have an effect long.
What to take your child to the library (in German in our case) is a hot topic for parents. It is good if the child reads actively, but if you have a boy or, as in my case, a boy, a boy and one more boy, then the task of not only teaching reading, but getting reading has a new level.
What secondary school to choose – Gymnasium or Realschule? High school choice is not as obvious now as it used to be. Secondary education in Germany has changed significantly over the past 15 years.
I have so far examined the structure of education in half of the federal states (see the topics “Schools after the Grundschule”) and will continue to do so.
The main conclusion: the idea “if you want to go to a university, you need to fight to get into a gymnasium” in most Bundeslands no longer works. The strictest vertical is preserved in Bavaria and Saxony.
The first part is about satchel, pencil cases, sports bags and theft of the school supplies. Let’s go further down the list – to pencils and pens as school supplies.
Important: pencils, pens, sharpeners, erasers, and rulers should be purchased also for “home-use”. That means you schould buy all things in double amount. If your child takes a pencil case out of his satchel to do his homework, then he is on the right way to forget everything at home one beautiful day.
Over the five years of purchasing school lists I gathered some tips for school supplies in Germany.
General warning: teachers do not always know well what they want and how much their wishes are reflected on store shelves. Therefore, do not panic, be creative with the lists and do not be afraid to send your child to school with materials that do not quite match. The first class has everything stricter than others, but you have the opportunity to clarify at the first meeting, which takes place before the beginning of the year or immediately after the beginning of the year. The rest have at least a week to clarify, and even more.
In this part about teaching German in primary school in grades 3-4: what textbooks can I recommend, what was in programm in third and fourth grades, one sample test and a list of grammar rules for primary school.