Press Release
Date: Thursday 11th May 2006 (NR/13/06)
Fussball-fieber! NI Kids are up for the Cup when it comes to learning German
Northern Ireland primary pupils get set to learn the German language and culture through football and fun.
The World Cup and German Day has been organised by local curriculum body CCEA, and is supported by NICILT the Northern Ireland National Centre for languages. The event in the NEELB Board Centre, Antrim, aims to show primary children that learning languages is fun .
Nigel Pearson, Primary Language Teaching Advisor for CILT commented;
“Using the forthcoming World Cup is a great opportunity to promote the German language to primary children, and learning languages through football is easy, especially if you love football. It is always more fun if you read, listen and speak about something you love.
The children attending the day will participate in four fun filled and interactive workshops each with a World Cup theme. In the workshops children will experience different elements of the German language and culture.”
Luke Roskilly, Voyage Kids website manager, a workshop facilitator commented;
“I’m really looking forward to taking part in the workshops, firstly on a personal level it’s a great chance to see the ‘Voyage Kids’ website in action and secondly it’s fantastic to watch primary school children actively engage with the German language and each other.”
Speaking before the event Marian Patterson , CCEA Officer responsible for Primary Languages, explains the rationale behind the day and the strategy for early language learning.
“Research indicates that there are definite advantages to learning a second language in the early years within the rich and stimulating environment of the primary classroom. At this age not only are children developmentally ready for acquiring new language, but they are also less inhibited and more highly motivated.
Early language learning has become the norm in many European countries, and it is essential that we also offer the same opportunities to our children in Northern Ireland.
On the day CCEA will launch a World Cup competition for P5-P7 pupils’ province wide. The competition involves pupils preparing an itinerary for a trip to the World Cup. First prize is £100 of Sports Equipment and £50 of German promotional material for schools, kindly donated by SuperStickers. There are also excellent runner-up prizes, including German rucksacks, table football games, board games and posters. Teachers and pupils can log onto, www.rewardinglearning.com/primarylanguages or contact us on 028 9026 1200 ext 2659 to find out more.”
Workshops
Workshop 1: Fussball-Fieber! (football fever)
Nigel Pearson the winner of the UK German Teacher Award 2004 for setting standards of excellence in the teaching of German. He is currently Primary Language Teaching Adviser with CILT ( the National Centre for Languages ) and works primarily in the North West of England. Nigel’s active session used the theme of the World Cup in order to teach German language in a fun way. He incorporated ‘keep-fit’ in German and using a football to convey the language.
Workshop 2: IT in German
Luke Roskilly is web manager of the highly-acclaimed, bilateral website www.the-voyage.com. Funded by the governments and cultural institutions of the UK and Germany , this website aims not only to convey linguistic and cultural information about Germany , but also to cultivate contacts between schools in the two countries. This session engaged the primary pupils in fun language activities within an IT framework. It demonstrated how ICT can be used to promote primary languages.
Workshop 3: Bend it like Ballack!
James Maxwell – current holder of the UK German Teacher Award 2005 and Officer for development of Modern Languages with CCEA. James’s session complemented Nigel’s workshop providing fun games and activities with which to convey German language and culture. This session also launched the CCEA competition for primary pupils.
Workshop 4: Die 2 Bären
Meet Alex – one of the two travelling voyage bears! Ben the Bear from the UK and Alex from Germany met on holiday, and decided to explore each other’s countries (find out more at www.the-voyage.com/thebears).
This session involved pupils getting their photos taken with Alex, the famous German voyage bear, finding out about his home town, Berlin, and hearing about some of the adventures he has had on his way around the UK! The emphasis was on conveying aspects of the German language and German culture to pupils. Stefanie Bremer of ‘the-voyage’ led this session.
Participating schools
- Ballycraigy PS, Antrim
- Creavery PS, Antrim
- Holy Family PS, Belfast
- Millburn PS, Coleraine
- St Bernard’s PS, Glengormley
- St Comgall’s PS, Antrim
NICILT
Northern Ireland Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research http://www.qub.ac.uk/edu/nicilt/
SuperStickers
SuperStickers is one of the UK 's leading providers of stickers and motivational awards for use in the school classroom, www.superstickers.com.
SuperStickers were awarded the British Educational Suppliers Association Educational Supplier of the Year - Small Business Category in 2004.
Media enquiries to Ruth Maguire on (028) 9026 1216, Mobile 07796947993. E mail rhmaguire@ccea.org.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors
CCEA is the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.
CCEA places learners and those who have a concern for their educational and personal development at the forefront of its thinking. CCEA's mission is:
"To enable the full potential of all learners to be achieved and recognised"
What we do
CCEA is a unique educational body in the UK , bringing together the three areas of curriculum, examinations and assessment.
Advising Government – on what should be taught in Northern Ireland ’s schools and colleges.
Monitoring Standards – ensuring that the qualifications and examinations offered by awarding bodies in Northern Ireland are of an appropriate quality and standard.
Awarding Qualifications
– as Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body we offer a diverse range of qualifications, such as GCSEs, including the new GCSE Double Award specifications in vocational subjects, GCE A and AS levels, Entry Level Qualifications, and Graded Objectives in Modern Languages.
- CCEA also offers a range of Awards and Certificates in Education, Training and Skills (ACETS) targeted at learners who want to get
the knowledge, understanding and skills needed
to hit the ground running in the world of work.
