The submitted master's thesis entitled German Course for Children deals with early learning and teaching of German as a foreign language. In this master’s thesis we present the characteristics of language acquisition and learning of mother tongue and further languages, appropriate approaches, methods and the already existing teaching materials intended for the early learning of German as a foreign language, as well as to point out the lack of them in Slovenia. The primary goal of this master's thesis is to create teaching and learning materials for early childhood education. Such materials are almost non-existent in Slovenia. In establishing the teaching sets, we took into account the learning characteristics of children from age 4 to 6 and the holistic approach to learning and teaching.
This master's thesis is divided into two parts: theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part acquaints us with the main developmental and psychological characteristics of children between the ages of four and six; it introduces us with different linguistic views on language acquisition and gives us a detailed description of mother tongue and foreign language acquisition. The theoretical part also presents existing approaches, methods and techniques, as well as some teaching materials for early learning of German as a foreign language.
The theoretical part is followed by an empirical part, which focuses on the practical application of all the previously mentioned recommendations and didactic-methodological principles for the early language teaching of German as a foreign language. Based on the principles of the integrated model for teaching and learning and on the methods and techniques that have proven successful in learning German as a foreign language, we created a short language course for children from age four to six. With the empirical part, which contains lesson plans
and didactic commentary, we wanted to fill the existing gap of teaching materials for preschool-aged children.
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