Bilingual lessons - english version

The standard of English spoken by German pupils working for their Abitur is, on the whole, very impressive, especially when compared with English pupils’ knowledge of German. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement when compared with the English ability of young people from the Netherlands or the Scandinavian countries. So how can improvement take place? Well, the easiest way would probably be to cut out the dubbing of Anglo-American films and give them German subtitles. This, however, isn’t very likely and an increase in English lessons might lead to pupils getting a bit too much of a good thing. One solution which has worked in the past years is bilingual teaching.

As Europe and the world grows smaller the importance of English as the lingua-franca has become ever more important and bilingual lessons can help prepare our pupils for the challenges which await them in tomorrow’s work place. At the end of the 13th grade a certificate is awarded to the successful participants of the course, something which shouldn’t be sniffed at and which looks good in anyone’s portfolio. It will also be possible to take an exam as part of the Landeszentralabitur, work is already in progress on bilingual tasks.