Literature in the English lessons of German elementary schools - demonstrated at the example of Julia Donaldsons and Axel Schefflers book 'The Gruffalo' (1999)

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Cologne, course: Poems in the language classroom, language: English, abstract: Since English has become a part of the curriculum of German elementary schools already, methods of teaching had and still have to be found to make the young pupils get into touch with the foreign language. The method of teaching as well as the according educational aids should cause the desire of learning and working with the English language. In the history of education teachers of foreign languages have never been so knowledgeable about what to do in the classroom, or have had so many advanced tools at their disposal to help their pupils learn. 1 But since the children in third grade are just about eight or nine years old when they get into touch with the English language for the first time, the teacher has to choose his subjects of instruction and his educational aids very carefully so his / her lessons make it possible for all the pupils to achieve a basic knowledge of the foreign language. According to the title of the seminar I visited ('Poems in the Language Classroom'), I am going to talk about literature and in detail poetry as one important tool concerning language teaching. Emphasizing this importancy, I am going to present the results of an English lesson at a forth grade of a German elementary school that I created about Julia Donaldson's and Axel Scheffler's book 'The Gruffalo' (1999). [...]