UND VON DEN LÄNDERN Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Nordrhein- Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Schleswig-Holstein Family Literacy (FLY) language among parents and children from migrant backgrounds The project supports the acquisition of writing skills among parents and children, using books, letters of the alphabet and language. The project has four pillars : 1. Sessions with children in preschool education The children are given language support, are introduced to the world of writing, and are encouraged to be creative. 2. Sessions with parents Parents are given information about how they can help their children at home to learn to read and write. They improve their communication skills and self-confidence as a group, and learn how to work with their children. The project is run by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as part of the Bund-Länder Commission (BLK) programme Promotion of Children and Young People from Migrant Backgrounds (Förmig). www.blk-foermig.uni-hamburg.de Contact: Dr. Gabriele Rabkin, Landesinstitut für Lehrerbildung und Schulentwicklung, Hamburg, E-Mail: gabriele.rabkin@li-hamburg.de www.li-hamburg.de Maren Elfert, UNESCO-Institute for Education, Hamburg, E-Mail: m.elfert@unesco.org www.unesco.org/education/uie Academic Director: Dr. Peter May, Landesinstitut für Lehrerbildung und Schulentwicklung, Hamburg, E-Mail: peter.may@li-hamburg.de 3. Parents taking part in classes Classes are open to parents at certain times. 4. Joint out-of-school activities With the support of the teacher, parents and children learn and engage in activities together such as a visit to the library, post office or museum, or they collect letters of the alphabet in the neighbourhood. Topics are: Listening and speaking Recognising, naming and writing letters of the alphabet Forming content and letters Writing and creativity
Family Literacy (FLY) Project leaders: Michaela Malsfey, Ute Stather School head: Sabine Wolle The Osterbrook all-day school is a primary, lower secondary and secondary technical school in Hamburg-Hamm. The double-intake primary school takes part in the BLK Family Literacy Project, while the lower secondary and secondary technical school is involved in the BLK project Learning and Living Democracy. Half of our 540 pupils are from migrant families. Besides large groups from Afghanistan and Turkey, our 40 staff teach pupils from another ten countries Russia, Poland, the former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Ghana, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Viet Nam and China. Habibi A picture-book journey to the East using all the senses
language among parents and children from migrant backgrounds Project leaders: Michaela Malsfey, Ute Stather School head: Sabine Wolle Habibi A picture-book journey to the East using all the senses This was all in the story bag. Watching and hearing the story. Patting the donkey. A story-telling bag was produced for the book Habibi. This contained characters and objects some home-made that could be used to recount the story in the book and to bring it to life (a donkey, spices, dates, figs, etc.). The smells at spice-dealer Mokka s. Clapping and dancing to Arabic music. Dates and figs taste great.
Project leaders: Tami Alon, Ulrike Jessen, Tatjana Popczyk School head: Olaf Pahl The Kerschensteinerstrasse 16 school is a primary school with a preschool department in Hamburg-Harburg. There are 233 pupils in the school, 108 of whom are from migrant backgrounds. Half of these are of Turkish nationality. The Family Literacy Project runs in two preschool classes. An afternoon of alphabet games with parents and children. In the project My family and I, parents and children talked about themselves, producing - paintings, short texts and a name memory game. After the book Where can my cat have got to? was discussed, stories were told, painted and written.
Parents and children working after the book The Giant Turnip. The giant poster in the school library Project leaders: Tami Alon, Ulrike Jessen, Tatjana Popczyk School head: Olaf Pahl Reading and acting out The Giant Turnip. The mother in orange is playing the Turnip. Producing a memory game about the book. Painting the cards and writing on them.
Project leaders: Petra Hüttis-Graff, Mechtild Langemeier School head: Hans-Joachim Wagner How do you say good morning in your mother tongue? The 29 children in the preschool class speak twelve different mother tongues at home. Every child is therefore addressed differently by his or her mother, and says goodbye to her differently at the preschool gate. So that we can also talk to the children, we focus each week on a different language and say good morning in that language. Cards are made and hung on the entrance door during the week as a reminder The Bramfelder Dorfplatz school is a through primary and secondary technical school with 835 pupils, and is therefore one of the largest of its kind in Hamburg-Bramfeld. It consists of one preschool and twelve primary school classes, an observation stage with six classes, a lower secondary school with six classes, and a secondary technical school with seen classes. The Memory Game A memory game with photographs and names of the pupils has been produced for learning the names of the children in the large class, and to provide a focus for discussion. The name of each child is shown on the reverse of one of each pair of cards. To play the game, a card without a name is turned over first, so that the child s picture is seen, and then the player looks for the second card. Increasing numbers of children pay attention to the written names in the course of the preschool year.
Project leaders: Petra Hüttis-Graff, Mechtild Langemeier School head: Hans-Joachim Wagner Photo album project When they first go to school, every child in the class is given his or her own photograph album with pictures of life before school. The child makes a crucial input into preparing the album, choosing the pictures and sticking them in, telling the mother what to write next to the pictures, and laying out the pages.
Adolph-Diesterweg-Schule Project leaders: Christa Decher-Skarke, Dr Olga Diewold, Marlies Groth, Susanne Gutbier School head: Jutta Dittmar The Adolph Diesterweg school is a primary school with a preschool department in the large new suburb of Neuallermöhe West. It has about 460 pupils, many of them from countries of the former Soviet Union. The Family Literacy Project runs in three preschool classes. Since the Adolph Diesterweg school is in a new district of the city, it has set itself the task of encouraging contact between different people from widely varying backgrounds. Promotion of language and social skills plays a major part in this. Using play as an introduction to reading encourages interest in books. The creative use of paper, pens and paints helps children to express themselves. Having books as a familiar part of life prepares the way to written language.
Adolph-Diesterweg-Schule language among parents and children from migrant backgrounds. Project leaders: Christa Decher-Skarke, Dr Olga Diewold, Marlies Groth, Susanne Gutbier School head: Jutta Dittmar Discovering the world of the alphabet Children enjoyed a wide variety of alphabet games and exercises with their parents. Sixteen tables were set out with different games and tasks. The tables were managed by the parents, who helped the children. A range of learning goals were encouraged, such as: Logical thinking Coherent speech Observation Making correct combinations correctly Finding one s bearings physically and socially Organization and development of self-reliance Trust between parents and children was a key to success. Even smaller brothers and sisters showed interest in the learning games. The tables not only provided information about the world of the alphabet but also encouraged active observation and thinking, drawing and writing as a step on the way to reading and writing.
Collecting letters of the alphabet Project leader: Elke Straub Maimouna is a children s centre in Hamburg-Altona/St. Pauli which provides a crèche, an elementary kindergarten and day centre for about 40 migrant children, many of them from African countries. Maimouna focuses on intercultural skills. Most of the staff are also from migrant backgrounds. The parents, staff and children go collecting letters of the alphabet in the neighbourhood. They write down the letters that they see as they walk, such as in the names on door bells, the Aldi supermarket sign, the wording on glass and paper banks, or graffiti on house walls. From this activity, they learn to recognise letters as part of everyday life and become familiar with them. The role of the family background becomes apparent from the products of the collection. It is obvious when parents or older siblings offer encouragement. It is also evident that the acquisition of literacy is not tied to the German language.
Project leader: Elke Straub Children proudly presenting the results of their expedition Children collecting letters
Schule Chemnitzstraße Project leaders: Aysen Ciker, Heike Hammer, Dorothea Meyn, Gabriele Rabkin School head: Michael Rieger Our mini-sound table in a matchbox. The Chemnitzstrasse school in Hamburg-Altona is an integrated primary school with a preschool department and more than 400 pupils from multicultural backgrounds (predominantly Turkish, but also from Africa, South America, etc.). The school is a cultural school which works closely with artists. The Family Literacy Project runs in two preschool classes. Parents, children and teachers visiting the library. A booklet is put together, based on the book The Mouse s Birthday by Paul Maar, containing all the animals and presents. Vocabulary is expanded, and the correct use of articles is practised. Articles are marked in colour. Book project The Mouse s Birthday by Paul Maar
Schule Chemnitzstraße language among parents and children from migrant backgrounds. Project leaders: Aysen Ciker, Heike Hammer, Dorothea Meyn, Gabriele Rabkin School head: Michael Rieger 1. Parents write stories about family photographs for their child s own picture album Family photographs provide plenty of opportunity to record individual situations that have a personal significance. Little stories and comments added by mothers make the background and context clear to the child, who also sees his or her parents writing. The albums produced in this way are not only given to the children when they first go to school; some of them are also read out by the mothers at school events. Mothers and children singing and drumming with musician Gino Romero Ramirez. 2. Taca-taca-boom-boom Singing and speaking games to help syllable building in speech At the Chemnitzstrasse school, artists work with pupils and parents. So that the mothers are taught the importance of play in rhythmic speech, they take part in the drumming, singing and speaking games with the musician Gino Romero Ramirez, and then continue these at home with their children. 3. Collecting letters of the alphabet Clapping and speaking games in the school playground. Mothers and children go looking for writing near the school (on refuse bins, posters, street signs, etc.). The children are equipped with a notebook and pencil, and write down letters and words. The mothers help them and read out what has been written. This activity can easily be pursued also during leisure time.. Collecting letters of the alphabet in the vicinity of the school
GESAMTSCHULE ALLERMÖHE language among parents and children from migrant backgrounds. Project leaders: Hubertus Braune, Rita Nitschmann Primary department head: Hannelore von Trotha The Hamburg-Allermöhe comprehensive school is an open entry all-day school, from primary to upper secondary. The primary school consists of eleven classes in grades 1-4, a preparatory class 3/4, and two preschool classes. All eleven primary classes are run as integrated normal classes. Picture-story book This project comprised two afternoons. On the first afternoon, the children told the story using the pictures laid out one by one. They then put together a picture book for themselves and told their parents in their mother tongues what they could see in the pictures. The parents wrote down what the children said. On the second afternoon, photographs taken during the first session were added in. The children then told their parents what they were doing in the photographs. They also had to think up an ending to the story using their own pictures. Each child invented his or her own ending, and the parents again wrote down in their mother tongue what their child said. Mohamed s mother, who is generally very reticent because she cannot speak German, confidently wrote down in Arabic what he dictated to her.
GESAMTSCHULE ALLERMÖHE Project leaders: Hubertus Braune, Rita Nitschmann Primary department head: Hannelore von Trotha Book with a picture story by Mateusz in Polish. A total of eight books were produced in seven different languages.
Kindertagesstätte Allermöhe Project leaders: Ilona Ozimek-Schröder, Brigitte Schönke The Allermöhe children s day centre in Hamburg-Allermöhe East caters for up to 210 children aged 0-14 years, including children with disabilities. Besides German children, many are from different countries of origin. Most of the children from migrant backgrounds are from Russia, Poland and Afghanistan, but there are also Vietnamese, Turkish and African families. The centre is an intercultural meeting point, especially at seasonal festivals and celebrations, or through joint projects such as Family Literacy. At the Family Literacy sessions, parents are given voluntary homework. This is to motivate them to use words and writing purposefully at home with their children. At the next session, the results are discussed by the group, while suggestions and ideas are taken away and further developed with the children at home.
Kindertagesstätte Allermöhe Project leaders: Ilona Ozimek-Schröder, Brigitte Schönke A session for parents and children based on the book The Giant Turnip by A. Tolstoy The parents and children did not know the story. They devised and put together their own story piecemeal about the people, animals and plants that occur in the story. At the end, the book The Giant Turnip was read aloud by Ms Schönke. The listeners had fun recognising their own ideas and characters. The aim of the project was to allow the children to see what can be captured in writing.