Sprachenschwerpunkt "English for me and you"

My name is Siobhán Kienzl and I have been teaching English in the primary school in St. Stefan since September, 2011. I was born in Co. Cork in Ireland. After finishing my degree in Applied Languages, I moved to Austria. I am married and have two grown-up children.

For more than 30 years, I have been teaching English to children. I started in BÜM in Wolfsberg and then spent many years teaching English in Kindergarten and primary school.

"It´s not an English lesson, but a lesson in English."
(Loretta Weiskopf)

In the primary school in St. Stefan, we have English twice a week. As Ms Weiskopf says, in this school we don’t have

English lessons, but lessons in English.

We have two lessons in English – we either have Math, General Knowledge or Music in English. The teacher and Miss Siobhan decide on a topic and this is then covered in the class.

In first class, it is important that the children get used to hearing the foreign language. By the end of the year, the children understand what is happening and can answer several questions……

In second class, we put a focus on special phrases like the date and the time. We also have all the school themes which we speak about in English. Our lessons are held in English with the class teacher. When Miss Siobhán is not in the class, the teacher repeats the phrases that have been learned.

In third class, we learn lots of songs, rhymes and nursery rhymes. We also read stories and write some words in English. It is important that the children hear and speak as much English as possible. We have a magazine called "Join In" which we use throughout the year.

In fourth class we continue to read, write and talk a lot. We use "Join In" and talk about lots of different topics. The children are encouraged to talk as much as possible. We also look at grammar and talk about the differences between the German and the English language!

Learning a foreign language should be fun. We hope that the children in the primary school in St. Stefan enjoy learning and speaking the language!