German

German is the EU language with the largest number of native speakers and the second most commonly used scientific language in the world. Germany is also the world’s largest exporter and the financial capital of Europe, so a knowledge of German makes good business sense as well as providing the key to an understanding of much of our shared European literary and musical heritage.

The German Year 9 continuers’ course at King Edward’s continues the lively approach to language learning experienced by Year 8 beginners, using a range of up-to-date materials: course-books, frequent use of ICT, whether on individual devices or school computers, many online materials and DVDs. It continues to cover topics most likely to be of interest and relevance to young people - such as holidays, TV and film, food and hobbies - with a firm emphasis on communication and understanding. This approach is supported by an appreciation of language structure and regular access to our German language assistant, providing an ideal foundation for the Edexcel IGCSE course in Year 10 and Year 11. Extra resources are uploaded to the King Edward’s intranet and to Google Classroom, which can be accessed from home as well as in School, providing extra practice when it is needed.

The course also focuses on the culture and customs of the German-speaking nations of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and encourages contact with these countries. The Department offers a weekend trip to Cologne for Lower School students.

This is a stimulating course for pupils with the desire to acquire a major European language, which will be increasingly marketable in the UK as a direct result of the current national climate of low language uptake at GCSE.

Head of Department: Ms M J Gorbat mjg@kes.hants.sch.uk