Bildergalerie

On 18 and 19 January the Hamburg Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) saw a great deal of singing, playing and, more importantly, learning: 20 educators, primary school teachers and a speech therapist took part here in the first of six KIKUS Foundation Seminars across Germany.

The KIKUS method of early language acquisition was specially developed for the needs of children aged three to ten whose first language is not German. The Siemens Stiftung runs the courses in several German cities together with the Center for Multilingualism in Early Childhood (Zentrum für kindliche Mehrsprachigkeit e.V.).

Hamburg teachers were invited to apply to take part in the Foundation Seminar – and this they did in large numbers. The great interest in this continuing education program confirms that the Siemens Stiftung’s initative was a good one. The feedback from the 20 education professionals after the two-day seminar in Hamburg was positive in every respect: in particular they mentioned how easy the KIKUS method was to understand and how oriented it is to the children’s world of experience. Participants are thus well equipped to start the language courses in their own teaching establishments.

Should you also wish to promote the playful acquisition of the German language at your teaching establishment amongst children with immigrant backgrounds you can apply to attend a KIKUS Foundation Seminar free of charge. The seminars will be held in spring 2010 in Bremen, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg and Stuttgart as well as in the Rhine-Main area. For application forms go to  www.siemens-stiftung.org/kikus/fortbildung.

For further information on the Siemens Stiftung’s work in the field of fostering language skills in early childhood go to:  www.siemens-stiftung.org/kikus.