Lateral entrants

In the project seminar, which was conducted in the summer semester of 2016 under the direction of Jun.-Prof. Christine Czinglar and financially supported by the Central Teaching Support (Teaching Innovation), students investigated DaZ teaching with newcomers to the German language during field trips to two best practice schools in Schleswig and Munich and two schools in Kassel.
The aim of the project seminar was to get to know different models, to observe already tested and proven concepts for the teaching of newcomers in practice and to compare and discuss the different possibilities of implementation. MA students of the department DaFZ, student teachers and participants of the continuing education program DaFZ dealt in small groups with different schooling models and schools. Based on the current literature, observation and interview guidelines were developed and used at the four schools.

The evaluated data were presented at a public final event in July 2016 and subsequently discussed, among others, in a panel discussion with Lydia Gundlach, principal of the Schule Hegelsberg, Ines Mooshage, DaZ teacher at the Carl Schomburg School, and Dr. Hartmut Quehl, head of the Institute for Languages. Those present were unanimous in their opinion that the state of Hesse has some catching up to do with regard to the teaching of newcomers to the state. About 40 DaFZ students, student teachers and teachers were inspired by the poster presentations and the discussion and took away some new ideas for their institutions.

The participants of the project seminar agreed that it would be interesting to see what changes this event has brought about or inspired. Astrid Lange, who accompanied the project seminar as a tutor together with Ingrid Kutz, will therefore offer a continuation of the project seminar in the winter semester 2016/17 with the title "New Teaching Concepts for DaZ-SeiteneinsteigerInnen an Schulen (Sek I + II)", in which some ideas and concepts for successful DaZ teaching with SeiteneinsteigerInnen at Kassel schools will be tested.

Comparison 1: Lateral entrants at comprehensive schools - Dannewerk School and Hegelsberg School

Dannewerkschule

The Dannewerkschule is a comprehensive school in Schleswig-Holstein, to which a DaZ center is affiliated. The newly immigrated students are taught according to a partially integrative model (according to Massumi & von Dewitz et al. 2015). In Schleswig-Holstein, a multi-stage model is followed, which stipulates that students first complete a full-time basic course in order to then be able to attend a regular class after passing a language test (cf . Schulte-Brunert, E. 2016).

Currently, 506 students attend the school, divided into 22 classes. The lateral entrants successively switch to the regular classes in activity-oriented subjects (e.g., sports, art, music) or in English. The DaZ center is currently attended by 70 students, who are on average 15 years old and come primarily from Syria and Afghanistan. The literacy needs of the students are about 25% in German and about 2% in their mother tongue.

Hegelsberg School

Schule Hegelsberg is a comprehensive school in Kassel and works with the integrative model of the intensive course, i.e." [...] Newly immigrated children and adolescents attend a regular class from the first day of school and receive additive language support"(Massumi & von Dewitz et al. 2015: 7).
Currently, about 630 students from 40 different nations attend the school, about 1/6 of the students are lateral entrants (mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eastern and Southeastern Europe). In the last school year, there were five inter-year intensive courses, in which the students spend 10-12 hours, in the remaining time they participate in regular classes.

Results of the observation visits

Dannewerkschule is one of the two best practice schools visited in the project seminar. It differs from the Hegelsberg School primarily in its teaching situation and teaching materials. The Dannewerkschule tries to deal with heterogeneity through internal differentiation and self-directed learning. The teachers create individualized work plans for the students, which can be completed by a test. If this is not passed, the learner has to repeat the work plan. The students were able to get an on-site impression of the school's working methods, e.g. the social forms (such as group tables) and the learning environment (the atmosphere was perceived as relaxed, calm and concentrated). The school focuses primarily on self-study in the DaZ center and provides more staff and volunteers as learning consultants than the other schools visited. In addition, the school places a lot of emphasis on cooperation between the individual actors, i.e. between teachers, parents and students (cf. Brömel, S. 2016: 35ff).

At the Hegelsberg school, there is no fixed structure for integration so far. Last year, the school had to decide between intensive courses and intensive classes, which was not easy for the principal Lydia Gundlach, as she reported during the panel discussion. Both participation in regular classes is important for the students' integration (intensive courses/partially integrative model) and intensive language study (intensive classes/parallel model), she said.

It was noted that intensive classes unfortunately cannot do what the Dannewerkschule model does. Lydia Gundlach and her colleagues would like to see more support from the state government and do not want to be left alone with the integration of the students. The differences between the Schleswig and Kassel comprehensive schools in terms of personnel resources were very clear. 

Comparison 2: Lateral entrants at vocational schools
Comparison of BOKI branch Balanstrasse and Elisabeth Knipping School

BOKI branch Balanstraße (since summer 2016 "Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration").

The Städtische Berufsschule zur Berufsintegration (Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration ) has been an independent vocational school since summer 2016 and offers a parallel model, i.e. instruction in specially equipped classes (cf. Massumi et al. 2015: 44ff). In Bavaria, refugees have been required to attend school since 2000 and are mostly accommodated at vocational schools. The duration of schooling is regularly 2 years, but can be extended in special cases.
The Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration has existed in this form since 2011/12 and provides instruction exclusively for refugees and migrants, which is why this model is very different from the other models in our project. Great importance is attached to both internal and external cooperation (cf. Gahl, E. 2014: 50). The school consists of three parallel learning houses, which, however, have nothing to do with the language level. In these learning houses, the aim is to ensure that students only work with a small pool of teachers, similar to the "class teacher principle" in elementary school. (cf. Hessischer Bildungsserver) The size of the classes varies between 9-18 students.

The success rates of the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration speak for themselves, almost all students achieve the secondary school leaving certificate (comparable to the Hessian Hauptschulabschluss) and 15% even achieve the qualifying secondary school leaving certificate.

Elisabeth Knipping School

The Elisabeth-Knipping-Schule is a vocational preparation school that also offers a parallel model (cf. Massumi 2015: 44ff). Since the 2015/16 school year, it has been working with so-called InteA classes (InteA: Integration and Completion), which are intended to enable lateral entrants to make the transition to other school-based educational programs and to open up access to the world of training and work.

Currently, more than 2300 students attend the Elisabeth Knipping School and there were four InteA classes last school year, with an average class size of 20-25 students. Various projects are designed to integrate the newcomers into everyday school life, e.g. school patrons are distributed to support the integration of the newly immigrated students into everyday school life, or inter-class projects are organized. In addition, there is a learning center with books, media and workstations that all students at the school can use. The Elisabeth Knipping School does not offer additional language courses for refugees, despite the high literacy needs. In addition, the question for the future is how to better support students who come into the classroom during the current school year.

Results of the observation

The Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration was the second best practice school visited during the project seminar and impressed the students with the good cooperation of the teaching staff.

Furthermore, the students were impressed by the individualized materials, the workshops and the internal differentiation in the form of worksheets, posters, etc., since the school does not work with any textbook, but draws from a specially created pool of materials into which each teacher feeds materials. New teachers are supported by everyone and are given a guide for working with students.

The atmosphere in the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration was very harmonious and all teachers interviewed were informed about the school structures and were behind the school philosophy. The attitude of the teachers was very benevolent and positive. Even teachers who had nothing to do with language teaching (e.g. workshop teaching) dealt with language in their lessons and supported the students in this respect.

In contrast to the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration, the Elisabeth Knipping School also educates native students and cannot focus solely on working with refugees and migrants. Unlike at the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration, the teachers here work with the textbook "Berliner Platz 1", which is aimed at learners without prior knowledge, but with its focus on coping with everyday life seems only partially suitable for the school context. Similar to the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration, the Elisabeth Knipping School also teaches traditional subjects (math, German, sports, etc.) and encourages the completion of internships.

At the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration, students can only change levels or join new classes on two fixed dates during the school year, so there are no permanent "newcomers". Unfortunately, this is part of everyday life in Hesse and thus also in the Elisabeth Knipping School and has a negative impact on the classroom dynamics. The students in a class are seldom on the same level of achievement, which makes the work more difficult for the teachers, despite internal differentiation.

In both schools, the predominant language of instruction was German, and in addition, all students were allowed to discuss individual issues and explain words in their native language. The interaction between teachers and students was benevolent in both schools, the interaction was perceived as very respectful and polite, and the students interviewed felt very comfortable.

Bibliography:

Brömel, S. (2016): The challenge of differentiation in DAZ lessons. In: Fremdsprache Deutsch, Special Issue 2016, pp.34-39.

Gahl, E. (2014): What does it mean to be already literate. In: Ursula Männle/ Ludwig Spaenle (Eds.) (2014): Literacy a total social. Hanns Seidel Foundation e.V., Munich. P.45 ff.

Hessischer Bildungsserver: http://hauptschule.bildung.hessen.de/Klassenlehrerprinzip.html (accessed: 30.10.2016).

Massumi & von Dewitz et al. (2015): Mercator Institute for Language Development and German as a Second Language and Center for Teacher Education, University of Cologne. Cologne.

Schulte-Brunert, E. (2016): Implementing the multilevel model. The need for long-term language inclusion. Fremdsprache Deutsch special issue 2016. online material.

Reports and publications:

Project report on the job shadowing at the Municipal Vocational School for Vocational Integration (formerly BOKI branch Balanstraße) by Anne-Christin Schumacher: Report BOKI Schumacher PDF.

Lange, Astrid, Ingrid Kutz & Christine Czinglar (2017). Learning from each other: models for teaching DaZ to newly immigrated children and adolescents. Babylonia 1/2017.
Manuscript of the article on the project seminar: Article_Manuscript.PDF.

Website concept and text: Wenke Seibert, participant of the project seminar.

Research assistants / tutors: Ingrid Kutz, Astrid Lange

Project manager and responsible for the content:
Jun. -Prof. Dr. Christine Czinglar