Foreign Languages

Senderos

At last! Some practical, experience-based insight into not only the "whys" of foreign language teaching within Waldorf education, but most especially the "hows" of teaching a particular language - in this case, Spanish. Senderos is a masterful compilation of long-experienced Spanish language teachers guidance. It is loaded with specific examples, and progressive, level-by-level suggestions for lessons (when to introduce this, how to introduce that). It details the oral approach used in grades one through three and explores the integration of writing, reading, and grammar in grades four through eight.

A tip that I haven't found covered in this book but deserves mentioning is that it was not Rudolf Steiner's intent that all students stay with their grades for foreign language classes. He had hoped to divide the students into ability-based groups and teach these groups at the level of language they were able to learn, regardless of which grade they were in. This plan never came to fruition because the school lacked the funds to implement it. Later, it was forgotten that anything other than keeping students within their grade was ever intended. See Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner for more information.

Catching the Spirit of German in the Waldorf High School

A Waldorf foreign language teacher shares some of the projects and presentations done by the high school students in his German class and goes on to consider some of the fundamental questions and concerns of foreign language teaching in a Waldorf school, particularly German.

The Genius of Language

When the teachers of the original Waldorf School pleaded with Dr. Steiner to give a course on language, he agreed and produced these lectures on very short notice indeed. Steiner demonstrates how history and psychology combine to form different languages and how ideas, images, and vocabulary travel through time in different cultural streams. He speaks of how our language-forming power has dwindled, but says that the inmost kernel of language - the penetration of sense into sound - is still available today. He also speaks of the differentiation of language according to geographical conditions, as well as folk culture, and of the possibility of wordless thinking. Anyone who loves words will love these lectures.