The guidelines stand for the best possible teaching and promotion of two or more languages in children up to the age of six. There are currently 43 kindergartens, day-care centers and after-school centers in Carinthia that offer Slovene as a language. A total of 1,533 children are cared for bilingually in 74 groups. Their language skills upon entry are often very different.
Every language opens a door
Every language opens a door, the Ludmannsdorf/Bilčovs kindergarten has been run bilingually according to this motto for 35 years. In the skupina ribice, the fish group, leader Annemarie Krawagner speaks German with the children, colleague Rezi Kolter speaks Slovenian. They try to pick up the children individually depending on their language skills.
“Language is an important bridge for us, through which we can establish relationships,” says the head of the kindergarten, Krawagna. “We work with a lot of illustrative material, with facial expressions and gestures, with a lot of repetition and emphasis, so that it is simply lively.”
Framework provides guidelines
The new language-pedagogical framework concept should serve as a guide and help to learn language holistically with all senses. Twelve principles are explained in it, from clear language goals for teachers to the concept of free choice of language for children, says education expert Georg Gombos from the University of Klagenfurt.
Gombos: “The children should be seduced into using the new language, should be lured into the new language, but they shouldn’t be forced. The children are free to choose their language, and we have seen from practice that over time they begin to adopt individual words and begin to speak slowly.”
A million for elementary education
In the new federal-state agreement, which will provide more money for elementary education in the future, bilingual institutions are explicitly anchored for the first time, said Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ): “We will try to use around one million euros in this bilingual area will bring in order to ensure didactic support and thus possibly also to finance native speakers or to promote teaching materials such as books.
In view of the increasing shortage, not only of bilingual educators, Kaiser also wants an image offensive with better pay and a separate college for the career change to elementary pedagogy in Klagenfurt from autumn.
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