EMT PROGRAMME IN ELEMENTARY

EMT stands for English through Mother Tongue Programme. 

As yet, unfortunately, we are only able to offer this programme to children who speak German. The aim of this programme is to accelerate and improve your child's reading and learning in English by building on your child’s knowledge and understanding of language through the mother tongue. 

How can we do this by starting off in German?
Your child has been speaking and listening to German since babyhood. They are confident and fluent speakers with a wide vocabulary. They think in German,  question in German and understand in  German. It is natural for them to begin to read and write and learn mathematics in German.

Our programme enables your child to successfully and quickly, read, write and do maths in German.
But it does much more. It allows your child, at the same time, to acquire English naturally through play, music, painting, physical education, class topic work and talking to other children in English. 

Your child will also have formal English instruction in the oral English classes. Here they are taught grammar and vocabulary through rhymes, role play, drama, songs, stories, videos and cassettes. In this way they avoid the confusion and delay of initially learning English as a Second Language and, moreover, they are fully integrated with their English speaking classmates. 

When will my child do maths in English?
Your child will transfer to maths in English towards the end of Grade 1 after preparation in the Primary and Grade 1 English oral class.

Where will my child learn German?
In the Elementary German Room with a native German teacher. The children quickly learn that they speak English in the classroom and German in the German Room. The German Room is well resourced and the children feel very comfortable there. 

When will my child formally read English books in school?
The children are surrounded by English print in the classroom. Normally towards the end of Grade 1 when the German teacher feels confident that your child is fluent in German and reads confidently and with understanding to a required level they will recommend to the class teacher that they can begin to transfer to English. Every child is different and some children take longer to reach this stage than others. This should not be a concern. The teacher will keep you informed of the programme and you are free to discuss your child’s progress  regularly with the teacher. It is very important not to push your child at this stage – they will be encouraged to transfer to English more and more when they themselves feel confident and ready.

If your child shows a keen interest in reading English books, you can borrow books in English from the school library to read at home together. Or you can ask the oral English teacher for special ESL books from the ESL library. In Grade 1, your child will be exposed to a lot of English print in the course of the day and will naturally transfer their German reading skills learnt in the EMT class to English reading tasks. 

What will happen in Grade 2?
In Grade 2 all classroom instruction will be in English. Your child will be helped to adjust to the demands of an all English classroom. From our experience they do this successfully with minimum effort.
They will then have the four regular weekly German instruction lessons to maintain their competency in their mother tongue language. From then on, throughout their school career, they will continue to develop their bi-literacy and bi-numeracy.

If you have any further questions please ask the EMT teacher, the class teacher or me. You are also welcome to visit the classroom and see the programme in action. 
We have already found this programme to be very successful. However, we limit the  number of applicants to ten to keep the language balance in the class. If you intend to register your child for this class please apply early.

Good wishes,
Jennifer McLauglin
Elementary Principal