Also for parents

Helping children learn German through play

The new vocabulary calendar is available free of charge to teachers, parents and children.(Bild: Caio Kaufmann/ÖIF)

Fewer and fewer first-graders in Vienna can speak German. Parents are often hopelessly overwhelmed. A new vocabulary calendar is designed to help them and their children learn.

The figures are alarming: 45 percent of first-graders in Vienna cannot speak German well enough to follow lessons. Dramatic: 61 percent of them were born in Austria, 24 percent even have Austrian citizenship. A failure of the education system and parents alike. Early childhood language support is the key to education - this is emphasized by the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) with its new "vocabulary calendar", which was developed in cooperation with the General Accident Insurance Institution (AUVA). This innovative learning material is not only intended to expand the basic vocabulary of the youngest children, but also to provide confidence in everyday life.

The new learning booklet is designed to help children and parents learn German.(Bild: ÖIF)

The first years of every child's life are formative for the development of language skills. Especially for children with a non-German first language, early German support is therefore a key to their later educational career in Austria.

Thomas Stiglbrunner, Team Digitales Lernen beim ÖIF

Bild: ÖIF

Learning process as an adventure
The focus is on everyday situations from kindergarten, illustrated with drawings. Children not only learn new words, but also learn to recognize risks - whether playing, doing handicrafts or romping around. Daily exercises, puzzles and a total of 384 stickers turn the learning process into an adventure. "The first years of a child's life have a significant impact on their language development," says Thomas Stiglbrunner from the Digital Learning team at the ÖIF. The calendar is particularly important for children whose first language is not German.

Get parents on board too
It makes it possible to learn German through play and at the same time develop skills for everyday life. In addition to kindergartens, parents - regardless of their own language skills - can also use the materials. The second edition of the practical magazine "Deutsch für Kinder" is also being published at the same time. With audio files, picture cards and copy templates, it offers tools for kindergartens, schools and German support classes. Multilingual content actively involves parents.

The vocabulary calendar and the magazine can be ordered via the Integration Fund homepage .