Strengthening and promoting Low German at schools in Lower Saxony - this is the aim of a further education programme developed by the Lower Saxony State Education Authority together with the Lower German and Sater Frisian focus at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg and implemented by the Lower Saxony State Institute for School Quality Development (NLQ).
"Low German at primary schools" is aimed at primary school teachers. It starts on 1 December 2014 and interested parties can register online with the NLQ.
With the decree "The region and its languages in the classroom", the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of Lower Saxony committed to strengthening Low German in schools in August 2011. The further education programme takes this into account: speakers from academia and practice teach primary school teachers how to use Low German in the classroom. On the one hand, the focus is on the acquisition of Low German in the context of early multilingualism, and on the other hand, the focus is on supporting language acquisition through in-class and extracurricular support. There is no subject for Low German, which is why further education shows ways in which language acquisition can take place in a subject context - for example in subject lessons or through a theatre club.
The further education programme focuses on three areas: The first focusses on language practice and gives teachers the opportunity to acquire spoken and written Low German. The second deals with the language system, the regional variants and historical developments of the Low German language and its social functions and provides an insight into Low German literature. The third focus is on didactics and methodology.
The further education programme comprises four weeks spread over two school years and concludes with a certificate from the NLQ. Further training programmes on Sater Frisian and for secondary schools are being planned.