Basic Global English (BGE) for Elementary Schools

Target: Development of BGE Teaching Materials(according to the didactic model Learning by Teaching) for Age Group 7-10 in order to allow a rapid acquisition of communicative competence

Basic Material: brief description of BGE in German (BGE-Skizze), English vocabulary according to the official curriculum for elementary schools  (by the Bavarian ministry of education), BGE vocabulary in comparison to the curriculum vocabulary (words missing in the curriculum vocabulary are underlined), productive curriculum vocabulary in comparision to the BGE vocabulary (missing words underlined), productive-receptive curriculum vocabulary in comparison with BGE vocabulary (missing words underlined), article on Learning by Teaching = Lernen durch Lehren (LdL) and BGE

Phase IV (currently): Coaching and Material Offer; BGE in Goldkronach from Class 1 on

Our partner school in Goldkronach has started to offer Basic Global English from Class 1 on. Other schools are cordially invited to join and to work with this:

Phase III: Optional Subject for 2nd Grades in Goldkronach from 2007 to 2010

Based on the observations in Phases I and II, we have composed a BGE textbook for a complete school year (here are a few sample units). Instead of the originally planned two 40-min. lessons of English per week, we had to form two groups with one 40-min. lesson per week due to the large amount of kids interested. The topics the class deals with are: About me, my family, my classroom and my school, my town, our environment, other countries, making friends. A report on this project has appear in the German weekly Der Spiegel 14/2008 (with a short on-line version).

In September 2008, after summer vacation, we visited our two groups to check how much English they still remember. This "test" consisted of an oral part and a written part. Those interested in seeing the videotape shall contact me. The full transcription of the oral part is available here.

BGE courses were financed by the EU from 2007 to 2010.

Phase II: 12 Revised Experimental Lessons

From the observations made in Phase I, we have improved these 12 lessons and tested them again with a group of 2nd class students at the Grundschule Am Graben in Eichstätt, Germany (from March to July 2007). You can see a video presentation of the group (*.AVI) from the last lesson of the Eichstätt class. In addition, you are offered a video clip from Lesson 5 (YouTube) and a video clip from Lesson 12 (*.AVI) with comments on the two that point out the principles of BGE lessons.
(Hier die Kommentare zu den beiden Video-Clips auf deutsch).

Phase I: 12 Experimental Lessons for the Goldkronach Comenius Project (2nd and 3rd grade)

In the first experimental phase a teacher in Goldkronach taught 1 lesson of English per week (30 to 40 min.). The topics were: About me, my classroom and my school. We used the following teaching materials: 12 BGE lessons for the COMENIUS project (German version). Phase I ran from October 2006 to February 2007.

Financial Support

Our thanks for financial support of this project go to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, particularly Head of Administration Gottfried Freiherr von der Heydte, Hermann Gutmann Stiftung Weißenburg, and the European Union.

To the general BGE website: here
. Last Update: 8 October 2011