Thank you for starting this...

I've never worked in this way with my students but I hope to get more information about it.

I had a great deal of laughter when reading about: "This is a pen..." -dito.
I think we can ask more than that from our students.

What interests me is how to do tests/exams?
- in English ( would be consistent) but can students (espec. in form 5+6) "express" what they know?

Keep writing and informing the ones who don't know....

is just as fine. It just takes an awful lot of preparations on the teacher's side. I don't suppose it's that hard for pupils.

In my former school (the one I graduated from 11 years ago) students in the bilingual scheme can, for the first time, do their final exams in English all the way through. This accords to this year's Year13 generation.

the semi-trill

as for the remark "We never test the language of our students" I can say that I would not do it either, the reasons being that first it is the fist time for my students that they are challenged in this way and second that it is the first time also for me. I can not tell you yet, if the knowledge of the foreign language is tested and judged in any way in Sek II at our school. I have to ask and will tell you here.

amber

that we don`t test history knowledge that's been taught in English! We never test the language skill because thats also forbidden in German writing.(It is not allowed to assess German spelling mistakes in a biology test.) So we part the weekly lessons. One lesson in English the other in German, for making sure everybody got the message.

As I already told bernstein I need some courage to take part in this thread because my English is getting more than rusty with all that "Is this a pen?"
I never thought about bilingual teaching at my "Hauptschule". I think the school with that name in Austria is a bit different, ines. Most of my pupils seem to feel tortured by this subject anyway, so I wouldn't dare...

I'd like to remark some things about bilingual classes here. My son is attending such a class and , you're right rhauda: 8 boys, 22 girls . It was his choice, but I appreciated it of course. And of course, those classes are the "nicest" classes at school. Means: If there is a class without any bullying for example, it's a bilingual one.

I think one of the main problems is that teachers at a "Gymnasium" usually only teach their subjects. That may be the reason why they e.g. miss the chance to have P.E. or Art lessons in English which is possible. There is just nobody there with that combination of subjects. Bilingual subjects are History, Geography and Politics. (Some of them aren't really bilingual, either the teacher says: "Hey, let's just do it in German and have a nice time" or he/she is afraid they could miss something important and is constantly translating....)
I'm a bit disappointed, in my opinion it's not really bilingual but only a bit more English than usual. _{By the way: kind regards to my son's current English teacher, still "training on the job" if you read this. You've been spotted with a 4tea-folder...}

In Luxembourg students are used to being taught several subjects in German or French from the beginning. In the Netherlands you have to be able to understand English, French and German if you want to study, because only very few books are translated. In Germany we make a fuss about bilingual teaching.Should our pupils really be less capable of foreign languages?

@bernstein: I really appreciate the idea of threads in English and hope we'll have a lot of them. You see, early in the morning, with a glass of wine, even I dare to contribute....
ishaa

The idea of bilingual teaching seems quite appealing to me. In fact, I've got a year 10 or 9th form - whatever you wanna call it - whom I teach in history, politics and geography. So I'd have access to the so called predestined subjects being taught in a foreign language. But I have to admit - _{in accordance to what ishaa related about her son's bilingual teacher} - I'm afraid that I'd have to do everything twice. This, however, is just not on considering the fact that my students will be away for their work experience for three weeks plus the circumstance that I went on a class trip in September. So in total I've got 4 weeks less of teaching plus a week less anyway compared to last year as this school year's summer holiday start a week earlier than last year. On top of it all the subjects mentioned above are popular with the students in the oral exams. So not such a good idea to choose a foreign language over content. Furthermore there's hardly enough time to fulfil all the requirements of the curricula anyway… _{Don't get me wrong: I'd love to speak more English at school and I think students would benefit as well but at the moment I just can't see how to realise this with my class.}

However, the idea of teaching P.E. or arts to students seems great as there are usually no written tests in these subjects. I dare say that it would be better to start bilingual teaching even in elementary school as it is a known fact that children learn a foreign language more easily the younger they are. And as it is: teachers in secondary schools might benefit from it, too.

For now from what I experience on a daily base, I'd suggest that ALL foreign language teachers start speaking the target language throughout their lessons and don't fall back into their mother tongue as soon as students claim they don't get a word of what is being said.


flabber

However, the idea of teaching P.E. or arts to students seems great / arts - that's the subject, my bilingual teaching works best.

It is just so easy to start talking English while the kids are drawing.

But the way we chose is not the one "bilingual teaching" is known everywhere - we call it "Englisch als Arbeitssprache". So we give advice, or different orders in English, but the worksheets and other material is in German. So we use the common phrases like "Take out the....", or "You`ll need a pen.", "Fill in...." during the lessons, and that works fine. In arts I also have enough time and space to chat with my pupils about other topics. So our slogan - no stress with English - just works!
lg ines

However, the idea of teaching P.E. or arts to students seems great

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think art is the least suitable subject of all.
# there ARE written tests thanks to our new curriculum
# the vocab you use in art lessons is so beyond anything resembling real life that it would be a waste of time. Honestly - Golden section, carmine red or stiff-bristled brush are not what I would call useful words to buy a beer in a Manchester pub

Honestly - how many of your students will ever have the chance to buy a beer in a Manchester pub - with or without the knowledge of the above mentioned words???

feelings

colours and the emotions they cause

problems artists wanted to point out or just lead an eye onto (Goya -Munch)

ways of expressing feelings by using different materials like different brushes, different colours or paper...(Warhol...)

advertising - for beer eg.


oh I see many ways of using art as a perfect subject for b.t