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Multilingualism in kindergartens:
Challenges, Chances and Concepts
Hausarbeit zur Erlangung des Akademischen Grades
Master of Arts
vorgelegt dem Fachbereich 05 – Philosophie und Philologie
der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
von
Maren Gockel
geboren am 04.01. 1989 in Hamm (Westf.)
2015
Kernfach: Int. Master in Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism
Erstgutachterin: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anneli Sarhimaa
Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Ineta Dabašinskienė
Table of Contents
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4
2 Immigrants in Germany ........................................................................................ 6
2.1. Germany as an immigrant country .............................................................. 7
2.2 Frankfurt as a multilingual and multicultural metropolis ............................. 8
3 Political Educational Backgrounds ....................................................................... 9
3.1 The Consequences of the German PISA-shock ............................................ 9
3.2 Early-Childhood Education Policies in Hesse ............................................ 11
4 Theories of Second Language Acquisition ......................................................... 16
4.1 The Critical Period Hypothesis .................................................................. 16
4.2 The Universal Grammar ............................................................................. 18
4.3 The Monitor Theory ................................................................................... 18
5 Strategies for the Work in Diverse Kindergartens.............................................. 20
6 Methodology of the Case Study ......................................................................... 23
6.1 Quantitative Data Collection: An Online Survey ....................................... 24
6.2 Qualitative Data Collection: Interviews ..................................................... 26
7 Analysis of the Data ........................................................................................... 27
7.1 Demographical Data of the Interviewees and Respondents ....................... 28
7.2 Demographical Data of the Kindergarten groups ....................................... 31
7.3 Challenges in the daily pedagogical work .................................................. 36
7.4 Communication Strategies in multilingual kindergarten groups ................ 41
7.5 Strategies for the Language Support for Migrant Children ........................ 46
7.6 Strategies for the Appreciation of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity ......... 53
7.7 Chances of multilingual kindergartens ....................................................... 56
8 Language Projects in Frankfurt .......................................................................... 58
9 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 64
Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 68
Appendix ............................................................................................................... 74
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1: Foreigners in Frankfurt by country of origin .......................................... 8
Figure 2. Question 1: How old are you? ............................................................... 29
Figure 3. Question 13: How many languages are spoken in
your kindergarten group?....................................................................................... 31
Figure 4. Question 17: How many children in the kindergarten
group do not have German as their mother tongue?. ............................................. 32
Figure 5. Question 14/15: Which language is the most / second most
spoken language in your group? ............................................................................ 34
Figure 6. Question 18: How do you communicate with migrant children?.......... 42
Figure 7. Question 19: How do you communicate with children
who do not speak German and whose mother tongue you do not speak? ............. 43
Figure 8. Question 37: Do you try to teach children with poor
German skills the language? .................................................................................. 47
Table 1. Question 36: Please indicate the most difficult tasks
in your daily pedagogical work; ............................................................................ 37
List of Appendices
Appendix I: Original quotations in German .......................................................... 74
Appendix II: Online Questionnaire ...................................................................... 76
Appendix III: Interview Questionnaires ............................................................... 93
Appendix IV: Original German Quotations from the Interviewees ...................... 95
Appendix V: CD of the Interviews ........................................................................ 99
Appendix VI: German Summary of the Master Thesis ....................................... 100
Appendix VII: Statement on Plagiarism .............................................................. 101
4
1 Introduction
Today societies are very global and transnationally connected, not only in
economic and touristic spheres but also in everyday life. Migration from one
country to another has made and still makes the society very multicultural und
multilingual. This is also the case in Germany, which has a diverse population. In
the year 2011 a census was conducted and the results have shown that 8.2% of the
inhabitants of Germany are foreigners and 19.5% of the population has a
migration background (Statistisches Bundesamt 2011). The most diverse city in
Germany is Frankfurt, which is located in the federal state Hesse. The population
of Frankfurt numbers approximately 700.000 people, out of whom 43% have a
migration background. Frankfurt also has the highest proportion of migrant
children in Germany. 68% of all children in Frankfurt aged five or less have a
migration background, so consequently the diversity is especially noticeable in
early-childhood education (Gold, Schulz 2014: 39).
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that
school children in Germany have deficiencies in their reading skills as well as in
their basic mathematical and natural scientific education, e.g. biology and physics.
Children of families with a low socioeconomic status and children with a
migration background received particularly low results in PISA and the main
reason for their low results is believed to have to do with their insufficient
German-language skills (Jungmann, Albers 2013: 14).
A good command of German is generally seen as a defining key qualification
for a successful school attendance and later on for a successful career path.
Knowing German properly also is crucial for an active participation in the society
and the economic life. This is especially a challenge for families with a migration
background. Their children are at risk to attend a special-needs school with the
focus of learning just the basic skills, only because their German skills are not
good enough for a regular school (Siegert 2008). Consequently, they are at risk of
getting a much lower school degree than children of native German-speaking
families and therefore have economical disadvantages. In order to counteract this
social disadvantage and to provide migrant children with an equal access to
education with native German-speakers, acquiring German as a second language
has to be supported as early as possible.
5
Kindergartens are the first educational institution which the majority of children
in Germany attend. In 2010, 96% of all children aged four to five years attended a
kindergarten and also the number of migrant children attending a kindergarten
increased in the last few years (Roßbach 2008; Statistisches Bundesamt 2012).
The increase of migrant children attending a kindergarten and the decline in the
birth rate in Germany changed the composition of kindergarten groups in the last
years. It is not uncommon anymore that migrant children are the majority in
kindergarten groups, especially in bigger cities. In Frankfurt the share of
immigrants in kindergartens varies from 59% to 63% (Schupp 2012:78/79).
The different cultures and languages can be a challenge for all people involved
in early-childhood education and educators have to find strategies on how to cope
with such a diverse environment. They not only have to help the migrant children
to integrate into the kindergarten group and society but also show and teach every
child that multiculturalism and multilingualism are a natural part of the German
society, that there is nothing negative in it but rather the contrary: it should be
valued. Furthermore, children of immigrant families are not always proficient in
the German language when entering educational institutions as shown e.g. by
Beck already in 1999 and educators have to develop strategies to communicate
with immigrant children in order to effectively help them to acquire such a
proficiency that will provide them with equal opportunities with their native
German-speaking peers at school.
At the most general level, this study aims at identifying strategies that actually
are employed by educators in diverse kindergarten groups. It will be investigated,
firstly, how kindergarten teachers communicate with migrant children and how
they support their acquisition of the German language and, secondly, if the
educators implement the different languages and cultures into their daily
pedagogical work. Acquiring the German language as well as becoming aware of
different languages and cultures is important for the development of the children
and both processes should be supported by the educators.
Investigating the whole Federal Republic of Germany would exceed my
possibilities and would blast the extent of the study, so due to the exclusive
diversity of its population, I decided on Frankfurt as a research area. An Online-
Questionnaire was designed in order to gather quantitative data and interviews
were conducted for the qualitative aspect of the study.
6
The study begins with a short general introduction into the topic immigrants in
Germany and in Frankfurt (Chapter 2) and then informs about educational
political discourses and policies in early-childhood education in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 presents briefly those theories of second language acquisition which
have shown a direct impact on the case study discussed in Chapters 6 to 8 and in
Chapter 5 strategies are presented which educators can use for the language
support of migrant children as well as for the appreciation of the linguistic and
cultural diversity.
Chapters 6 to 8 are dedicated entirely to the case study. In Chapter 6 the
methodology of the study is briefly presented, while in chapter 7 the collected
data is analyzed, reviewed and compared to the regional policies of early-
childhood education as well as to the aforementioned SLA theories and language
support strategies. In Chapter 8 I present language projects, which were designed
by communal institutions of Frankfurt and were put into practice in Frankfurt‟s
kindergartens. The study ends with a conclusion in Chapter 9 where the main
results of the study are summarized and the research question is answered.
2 Immigrants in Germany
Germany is a very diverse country and according to the micro census from 2011,
16 million people in Germany have a migration background which is 19.5% of the
entire population of Germany. The largest immigrant group is of Turkish origin
(around 3 million people), followed by Poles (around 1.5 million people),
Russians (around 1.2 million people), Kazakhs (around 0.9 million people) and
Italians (around 0.8 million people). These data refer to the population with a
migration background in a strict sense, meaning that people who migrated to
Germany after 1950 belong to this demographic population as well as people who
were born in Germany with a foreign citizenship. In addition to that, children who
have a German citizenship and have at least one parent with a migration
background or one parent who was born as a foreigner in Germany are also
considered to have a migration background and are included in the data
ascertainment (Statistisches Bundesamt 2011).
7
2.1. Germany as an immigrant country
In 1950 approximately 500.000 foreigners were living in Germany which was 1%
of the entire population of Germany. In the following years migration to Germany
increased and today 16 million people with a migration background live there.
Reasons for the increase of foreigners and people with a migration background
in Germany are diverse. Fleeing and expulsion were and still are one of the main
reasons for migration. Due to safety reasons people flee from their native
countries and try to find asylum in EU-States and since 1950 Germany
accommodated 3.5 million asylum seekers. Current data from the year 2013 show
that 109.600 first applications and 17.400 subsequent applications were handed in
to the German state by persons seeking asylum. The largest groups were from the
Russian Federation, Syria and Serbia (Bundesministerium des Innern 2014:26/27).
Other reasons for people to immigrate are economical reasons or simply the wish
for a better life.
Former guestworkers from Turkey, Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia are one of
the largest groups of migrants in Germany. They migrated to Germany during
1955 and 1973 in order to work. The German state campaigned for guestworkers
because their workforce was needed for the booming economy. Recruitment
agreements with Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and
former Yugoslavia were negotiated and soon many men who did not have a good
financial income in their home countries moved to Germany for work purpose.
Turkish citizens became the largest group of foreigners with 23% in the year
1973, followed by people from former Yugoslavia with 17.7%
(Bundesministerium des Innern 2014:15).
Originally the term guestworker defines a person who temporarily immigrates
to a foreign country to work and to earn money with the understanding that once
the work is finished and the demand for outside labor is no longer needed, the
guestworker will return to his or her homeland (Ehrkamp 2005). However, many
of the guestworkers in Germany did not return to their homeland but decided to
migrate permanently to Germany and were later joined by their families. Half a
century later the former guestworkers have firmly established their lives in
Germany and their children and grandchildren have roots in both their heritage
society and in the German society.
8
2.2 Frankfurt as a multilingual and multicultural metropolis
Frankfurt is the biggest city in the federal state Hesse and one of the metropolitan
areas of Germany. The city is the financial center of the European Union and has
a high economical appeal to investors because it is seen as a Global City (Schupp
2012:24). Because of the economical attractiveness many people move to
Frankfurt, not only people from Germany but people from all over the world.
Consequently, the city has the highest number of immigrants in Germany (42.7%
of the total population of Frankfurt has a migration background) and is home to
more than 170 nationalities as can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Foreigners in Frankfurt by country of origin (Max Planck Institut zur Erforschung
multireligiöser und –ethnischer Gesellschaften 2008: 89).
Only four of the more than 170 nationalities of Frankfurt are big in numbers and
receive a percentage of over 5%: Turkish with 18.5%, Italian with 8.15%,
Croatian with 6.78% and Polish with 5.77%. The other nationalities are rather
small in numbers, which shows the true diversity of Frankfurt. No nationality has
the majority; instead, migrants from all parts of the world move with their families
to Frankfurt.
The share of young children with a migration background is quite high in
Frankfurt. According to the micro census 2011, 68% of Frankfurt‟s children aged
five years or less do have a migration background and this number is constantly
rising (Gold, Schulz 2014: 39). This high proportion of migrants also has an effect
9
on the kindergartens in Frankfurt. Kindergartens are the first educational
institutions children attend before entering school and especially for migrant
children the attendance of kindergarten is advisable because often they experience
their first intensive contact with the German language there.
However, the rate of the kindergarten attendance of migrant children is lower
than the rate of attendance of German children, especially in the age range of
under three years (Gold, Schulz 2014: 39). 21% of German children under three
years go to a kindergarten while only 12% of migrant children under three years
attend a kindergarten. This difference, however, adjusts with advancing age. The
attendance rate of children aged three to five years is at 94% of children without a
migration background and at 90% of children with a migration background.
In general, children with a migration background attend kindergarten later and
for a shorter time than children without a migration background, but the number
of migrant children who attend kindergarten is increasing steadily (Hessisches
Ministerium der Justiz, für Integration und Europa 2013: 10).
3 Political Educational Backgrounds
The education of children gained much attention in the last few years, beginning
with low results in PISA in 2000 (Kristen, Dollmann 2012). For the German
government and educational system the results of the study were a shock and
many discussions took place. In these discussions the importance of early-
childhood education was emphasized and soon kindergartens got an educational
mandate. Additionally, kindergarten laws and policies were revised and defined
more closely in regard to early intervention.
3.1 The Consequences of the German PISA-shock
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a study by the
OECD and was first performed in the year 2000 and then in a rhythm of three
years. The study examines basic skills of 15-year-old pupils, e.g. their reading
abilities and their mathematical skills with the aim to improve national education
policies. The results of the first study showed that German pupils have serious
deficiencies in all basic skills, but especially in their reading abilities (Jungmann,
10
Albers 2013). The PISA results were later on supported by another study, the
International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which examines the reading
abilities of primary-school pupils (Tarelli et al. 2012). Both studies showed that
pupils in Germany did not even achieve the OECD-average, which resulted in a
national educational debate. Before the results were published, German politics
and the German society assumed that the German education system did well, so to
see it fail this drastically compared to international standards came as a shock.
For Germany, it was surprising to see that there were big differences between
pupils who did well in the results and people who did not (Smolka 2002: 6). A
reason for the differences in their performances was found in the pupils‟ social
background. Children who came from families with a low socioeconomic status or
from families with a migration background achieved much lower results than their
native German-speaking peers or children from families with a high
socioeconomic status. Especially the low results of migrant children were
discussed not only in the German politics and media but also internationally. It
seemed that the German education system did not offer equal opportunities for
every child and that it failed children who did not have a strong economic family
background or German as a first language. Furthermore, it was feared that the low
results were already an indication for the future life of the children and that they
will have difficulties with finding a place to study or a good apprentice position.
This also meant that they were at risk to lose the opportunity of social
participation and integration into the German society (Jungmann, Albers 2013).
The main reason for the failure of migrant children was seen in insufficient
German skills, be it reading or writing skills. It was assumed that they were not
able to understand all instructions and explanations and had difficulties to express
themselves in German. According to Holler (2005), language is the basis of
scholastic learning and therefore good knowledge of German is a determining key
qualification for a successful educational career.
As a consequence of the PISA, the governments of the federal states of
Germany decided to put more focus on early-childhood education. Primary
schools, but also kindergartens were advised to especially focus on the language
development of children from families with a low socioeconomic status and from
families with a migration background in order to counteract the development of
educational inequality.
11
The PISA results of the years 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012 showed minor
improvements, but it is difficult to say if these improvements happened because of
language promotion programs due to the fact that the programs‟ efficiency is not
empirical recorded (Tarelli et al. 2012: 206). The results of PIRLS showed that
there were improvements from 2001 to 2006, but these could not be held. In the
study from 2011 the reading abilities of pupils fell back to the results of the study
from 2001. Migrant children did better than in the years before but they still
scored worse than their classmate without a migration background. Consequently,
language support is still a very important field of action in early-childhood
education and should not be neglected.
3.2 Early-Childhood Education Policies in Hesse
Due to the PISA and PIRLS results and the following debates, not only the social
view of kindergartens changed from just being a child care center to an institution
with an educational mandate but also kindergarten policies and laws were altered.
In general, kindergartens are defined as preschool institutions, which take care
of children aged three to six. Some kindergartens also host day nurseries for
children aged 0 to three and a day care center for primary school pupils who go
there after school ended. Children can attend kindergarten full-day or half-day, the
decision lies with the parents. The attendance of kindergarten is obligatory and
parents have to pay a fee for their children to go there. The fees are dependent on
the income of the parents, e.g. if parents have a low income the attendance of
kindergarten can be partly or wholly funded (Günther 2012: 17). Legally and
organizational the kindergarten sector belongs to the youth welfare service and is
governed on a national level by the §§ 22 et seqq. of the Child and Youth Welfare
Act (Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetz KJHG). It states as the main objective for
childcare that child care centers should:
12
(1) 1
1.) support the development of the child to an independent and socially
competent character,
2.) support and complement the upbringing and education in the family,
3.) help parents, to combine employment and child-rearing.
(Sozialgesetzbuch 2012, KJHG: § 22 (2), English translation by Gockel )
The KJHG sets general principles, which all federal stated needs to follow. Due to
the fact that Germany has a federal system, the educational sector is the
responsibility of the federal states. This means that the federal states are also
responsible for kindergartens, so consequently they can define the principles
kindergartens have to follow more detailed and in accordance to regional
circumstances (Roßbach 2008: 290 et seqq.).
I focus on kindergarten policies and laws in the federal state Hesse because that
is the federal state in which my research area Frankfurt is located. Kindergartens
in Hesse have to follow the Hessian Childcare Funding Act, which is part of the
Hessian Child and Youth Care Code (HKJGB) and became effective on the first
of January 2014. The law standardizes regulations for the education, the
upbringing and the care of children. Furthermore, it regulates the minimum
standards in kindergartens to ensure the child‟s well being, e.g. the size of
kindergarten groups, the minimum personnel requirements and the qualification of
the staff. Concrete framework conditions for the kindergarten work, however, are
not defined by law but by the kindergarten providers, e.g. the city of Frankfurt, the
church or private child care institutions.
In order to provide good care, kindergartens receive not only financial support
from the children‟s parents but also from the federal state Hesse; the amount is,
among others, dependent of the size of the kindergarten groups, the age of the
children, the care time but also of the amount of children with a different mother
tongue than German (§ 32a (4) HKJGB).
1 The original German quotation of the laws and political frameworks can be found in Appendix I.
13
(2)
Child care centers, where the amount of children whose families do not
predominantly speak German (…), is at a minimum of 22%, will receive a fixed
rate of 390 Euros for every child in order to
1. support the language promotion of the children in the day care center,
2. promote the health, the social, cultural and intercultural competences of the
children,
3. promote the education and upbringing partnership [with the parents] (…),
4. support the interconnection of the child care centers in the social
environment.
(Hessisches Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetzbuch (HKJGB) 2013: §32a (4)
English translation by Gockel)
The law declares that kindergartens with a high amount of children with another
mother tongue than German, receive financial support from the government. This
indicates that the government knows that money is needed in order to ensure equal
opportunities for every child. How the kindergartens use the money is the
responsibility of the local kindergarten institutions. They can, for example, hire an
additionally employee who is responsible for the integration of the children or can
use the money for language or cultural projects. Furthermore, kindergartens
receive more money from the federal state, if at least one employee participates in
further training programs (HKJGB 2013: §32b (1)).
In addition to the HKJGB, which is very general, the Hessian ministry of social
affairs and integrations and the ministry of cultural affairs designed an education
and upbringing plan for children aged 0 to 10 which was launched in 2008 and is
a general, obligatory framework for kindergartens. The plan states as an overall
aim that every child in Hesse should be supported as early, as optimal and as
sustainable as possible and puts the child with its individual learning abilities into
the center of the pedagogical work (Fthenakis et.al. 2014). It defines learning as a
lifelong process that starts at birth and stresses the importance of a close
cooperation of kindergartens, parents and schools. The plan acknowledges the
importance of language education and puts it into the center of early-childhood
education.
14
(3) Today, language education is of particular importance. It starts with the first day
of kindergarten and should be continuously carried forward. It is a requirement
for educational success. The elementary level [kindergarten] can contribute
significantly to good starting chances for every child, regardless of its social
background.
(Fthenakis et.al. 2014: 37, English translation by Gockel)
The education and upbringing plan also mentions several objectives in regard to
multilingualism. Children should develop curiosity for other languages and should
see multilingualism as a cultural and linguistic enrichment. Additionally, they
should develop linguistic awareness and that the way someone speaks or
understands something is culturally shaped and can differ from their own culture.
Furthermore, the plan states that the acquisition of the German language is
important but educators should also value the mother tongues of the children.
(4) For children, who learn German as second language, additionally programs in
German are available in educational institutions. But important for the language
support is also the appreciation of the family languages and an active, constant
work with parents.
(Fthenakis et.al. 2014: 66, English translation by Gockel)
Not only does the plan suggest the use of programs for language learning and
language appreciation, it also advises work with parents. This includes agreements
on the education style, participation of the parents in the kindergarten community,
but also indicates that kindergartens should assist parents in their integration.
However, even though the use of programs is recommended, no specific programs
or projects are mentioned in the plan.
The plan also states, in bullet point form, what children should learn in regard
to their linguistic development: They should learn new vocabulary according to
their age, should develop differentiated phonological awareness, should know
how to communicate with others and should be able to express emotions and
needs verbally. Furthermore, they should enjoy speaking and should show interest
in a linguistic dialogue. They should experience language as an instrument, should
have knowledge of different speech and text styles (small talk, fairytale, factual
information, rules of politeness), should develop curiousness for foreign
languages and should see multilingualism as enrichment. Lastly, they should be
15
able to form their own linguistic identity (Fthenakis et.al. 2014: 68/69). So,
children have a lot to learn in kindergarten and educators have to support them in
learning the aforementioned skills which can be a challenging task.
In addition to supporting the linguistic development of the children, educators
should also promote intercultural competences, according to the Hessian
education and upbringing plan.
(5) Bilingualism and multilingualism as well as intercultural competences can help
children to develop to worldly, cosmopolitan personalities. Shared activities,
where children with different cultural backgrounds come together, are
especially suitable in order to practice intercultural competences. Children will
get curious about the different cultures and will learn to respect otherness (…).
(Fthenakis et.al. 2014: 32, English translation by Gockel)
The plan acknowledges the importance of multilingualism and intercultural
competences and wants educators to assist children in developing an open-minded
personality. In order to achieve this, children should have a feeling of belonging
to their own culture, should be sensitive to differentness and should be respectful
towards persons with other values, preferences, morals and languages (Fthenakis
et al. 2014: 42).
While each kindergarten has to follow the HKJGB, the Hessian education and
upbringing plan is not mandatory for kindergartens. It is, however, recommend
from the ministry of social affairs and integration to use it as a framework for
successful early-childhood education. Furthermore, it must be mentioned that the
Hessian government gives the kindergarten institutions much freedom with the
implementation of the HKJGB. While it says that the acquisition of German is an
important matter in early-childhood education it does not say which programs
need to be used or to what extend children need to be supported. This gives the
kindergartens the chance to work in their own timeframe and also with their own
possibilities in order to ensure equal opportunities for every child but can also
cause difficulties because educator might not know what support programs they
can use.
16
4 Theories of Second Language Acquisition
Second Language Acquisition refers to the process of learning
another language after the native language has been learned.
(Gass, Selinker 2008: 7)
With this definition of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Gass and Selinker
emphasizes the main aspect of SLA: The learning or acquisition of a second
language (L2), the nonnative language, begins only after the native language (L1)
has been learned and is fairly established in the speaker. The process of acquiring
L2 does not happen simultaneous to the L1 acquisition and therefore, SLA should
not be equated with bilingualism, which Felix defines as the simultaneous
acquisition of languages from birth (Felix 1978: 13).
In Germany, the majority of children with a migration background have a
different mother tongue than German and often their first systematic contact to the
German language is made when they start to attend child care institutions. Since
most of them enter kindergarten at the age of three or older, the acquisition of
German starts in their fourth year of life (Gold, Schulz 2014:17). This usually
means that they already established the basic knowledge of their mother tongue,
including the grammatical system and age-appropriate vocabulary. With the
societal need to be proficient in German, they have to conquer the challenge of
learning a new language to a nearly native-like proficiency. They must learn new
grammar rules, a new syntactical system and of course new vocabulary. Due to
the fact that they already know a language, their mother tongue, SLA researchers
talk in this context about sequential second language acquisition, e.g. Barry
McLaughlin who defines child SLA as “the successive acquisition of two
languages in childhood” (McLaughlin 1978: 99). In the following paragraphs
some SLA theories are introduced in their basic principles in order to give an
overview on the broad topic of SLA.
4.1 The Critical Period Hypothesis
Many researchers argue that the successive or sequential language acquisition can
only take place at a certain age if the learners are supposed to reach a native-like
17
level of proficiency in L2 (Gass, Selinker 2008; Meisel 2013; Miller 2012). It is
assumed that children learn a L2 easier than adults and that there is a certain
window of opportunity for mastering a language to a native-like level. This
assumption is supported by the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), which states
that the first few years of life are most important for language learners, be it
learners of L1 or L2 (Birdsong 1999: 1).
Lenneberg, who brought the CPH into prominence with his book Biological
foundations of English (1967), argues that children acquire a language
automatically when they are exposed to it and that they do not have to put any
conscious effort into language learning (Lenneberg 1967: 176). When the window
of opportunity closes, the ability to learn a language to a native-like level
diminishes. Language acquisition researchers, though, are divided over the time
frame of this window. While Lenneberg assumes the window closes after puberty,
other researchers think it happens much earlier.
Gass and Selinker (2008) think that the window of opportunity for child SLA
opens at age five and closes at age nine while Lakshmanan assumes, similar to
Lenneberg, that child SLA starts at age three and ends at the beginning of puberty
(Lakshmanan 2009: 377). For Schwartz the window of opportunity for child SLA
starts at age four. She argues that, at the age of four, the most important aspects of
the L1 grammar are established and therefore learning a new language at this age
is acquiring a second language and not simultaneous bilingual language
acquisition (Schwartz 2003). Based on studies of DeKeyser (2000) and Johnson
and Newport (1989, 1991) Schwartz argues that the window of opportunity closes
at the age of seven. According to her, the results of the studies have shown that
children who start to acquire a second language before the age of eight achieve the
same results on morpho-syntactical tasks like native speakers do. For Schwartz,
this proves that children who start to acquire a second language no later than age
seven use the same acquisition processes as children use in first language
acquisition. Furthermore, Schwartz states that L1 acquisition and child SLA are
both guided by the Universal Grammar (Schwartz 2003).
18
4.2 The Universal Grammar
Some scholars, like Schwartz, are convinced that child SLA is guided by the
Universal Grammar. Advocates of the Universal Grammar, a language learning
theory introduced by Noam Chomsky, believe that all languages have a common
set of rules and a common language structure. It is assumed that certain
grammatical principles are inherent and that every child is born with a language
acquisition device. With this device children are able to learn the structure of a
language quite easily. Originally, Chomsky explained only the L1 acquisition with
the Universal Grammar but in recent years many scholars discussed the
possibility that the theory cannot only apply to L1 acquisition but also to child
SLA (Rakhkochkine 2012: 324). This language acquisition device, which the
child assumingly uses for SLA, is only available during a certain timeframe and
could explain why children are able to learn a second language easier than adults.
This is in agreement with the Criticial Period Hypothesis.
4.3 The Monitor Theory
The last SLA-theory I introduce is the Monitor Theory by Stephen Krashen
(1981). The theory consists of five hypotheses; the Acquisition-Learning
Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Natural-Order Hypothesis, the Input
Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis.
In the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis Krashen argues that there is a
distinction between language acquisition and language learning. Language
acquisition occurs subconsciously and in a natural environment while language
learning occurs consciously and in a prepared setting. Furthermore, language
acquisition focuses on the meaning, on the aim to hold a conversation while
language learning focuses on the structure of a language, on its grammar. In
language learning formal teaching is advisable, while in language acquisition
formal teaching is not needed because the learner acquires the language in a
natural linguistic environment (Krashen 1994). For Krashen, the subconscious
language acquisition is more successful than language learning.
The Monitor Hypothesis assumes that every learner has a mental monitor
which acts as a supervisor. This monitor stores the already learned vocabulary and
grammatical rules of the language and the speaker recalls this saved knowledge
19
when using the language. In order to successfully use the monitor, the learner
needs to have time, needs to apply attention to the correct form of the language
and needs to have appropriate knowledge of the language rules. Only then the
monitor can become effective. Some learners, however, overuse the monitor and
make use of it all the time while others are under-users and do not use the monitor
at all. Under-users make more mistakes and are difficult to understand but the
over-users concentrate too much on the correct use of rules so that they are not
able to speak the language fluently. Optimal monitor users use the monitor at
appropriate times, e.g. when they have enough time to check their utterance or
when they are not sure with language structure to use (Caroll 2008: 174).
With the Natural Order Hypothesis, Krashen argues that learners acquire
grammatical structures of L2 in a predictable order but different from L1 learners.
SLA follows a certain natural pattern, independently of the order in which it is
taught (Krashen 1994: 52/53).
Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis applies only to natural language acquisition and
not to language learning. It says that a language is always acquired by
comprehensible input. This input should always consists of a structure that is a
little above the already acquired knowledge of the language and should be given
in natural communication situations. Furthermore, the person already knowing the
language should only assist and not teach the learner.
The last hypothesis is the Affective Filter Hypothesis. In this hypothesis,
Krashen describes affective factors which influence SLA. These are non-linguistic
factors, like motives for acquiring a language, the emotions of the learner, his
fears and his general habits. If a learner has a high self-confidence and high
motivation to acquire a language, he has a low affective filter and the input can
reach the language acquisition device easier. If the learner has a low self-
confidence and is not motivated much to learn the language, then he has a high
affective filter and has difficulties to acquire the language to the same level as the
person with a low affective filter (Krashen 1994: 58). Consequently, a person
acquiring a L2 needs to feel motivated, needs to feel welcome in the natural
language environment and needs to trust the persons who gives input and assists
in the acquisition of the second language.
SLA interested and still interests many linguistic researchers and therefore
many theories were made, proven and disproved. The above mentioned theories
20
do not cover every aspect of SLA, this was due to the amount of theories and
research not possible and I only focused on some of the theories that are important
for the daily kindergarten work. When children enter kindergarten they have the
ideal age for acquiring a second language, according to the Critical Period
Hypothesis. Therefore, they need to receive qualitative L2 support in
kindergartens. Kindergarten teachers need to give ample and qualitative input, as
was mentioned in Krashen‟s Input Hypothesis and need to create an environment
where the children feel welcome and secure enough to successfully acquire
German, like it was mentioned in the Affective Filter Hypothesis. Consequently, in
order to support the German acquisition of the children, educators need to be
qualified and aware of the complexity of SLA.
5 Strategies for the Work in Diverse Kindergartens
One of the most important tasks educators in kindergartens have is to support
children in acquiring the national language of the country they live in. There are
several concepts for language support, but one concept is especially recommended
to educators: the concept of acquiring a language in the context of everyday
activities. This concept was established by the Hanen Centre, a non-profit
organization based in Canada, which is concerned with the language acquisition
of children and designs different programs for language support, e.g. Learning
Language and Loving It (Weitzmann, Greenberg 2002). According to the
program, the keys of language support are qualitative interactions, adequate
linguistic input and motivation.
Children, and also adults, are more motivated to learn a language when the
acquisition process is linked to their everyday life and to their own personal
interests. Therefore, the Hanen program advises educators to approach the child
during everyday activities, e.g. to sit with the child when it plays, to imitate its
playing and to describe what the child does and repeat what it says. The child
feels that its actions attract attention and that the educator is interested in what it
does, which then can lead to a conversation.
Furthermore, the program recommends a strategy called OWL- observe, wait,
listen-. In this language support strategy, educators should first observe the child
and then wait for the child to initiate a conversation before listening closely to
21
what the child says or wants to say. It is advised to wait approximately 10 seconds
for the child to speak which can be a long time for the educator. It is, however, the
time a child needs in order to find the right words and to formulate a sentence,
especially if the child just starts to acquire the language (Dörfler 2014: 33).
Educators are also linguistic role models for children, especially if they care for
children who grow up in a non-German environment. These children need to
receive qualified linguistic input, so educators need be very aware of their own
speech. The Hanen Centre advises the use of a strategy called SSSS: Say less,
Stress, Go Slow, Show. According to this strategy, educators should use
simplified sentences with fewer words, should stress specific words which are
important in the particular situation, should speak slowly and should illustrate the
meaning of the words. Often these strategies are used intuitively when speaking
with young children but they can also be transferred to older children in
kindergarten who cannot speak German well.
Interaction between the educator and the child is most important for a
successful language support, but equally important is the interaction between the
children. Educators can support language learning in small groups, using the
SSCAN strategy, in which the educator has to „scan‟ the children‟s group. This
means, that educator has to constantly observe the children and react to each of
their needs. SSCAN consists of 5 principles:
1) Small groups are best
2) Set up an appropriate activity
3) Carefully observe each child‟s level of involvement
4) Adapt your responses to each child‟s need
5) Now keep it going
(Dörfler 2014: 66)
SSCAN works best if only 3 to 4 children join the group activity because then the
educator can react to the language development of all children. To observe the
linguistic needs of more than 4 children at once is difficult and not advisable.
Furthermore, the group activity should correspond with the interests of the
children so that they do not lose interest during the activity, e.g. if three children
are playing a lot with toy cars, the educator should incorporate this. Ideally, the
22
educator withdraws from being actively involved and just observes the children.
However, if the educator observes that one of the children does not speak, the
child should be encouraged and the educator should assists in the communication.
In order to fulfill this, the educator has to pay close attention to every child during
the whole activity and needs to find a balance between getting actively involved
and staying in the background. They need to see themselves not as language
teachers but as a supportive part of a language learning community (Dörfler,
Gerlach 2013).
In addition to the language support in the context of everyday activities,
educators can also sing songs that support the language acquisition of children,
can use role playing games, storytelling and bilingual books (Gayle-Evans 2004).
The latter, however, can be difficult because it can only be used if the educator or
another person, e.g. a parent, has reading skills in both languages.
However, not only have educator to support the acquisition of the German
language, they also have to communicate with the children and show that they
value the linguistic and cultural diversity in the kindergarten. The appreciation of
the child‟s mother tongue is important for the personal and linguistic development
but also for the inclusion of the child and its family into the society (Nemeth
2009). In order to communicate with children who do not have much German
language skills, facial expressions and gestures can be used as well as slow and
easy speech. Furthermore, educators can use pictograms and multilingual posters
where important phrases are written down in different languages and are further
explained by the pictograms. Examples for that would be phrases like Wash your
hands. Let’s go outside. or Form a circle of chairs. (Nemeth 2009). Each of these
phrases is important in the daily pedagogical work and can be easily written down
in different languages and complemented with pictograms. This way,
communication with migrant children is easier but it also signals that their
linguistic heritage is also part of the kindergarten group and appreciated by the
educators. Posters with pictures from different countries and cultures can also be
hung up in the classroom to raise cultural awareness and to give parents and
children from different countries and cultures a feeling of belonging and
appreciation.
Another strategy to include the different cultures and languages of the children
into the classroom is with the assistance of parents. Young and Helot (2003) did a
23
study in a French primary school where 37 % of the pupils were not of French
origin. The school started a three years long project, where more than 20
languages and cultures have been presented. Parents and local residents, who were
native speakers of another language than French, came into the classroom and
spoke to the pupils about their language and culture. They read traditional tales
from bilingual books, tasted country-specific food, sang traditional songs and
learned basic vocabulary and phrases. With this promotion of intercultural
understanding and language awareness, the school signaled acceptance and
approval towards migrant languages and made children, teachers and parents
aware of the wealth of linguistic and cultural diversity in their community. It
broke down barriers and stereotypes and furthermore, children with a migration
background felt finally acknowledged and valued as native speakers of their
languages. The children learned not only that languages and cultures are different,
but also equally important (Young, Helot 2003).
This approach of raising language awareness and promoting diversity can also
be used in German kindergarten groups. It would help to fight prejudices which
are very much implanted in the German society and would show the migrants‟
children that their heritage is valued and that they are part of the kindergarten
group and therefore also part of the society.
In addition to that, educators can encourage the children to teach their mother
tongue to others and compare certain vocabulary with each other. This, for
example, could happen during breakfast or lunch time. The children name the
food they are eating in their native language and then compare the answers. This
way, children learn new vocabulary but also feel valued because they can teach
other children their language. This is especially important for children with a
migration background whose languages do not always have a high prestige or
value within the society (Dörfler 2014).
6 Methodology of the Case Study
In order to find out how multilingualism affects the work of educators and which
strategies and concepts they use in order to support the acquisition of German and
to raise language and cultural awareness, I decided to collect quantitative and
qualitative data from educators in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens. For the quantitative
24
data collection an online survey was designed while for the qualitative data
collection interviews were conducted. Observation was not used as a data
collection method even though it would have been interesting to see how
kindergartens really work with multilingualism and to compare these results with
the results of the online survey and the interviews. However, due to legal statues,
e.g. data protection of minors, observation was not possible and had to be omitted.
The study consists of two target groups; firstly, people who work in
kindergartens and secondly, people in authority who design linguistic concepts
and projects for Frankfurt‟s kindergartens. The persons working in a kindergarten
answered the online survey and did interviews while the second group, the people
in authority, only gave interviews. Age, gender, origin and job experiences were
not selection criterions, but the respondents had to work in kindergartens in
Frankfurt, respectively in institutions in Frankfurt which are concerned with early-
childhood education, e.g. the Education Authority Office of Frankfurt.
6.1 Quantitative Data Collection: An Online Survey
Quantitative data is often used in research in order to find out how much or how
many there is of the subject the researcher is interested in, e.g. variation in
pronunciation (Rasinger 2008: 10). However, quantitative data is also important in
order to get a general overview of a specific group or topic (Angouri 2010: 33).
Therefore, I collected quantitative data in order to get an overview of the
multilingual situation in kindergartens in Frankfurt and in order to find out which
standard values are used in the daily pedagogical work with migrant children.
As a data collection tool I decided on an online questionnaire because
questionnaires are able to gather data from a large number of persons without
being as time-consuming as interviews. While questionnaires are not time-
consuming during the data collection, they require preparatory work and deep
knowledge of the research area (Rasinger 2010: 60). Once they are sent out to the
respondents the questionnaires cannot be changed and the researcher cannot
answer any arising questions or explain the wording. Therefore, the questions
need to be unambiguous, easily to understand and must address the exact issues
the researcher investigates because only then reliable and useful data can be
gathered (Rasinger 2008: 57).
25
Often questionnaires are a mixture of open and closed questions, but the latter
should be preferred. Respondents answer closed questions more likely than open
questions and the answers are easier to analyze and to compare. The answer
possibilities of closed questions, however, have to be well prepared and thought
through in order to collect useful data. The researcher should not choose the
answer possibilities randomly; instead they should be based on previous studies in
the research area and should be aligned to the research question (Rasinger 2008).
For my study, I designed an online questionnaire2 that consists of 8 sections,
including the introduction and the expression of thanks at the end of the
questionnaire. Out of the 42 questions I ask, most are closed multiple choice
questions, but in order to ensure variety and quality the respondents can add their
own answers to almost every question and can write about their own personal
experiences in open questions. To make sure that not too many people abandon
the questionnaire, open questions can be skipped.
In order to find participants for my study, I have sent out e-mails to head
organizations of kindergartens in Frankfurt, e.g. Kita Frankfurt and churches and
asked them if I have their official consent to send a link to the online
questionnaire to their kindergartens. The organizations have the legal authority of
the kindergartens and only if they agree the kindergartens were allowed to
participate in my study. After most of the organizations agreed, I sent out e-mails
to all kindergarten in Frankfurt which had a publicly accessible e-mail address and
were legally allowed to participate (147 kindergartens in total). In the e-mail I
introduced myself, explained my study and asked the recipient, who was most of
the time the head of the kindergarten, to participate and to distribute the link to the
questionnaire to the kindergarten staff.
The online questionnaire had a time limitation of seven weeks, which was also
mentioned in the e-mail. After four weeks I sent out an email reminder to the
kindergartens and asked them again to participate. Three weeks later I closed the
online questionnaire and started to analyze the data.
2 The whole questionnaire is attached in Appendix II. For the purpose of understanding, the
questionnaire is in English. For the study the questionnaire was put online in German.
26
6.2 Qualitative Data Collection: Interviews
In addition to quantitative data I also gathered qualitative data. I conducted
interviews in order to get even more insights and even more specific information
about the topic of multilingualism in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens.
There are different interview methods, which can be used in order to receive
qualitative data. For this study I used informal, half-structured face-to-face
interviews. A face-to-face interview is a questioning technique, in which a person
interviews a respondent with a structured or half-structured questionnaire.
Because of its flexibility and its possibilities, the face-to-face interview has been a
sovereign data collection method for many years (de Leeuw 1991). The direct
confrontation with the respondents is the main advantage of this data collection
tool. Occurring obscurities can be removed by further questions, both by the
interviewer and the interviewee. Furthermore, new interesting perspectives can be
discovered during the interview, which may contribute to the research. The in
advance developed questionnaire gives the interview structure and assists the
interviewer to keep the focus on the main topic of the interview. Since the
interviews are half structured, the possibility exists to expand the questions during
the interviews as well as changing the order of the questions and adjust them in
accordance to the interviewee. Consequently, the half structured interview has a
general direction, but also has the possibility to grant open space to the
interviewee for making relevant statements about the research topic, which the
interviewer has not considered yet. The researcher can gain more in-depth
knowledge about the topic because the interviewee can explain his answers and
opinions in more detail than in the online survey. Therefore, face-to-face
interviews are a good addition to the online questionnaire and add a qualitative
value to the study (Rasinger 2008: 59).
Over the course of three weeks in April, five interviews were conducted. Two
of them were with the heads of two kindergartens in Frankfurt while the other
three were with people in authority from the Office for Multicultural Affairs (Amt
für multikulturelle Angelegenheiten), the Education Office of Frankfurt
(Stadtschulamt Frankfurt) and from the largest kindergarten institution in
Frankfurt (Kita Frankfurt). I got in contact with the interviewees via e-mail and
asked them if they are willing to participate in my study. After agreeing, we set a
27
date and discussed specifics over the phone. The interviewees from the official
institutions asked to have a questionnaire sent out to them before the interview in
order to prepare for it. So, when I arrived for the interviews they were well-
prepared and gave me a lot of insight knowledge about their work and the topic.
The questionnaires were adapted to the individual work of the interviewees, so
consequently I have two questionnaires3; one for the heads of kindergartens and
one for the people in authority. Questionnaire 1 focuses on the daily pedagogical
work with migrant children while Questionnaire 2 is more concerned with the
theoretical background of early-childhood education, e.g. the development of
language projects. All five interviews were conducted in the offices of the
interviewees without any disturbances. After I explained my study, assured them
of their anonymity and asked if I could record the interview, I started with my
questions. The interviewees were very helpful and provided interesting
information.
7 Analysis of the Data
After the online survey was closed and all the interviews were conducted, the
process of the data analysis started. Even though, online surveys belong to the
quantitative data collection, my analysis is to a great extent qualitative. I decided
to use a descriptive, qualitative analysis rather than comparative statistics for the
study because it is not the aim of the study to compare different variables, e.g. if
the age of the respondents influences the usage of certain communication
strategies but to describe, interpret and evaluate the answers of the study
participants in order to get an understanding of the diverse environment in
Frankfurt‟s kindergartens and an insight into the work of the educators. The
results of the online questionnaire are accompanied by quotes4 of the interviewees
in order to add even more qualitative value to the study.
3 English translations of Questionnaire 1 and 2 are attached in Appendix III. Originally the
questionnaires are in German because the interviews were all conducted in German. 4 Due to the shortage of space, the original German quotes are in Appendix IV. In the text,
English translations are used.
28
7.1 Demographical Data of the Interviewees and Respondents
In order to analyze and interpret data it is important to have biographical and
demographical background information about the respondents because only then
data can be looked at holistically.
The demographical data of my interviewees revealed that two of the five
interviewees are both the head of a kindergarten in Frankfurt. Interviewee 1 is
male and works in kindergartens for 8 years, while interviewee 2 is female and
works in kindergarten for nearly 10 years. The other three interviewees, all
female, do not work in kindergartens, but they still have much knowledge about
early-childhood education, multilingualism and language promotion because they
all work in institutions which are concerned with these topics. Interviewee 3
works for the Office for Multicultural Affairs in Frankfurt and she is responsible
for language education in kindergartens and schools as well as for the language
projects mitSprache5 and Sprachbildung im interkulturellen Alltag (SiA).
Interviewee 4 works for the kindergarten institution Kita Frankfurt, which is the
largest communal kindergarten institution in Frankfurt. She is responsible for
language promotion, including the program wortstark. Lastly, interviewee 5
works for the Education Authority Office in Frankfurt and is responsible for
linguistic education in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens and is one of the project heads of
the projects wortstark and SiA.
The online questionnaire of the study was started by 93 people, but 17
respondents already ended the questionnaire after the demographic questions
about their person and 25 more after the demographic questions about their
kindergarten group. More respondents were lost during the course of the
questionnaire so in the end 34 respondents finished the survey. I decided to use
the answers from all respondents, including the ones who did not finish, because
their given answers are also an insight into the work of educators in Frankfurt,
even though they did not answer all the questions.
Childcare professions have a tradition of having mostly female workers. This is
also reflected in the questionnaire because 92.7% of my respondents stated that
there are female while only 7.3% stated that there are male. The politic as well as
5 Translated to English these projects are called wordstrong, withLanguage and Language
education in cultural everyday life (SiA). WithLanguage is a play of words, it also contains the expression ‘to have a say’. More information about these projects will be given in chapter 8.
29
the kindergarten organizations try to convince more men to become educators, but
it is difficult because of the low wages and low chances of advancement.
In addition to the gender, I also wanted to know the age of my respondents and
as figure 2 illustrates, most respondents are of middle age.
Figure 2. Question 1: How old are you?
Most of the respondents are over 40 years old, which suggest that they
already work in kindergarten for some time and therefore have much
experience in it. This assumption is confirmed by the answers of question 8
where I ask the respondents for how long they already work in kindergartens.
62.64% of the respondents answered that they work in the kindergarten sector
for more than ten years and 34.3% answered that they work in kindergartens
for already more than twenty years. 37.36% of the respondents work less than
ten years in kindergartens, which might suggest that some respondents are
lateral entrants and learned something different before entering early-
childhood education. This hypothesis is also supported by interviewee 1 and
2, who both worked in a different sector, before deciding to work in
kindergartens.
Most of the respondents, 56.52%, are state-approved educators, they had a
three-year long training in early-childhood education in a professional school for
social services. Other occupational groups are social pedagogues (22.83% of the
respondents) and childcare assistants (1.09% of the respondents). The answer
possibility others was chosen by 19.57% of the respondents and most of them
stated that they are certified pedagogues, which means that they studied pedagogic
at university and either have a Bachelor or Master-Degree. The high percentage of
6.45%
12.9%
27.6%35.48%
17.2%
Age Structur of the Respondents
18-25 years
26-35 years
36-45 years
46-55 years
56-65 years
30
educators was foreseeable because this is the usual occupational group who works
in kindergartens. Also, interviewee 1 and 2 are state-approved educators.
In addition to their age, gender and job training, I also asked the respondents
about their citizenship and mother tongue(s). Despite the fact that Frankfurt is a
very diverse city, the answers of my respondents indicate that this is not
applicable to the kindergarten staff. The majority of the respondents, 94.6%, have
a German citizenship while the remaining 5.4% of respondents have a Polish,
Hungarian or Turkish citizenship. Furthermore, 90.3% of the respondents have
German as a mother tongue, while 2.1% have Polish and 1.1% of the respondents
have Turkish as a mother tongue. 6.5% chose the answer possibility others and
stated to have Spanish, Croatian or English as a mother tongue. Furthermore, only
8.6% of the respondents grew up multilingual. The majority, 91.4%, grew up
monolingual.
This very homogeneous data suggest that it is difficult to attract migrants for
the work in kindergartens, but the city of Frankfurt tries to counteract this and
tries to train more people with a migration background for the work in
kindergartens, according to interviewee 3.
(6)
Interviewee 3: And, naturally, we try to support that part of the staff
which has a migration background itself. Firstly because
of the shortage of professional staff, but secondly, also to
keep an eye on the participation in education, the societal
participation of migrants.
(Interview 3: 37:12-37:30)
Frankfurt, as many other German cities, has a shortage of educators and tries to
counteract this shortage with educational programs for migrants. They advertise
the program and would like to increase the amount of migrants in early-childhood
education, but due to the fact that the HKJGB and the education and upbringing
plan focus on language support, migrants who want to become educators need to
have very good German skills, which might be an obstacle for some migrants.
However, good German skills are needed in order to ensure the quality in
early-childhood education. Because has the Hanen program in Chapter 5 has
shown, educators have a linguistic role model function and therefore, it is
31
important that they are proficient in German. It is to hope that migrants are not
discouraged by the demand of good German skills but instead improve them if
they are interested in becoming an educator. Educators with a migration
background will not only help with the shortcuts but will also add more quality
and diversity to the kindergarten and will increase the societal participation of
migrants.
7.2 Demographical Data of the Kindergarten groups
The demographical data of the kindergarten groups show a different, more diverse
picture than the demographical data of the respondents. While most of the
respondents have a German citizenship and grew up monolingual German, their
kindergarten groups consist of children with many different languages as figure 3
illustrates.
Figure 3. Question 13: How many languages are spoken in your kindergarten group?
The figure shows that most kindergarten groups are very multilingual and diverse.
Nearly half of the respondents, 48.64%, reported that more than five languages are
spoken in their group while 16.21% of the respondents even stated that ten or
more languages are spoken in their group. This means, in an average group size of
20 to 25 children, almost every second child is speaking a different language,
which can be a challenge for the educators as well as for the children. This result
is also supported by the interviewees, because all of them said that Frankfurt and
its kindergartens are very multilingual.
20.27%
16.22% 14.86%
17.57%
14.86% 16.21%
1
Language
2-3
Languages
4-5
Languages
6-7
Languages
8-9
Languages
Amount of languages spoken in Frankfurt's kindergarten
groups
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
32
(7)
Interviewee 4: It [the linguistic situation in Frankfurt] is very mixed and one
notices that in kindergartens. We have kindergartens in which
up to 30 languages… [that] the children bring in with them.
(Interview 4: 08:05-08:13)
Interviewee 4, who works in the Education Authority Office of Frankfurt, is in
close contact with kindergartens and she experienced very multilingual and
multicultural kindergartens. According to her, in some districts of Frankfurt, the
amount of languages spoken in kindergartens can raise up to 30 languages, which
is a lot but also reflects the very diverse population of Frankfurt.
However, 20.27% of the respondents also reported that only one language is
spoken in their kindergarten group, which seems unlikely if one compares this
statement with the other results and the linguistic and cultural diversity in
Frankfurt. It is possible that this percentage does not represent a complete
monolingual environment but an approach of only speaking German in the
kindergarten group in order to support the acquisition of German. This hypothesis
is daring, but supported by the results of question 17, in which I asked how many
children do not have German as a mother tongue. The results from this question
suggest that the kindergarten groups are indeed highly multilingual or at least
bilingual as they host many children who do not have German as a mother tongue.
Figure 4. Question 17: How many children in the kindergarten group do not have German as their
mother tongue?
1.35%
6.76%
17.57% 17.57%
9.46%
24.32%
17.56%
5.41%
0% 1-15% 15-30% 30-50% 50-60% 60-80% 80-96% 96-100%
Percentage of children in the kindergarten group who have a
different mother tongue than German
Number of children with a non-German mother tongue
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
33
Considering, that in 2011, 68% of all children in Frankfurt had a migration
background, it is no surprise that most of the respondents reported that they work
in kindergarten groups with a high proportion of children, who have a different
mother tongue than German. 56.75% of the respondents stated that more than
50% of their children do not have German as a mother tongue. Within these
percentage, 22.97% of the respondents reported, that more than 80% of the
children in their kindergarten group do have a different mother tongue than
German, which is very likely if they work in districts where many migrants live.
5.41% of the respondents stated that nearly all children have a different mother
tongue (96%-100%), which is a lot but could be explained with international
kindergartens, which are often visited by migrant children from families with a
high socioeconomic status who only stay in Frankfurt for some years, e.g.
children from bankers or diplomats. Only 1.35% of the respondents stated that
they do not have any children with a different mother tongue and 6.76% stated
that they only have 1-15% of children with a different mother tongue in their
group. It is possible that these kindergartens are located in a district where mainly
German families live.
Interviewee 1 is the head of a kindergarten which is located in a district of
Frankfurt where the percentage of immigrants is very high. He stated that his
kindergarten cares for children from 22 different nations and has the status of a
priority-kindergarten (Schwerpunkt-Kindergarten), which means that the
kindergarten has a high amount of migrant children and receives, in accordance to
the education and upbringing plan, more financial support than regular
kindergartens. The diversity of the kindergarten is also shown in the following
quote of the interviewee.
(8)
Interviewee 1: On March the first, 68 out of 83 children [had a migration
background]. Hence, priority-kindergarten.
(Interview 1: 05:25-05:36)
In percentage, 82% of the children attending the kindergarten of Interviewee 1
have a migration background, so the quotation validates the data presented in
figure 4.
34
I was also interested in finding out, which languages are the most and second
most spoken languages in the kindergarten groups of my respondents. Thus, I was
able to detect if German has a strong presence or if a migrant language is spoken
more, which would be a challenge because most of the respondents are only
proficient in German. Figure 5 illustrates the most and second most spoken
languages in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens, according to the respondents of my study.
Figure 5. Question 14/15: Which language is the most/second most spoken language in your group?
German is by far the most spoken language in the kindergarten groups according
to 78.4% of the respondents. This is a positive result because it implies that
German is a very present language in the kindergartens which it needs to be if
good language support wants to take place. German also received 24.3% in the
second most spoken language section, so if the language is not the most spoken
language in a kindergarten group, it is at least the second most spoken one.
If one takes the previous demographical data of the kindergarten groups into
consideration, it is highly likely that the high percentage of German is not due to
many German children attending the kindergarten but arises from the language
policies of the kindergartens to support the acquisition of the German language by
mostly speaking German and not the migrant languages.
The second most spoken language in Frankfurt‟s kindergarten is Turkish. 8.1%
of the respondents reported that Turkish is the most spoken language in their
kindergarten group and 37.8% stated that it is the second most spoken language.
This result was also supported by Interviewee 1 and 2 who both said that Turkish
is the most spoken migrant language in their kindergartens. This is consistent with
78.4%
24.3%
8.1%
37.8%
2.7%8.1%
10.8%
1.4% 4.1% 4.1%
most spoken languages second most spoken languages
Most and second most spoken languages
in the kindergartens of the respondents
German
Turkish
English
Arabic
Serbian
Polish
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
35
the statistical data of Frankfurt‟s population, in which Turkish migrants are the
largest migrant group. Consequently, it was expected that children with a Turkish
migration background are also the largest migrant group in kindergartens and that
Turkish is a very present language in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens.
10.8% of respondents stated that Arabic is the second most spoken language
in the kindergarten group which implies that these kindergartens have a large
amount of migrant children from the Arab world. Also, the amount of children
speaking Arabic is on the rise because of the constantly growing numbers of
refugees from Arabic speaking countries. This, however, is a different issue
because the care of refugee children consists of much more than language support
and language and cultural awareness.
According to 4.1% of the respondents, both Serbian and Polish are the second
most spoken languages in kindergarten groups. Serbian as well as Polish migrants
are one of the bigger migrant groups in Frankfurt, so it is reasonable that they are
also present in kindergartens. Serbian is also the most spoken language in the
kindergarten group of 1.4% of the respondents, which indicates that these
respondents work in kindergartens which are located in an area with many Serbian
migrants.
Frankfurt is also home to temporary migrants, who only stay in the city for
some years, e.g. diplomats and bankers. Their children mostly attend international
kindergartens in which German and English are spoken. This explains that 2.7%
of the respondents stated that English is the most spoken language in their
kindergarten group and 8.11% stated that English is the second most spoken
language in their kindergarten group. Additionally, English gets more and more
attention in early-childhood education. Some educators include English songs and
stories in their daily pedagogical work, so this also might contribute to the 8.11%.
The remaining percentages for both the most and second most spoken languages
are divided between French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Pashtu, but
none of them received more than 2%.
The results of questions 14 and 15 illustrate that no migrant language, beside in
some cases Turkish, has the supremacy in kindergarten groups and that most
kindergarten groups consist of children with many different mother tongues. This
stresses the importance of German as some kind of lingua franca because if many
different languages are spoken in a certain environment, one language needs to be
36
dominant so that communication can take place. In the case of kindergartens in
Frankfurt this lingua franca is German.
Furthermore, it was shown that most of the respondents work in multilingual
kindergartens, but surprisingly the majority, 68.9% of the respondents, reported
that their kindergarten is not an official multilingual kindergarten. It seems that
the existing diverse environment is not reflected in the official statues of the
kindergartens. A reason for that might be that kindergartens with a high amount of
migrant children are titled crises-kindergartens and often have a low prestige in
the German society. It can be assumed that these kindergartens do not want to
advertize their linguistic and cultural diversity in public because they do not want
to have this stigma of a crises-kindergarten. Consequently, they do not
acknowledge their diversity in their official kindergarten statutes. This can only be
changed if the kindergartens started to see the diversity as a chance and as value
and this also needs a change in thinking in the society. Not only should languages
like English and French be seen as valuable but also migrant languages like
Turkish, Serbian, Persian and Polish.
7.3 Challenges in the daily pedagogical work
Educators in diverse kindergartens have to cope with many different languages
and cultures at once and also have to offer equal opportunities for every child,
which can be a challenging and demanding task.
In question 36 of the questionnaire I ask my respondents what is most
challenging for them in their work and provided eight statements which they had
to grade after the level of difficulty. The answers then were summarized and the
arithmetic mean of the statements was calculated in order to see which statements
received the lowest and the highest points from the respondents. The statement
with the lowest points contains the most difficult task for all educators while the
statement with the highest points contains the least difficult task. The results are
tabulated in table 1.
37
Challenges of educators in the pedagogical work with migrant children
Statement Arithmetic Mean (Ø)
1
It is difficult for me to talk with the parents of the
migrant children about the pedagogical concept of the
kindergarten.
2.92
2
It is difficult for me to find the right methods and
strategies in order to support the migrant children in
the acquisition of German.
3.56
3
It is difficult for me to understand migrant children
linguistically.
3.75
4
It is difficult for me to understand the culture of the
migrant children.
3.78
5
It is difficult for me to talk with the parents of the
migrant children about their children.
3.97
6
It is difficult for me to build a relationship with the
migrant children.
5.78
7
It is difficult for me to create a balance between the
German language and culture and the migrant
languages and cultures.
5.78
8
It is difficult for me to not neglect children without a
migration background.
6.47
Table 1. Question 36: Please indicate the most difficult tasks in your daily pedagogical work;
starting with 1-most difficult and ending with 8-least difficult.
Parents and educators should agree with the pedagogical concepts of the other in
order to guarantee the best upbringing for the child, but with an average of 2.92
points talking with migrant parents about pedagogical concepts seems to be the
most challenging task for educators. Also, to talk with the parents about their
children can sometimes be a challenge and was put on the fifth place by the
respondents with average points of 3.97. Communication problems with the
38
parents are also mentioned in the answers of the open questions of the
questionnaire and during the interviews. Often occurring problems are that parents
do not participate in parents‟ evenings due to the lack of German skills, that they
do not understand information letters about kindergarten activities and programs
and that the conversations are often very superficial because of poor German
skills. Interviewee 2 agrees with that and said that the main challenge for her is
the conversations with some migrant parents.
(9)
Interviewee 2: Sure, when parents speak little to no German. (…) Then
the verbal communication is not that easy. Sure, you can
do something with hands and feet, with pictures and
everything, but for a quick chat…that you give quick
information. That is difficult, that is really difficult. (…)
There are always misunderstandings, of course. These are
moments in which you talk past each other and then
discrepancies and frustration occur, on both sides.
(Interview 2: 12:52-13:39).
Even though, both Interviewee 2 and the parents try their best to understand each
other, miscommunication occurs. This is frustrating for both the educator and the
parents and a big challenge for both of them. They need to find ways in order to
communicate with each other.
According to my respondents, the second most challenging task is to find right
concepts and strategies in order to support the acquisition of German, followed by
difficulties of understanding migrant children linguistically. This is again
supported by the answers of the open questions as well as by the interviews where
communication problems with the children are mentioned, e.g. miscommunication
among the children, problems with the explanation of the kindergarten rules,
problems with communicating their needs and wishes and missing participation in
group activities due to the lack of German language skills. Interviewee 1 stated
that it is difficult for him to communicate with migrant children when they start to
attend kindergarten because most of them do not have any German skills at all.
For him it is very challenging to integrate the children into the daily kindergarten
life because they do not understand the rules and he does not have a specific
concept he can use in order to teach the children the German language. According
39
to Interviewee 4 he is not alone with his opinion and other educators also have
difficulties to work with children who do not have any knowledge of German.
(10)
Interviewee 4: The educators are not prepared enough to adapt themselves
to children who have little knowledge of German. And I
think, that is a deficit in the qualification [of the educators]
(…) basically, many are utterly overwhelmed.
(Interview 4: 24:46-25:55)
Interviewee 4, who offers further education in language support and is constantly
in contact with different educators, agrees with the respondents of the
questionnaire and thinks that it is a big challenge for them to communicate with
children who do not have any knowledge of German yet. According to her, the
qualification of educators needs to be further developed in regard to language
development and language support so that they learn how to meet these
challenges.
Some respondents also have difficulties in understanding the culture of the
children and consequently see the cultural behavior of the children and parents as
a challenge. The statement „It is difficult for me to understand the culture of the
migrant children.’ received an average of 3.78 points and is the fourth most
difficult task. Some of the respondents additionally wrote that they have problems
with the cultural background and often do not agree with the pedagogical concepts
of the parents. According to one respondent, many migrant children are not as
independent as their German peers and need help with the simplest things like
putting their shoes on or eat with cutlery. Furthermore, different problematic
images of gender roles also challenge some of the respondents.
Less difficult for the respondents are the tasks, which they ranked on the last
places. They state that it is not difficult for them to bond with the migrant
children, which is a positive sign for the climate of the kindergarten. If it is not
difficult for the educators to bond with the migrant children, it can be assumed
that most of the educators are free of prejudices and have the best interests of the
children at heart. Furthermore, educational support can happen much easier, if
educators and children have a good relationship and trust each other.
Furthermore, the respondents stated that in this question that the creation of a
balance between the German language and culture and the migrant language(s)
40
and culture(s) is not too difficult but reported in open questions and during the
interviews that cultural differences sometimes cause problems between them and
migrant parents because of a different system of values. In order to achieve a
common educational stand, which is needed for consistent and qualitative
education, educators have to inform themselves about the cultures and need to
find ways to combine both the German and the migrant cultures.
According to Interviewee 5, another big challenge for educators is a
kindergarten group that is strongly dominated by one migrant language, e.g.
kindergartens were Turkish is the most spoken language.
(11)
Interviewee 5: Those [kindergartens] that exhibit a high proportion of
children with another first language [than German], say
sometimes: “We do not know how to cope with this.”
Because the children isolate themselves (…) and
intentionally segregate other children. Of course we want to
allow the mother tongues [to be present in kindergarten, too],
want to appreciate them (…) but it becomes a problem
then…in the moment when the motivation to learn German
is no longer there and when children with other languages
are segregated.
(Interview 5: 05:10-05:54)
It is naturally for children to form groups according to their linguistic knowledge
because they feel safe and more at home then, but this can cause problems for the
children and the educators. When migrant children are always in a linguistic
homogenous group the motivation to acquire the German language can get lost or
does not even arise. They do not see a need to learn the language because they can
communicate their needs in their mother tongue. It is important that educators
counteract this development and encourage the children to also engage with other
children and motivate them to speak German. It is, however, a difficult task
because educators still have to appreciate the mother tongue of the children. A
prohibition of the language does not help and is rather negative for the linguistic
development of the child as well as for its development of identity (Küpelikilinc,
Tuşan 2012). Consequently, educators have to find a good balance between
encouraging the children to speak German and to value their linguistic
backgrounds.
41
Even though most of the respondents work in kindergartens with many different
languages and have to support the German language acquisition of many migrant
children, they still have time to care for children without a migration background.
The statement „It is difficult for me to not neglect the children without a migration
background' reached an arithmetical mean of 6.47 points and is therefore the least
challenging task for the educators. This indicates that they were able to establish a
good working environment in which all children are considered. Nevertheless, I
should have included the statement „It is difficult for me to not neglect children
with a migration background’ because then I would have been able to examine if
the respondents try to treat all children equally. It is a possibility that educators
neglect migrant children because of their lack of German skills. They may think it
is too difficult and too much work to find appropriate communication strategies.
However, the results of the following section indicate that the respondents of the
online questionnaire do communicate with migrant children and therefore do not
neglect them.
7.4 Communication Strategies in multilingual kindergarten groups
The most challenging tasks of the respondents all center on communication, be it
communication with migrant children or communication with their parents.
Communication is essential, though, because without successful communication,
good care cannot be provided, the acquisition of German cannot be supported and
consequently the educational mandate of the kindergarten would fail. Therefore,
educators need to have communication strategies and figure 6 shows strategies the
respondents of the online questionnaire use in order to communicate with migrant
children who are not proficient in German but at least have some knowledge of
the language.
42
Figure 6. Question 18: How do you communicate with migrant children?
Multiple answers are possible.
The majority of the respondents speak German with the migrant children, which is
in line with the education and upbringing plan of Hesse. In order to help migrant
children to acquire and to improve their German, the usage of German for the
communication with migrant children is recommended to educators because only
through active communication a language can be learned (Fthenakis et al. 2014)
4.4% of the respondents speak to the children in the child‟s mother tongue and
13.3% of the respondents speak to them in both their mother tongue and German.
Because of the fact that the majority of the respondents grew up monolingual
German, I assume that they learned a few words and phrases of the children‟s
mother tongue(s) to make basic communication easier. This assumption is also
supported by the results of question 30 in which 64.1% of the respondents stated
that they know a few words and phrases in the children‟s mother tongue(s). The
others answer possibility was chosen by 13.3% of the respondents and some of
them also noted that they are able speak basic sentences in a few migrant
languages. This does not only help the children in conversations and makes them
feel more welcome, it also shows appreciation of linguistic diversity to all
children in the kindergarten group.
Another communication strategy mentioned in the others section is the use of
facial expressions and gestures. Even though the children can understand German
to a certain extent, the use of gestures and facial expression seems to help the
respondents when communicating with the children because with the assistance of
2.2%
91.1%
4.4%
13.3%
2.2%
13.3%
Communication strategies used for migrant children
no migrant children in the
kindergarten group
use of German
use of the child's mother
tongue
use of German and the
child's mother tongue
additional skilley employee
others
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
43
gestures and facial expressions the meaning of spoken words can be emphasized
and children can comprehend the sentence easier. This is especially important
when children do not have any knowledge of German yet, which is also the case
in many kindergartens. So, figure 7 illustrates the most used strategies of the
respondents for the communication with children who do not have any German
skills yet.
Figure 7. Question 19: How do you communicate with children who do not speak German and
whose mother tongue you do not speak? Multiple answers are possible.
The use of gestures and facial expressions in order to communicate with children
who do not understand any German is the most popular communication strategy
among my respondents. 91.1% of the respondents chose this answer possibility.
Facial expressions, gestures and the tone of the spoken words can assist in the
communication because the child can sense if the educator says something nice,
e.g. gives an invitation to a game or if the educator scolds it, e.g. for breaking the
rules. In addition to that, a smile can also be a useful communication tool. It can
encourage the child to speak and can create a more welcoming atmosphere.
Another helpful communication strategy for the respondents seems to be the
use of informal translators, e.g. co-workers or children. 42.2% of the respondents
ask co-workers who can speak the needed language(s) for help and 73.3% of the
respondents ask children, who can speak both German and the required
language(s) for assistance. However, this strategy should only be used for a short
period of time or in difficult situations in which neither the child nor the educator
2.2%
91.1%
42.2%
73.3%
2.2%
11.1%
Communication strategies used for children without any
German knowledge
no migrant children in
kindergarten group
use of gestures and
mimical expressions
help from co-workers
help from other children
additional skilled
employee
others
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
44
can understand each other. For the longer term, the use of translators should be
avoided. It is difficult to establish a relationship between educator and child, if
they are not able to communicate with each other and this then has a negative
impact on the daily kindergarten life and on the development of the child.
Furthermore, always seeking the help of translators does not help the child in the
acquisition of the German language. The child does not see the need to learn
German, if there are always people present who speak its mother tongue and
consequently it does not learn the language properly.
The answer possibility others was chosen by 11.1% of the respondents. Some
respondents wrote into the supplementary field that they use pictograms in order
to communicate with the children and to illustrate the meaning of certain words
and phrases and others noted that they use simple one-word sentences in German
in order to communicate with the children, even though they do not understand
any German.
The use of gestures and pictograms in combination with the use of simple-
worded sentences is an appropriate and recommended strategy because it not only
makes communication between educators and migrant children easier, it also
supports children in the acquisition of German. When I asked Interviewee 1 how
he communicates with children without any German knowledge he said:
(12)
Interviewee 1: With gestures, (…) by explaining in German. At that age
children are multilingual, that is easy and they learn faster
than one thinks.
(Interview 1: 17:29-17:41)
Interviewee 1 makes use of the strategy of using gestures and simple-worded
sentences in order to communicate with the children, which is highly
recommended. Further, he mentioned his hypothesis that young children are able
to learn a new language easier and faster than some people assume. This statement
is supported by the theories of SLA which were presented in chapter 4 and shows
how important it is that educators have some knowledge of child SLA.
Only 2.2% of the respondents stated that their kindergarten has an additional
skilled employee, who speaks at least some of the needed languages and is
responsible for children who do not have German as a mother tongue.
Consequently, all educators need to be highly qualified for the work in diverse
45
kindergartens; not only in order to communicate with migrant children but also in
order to communicate with their parents.
It is important that educators and parents understand and appreciate each other
for the sake of the child. Occurring problems, praise for the child, excursions of
the kindergarten group or pedagogical concepts are possible and also important
topics for educator-parents communication. The German skills of the parents can
be very basic or non-existent, so alternative communication strategies need to be
used. The respondents of the online questionnaire claimed that they use mostly the
same strategies for communicating with the parents as they use for the children.
88.6% of the respondents speak German to the parents and 90.9% of the
respondents additionally use gestures and facial expressions in order to make
communication easier. However, these strategies can only be used if the topic of
the conversation is simple. If a longer and important conversation needs to take
place, the respondents often use the help of other people. Nearly 60% of the
respondents ask co-workers and other parents for help and 38.6% of the
respondents use the translation skills of the children. Some respondents also added
in the supplementary others field that they ask the parents to bring family
members who can translate for them.
The use of informal translators seems to be a popular strategy among the
respondents but it can be challenging for everyone involved. Sometimes the
meaning can get lost or due to cultural understandings miscommunication can
happen. Furthermore, parents do not always want to use the translation skills of
others, especially if the conversation is about a sensitive topic. Also, to use
children as translators is not advisable because they do not always grasp the topic
of the conversation and are not able to translate it properly, even if there are older,
e.g. the sibling of the kindergarten child. The city of Frankfurt tries to help in
these situations and offers translators, according to Interviewee 3.
(13)
Interviewee 3: And in the city of Frankfurt there is a pool of translators one
can use. In there are all employees of Frankfurt‟s
municipalities who have registered on a voluntarily basis and
told that “I can translate this language and that language”
(…) But one has to plan it in advance.
(Interview 3: 35:21-35:40)
46
In theory, the pool of translators is a good idea, but in practice it has more of a
metaphorical meaning than a real practical value. Most of the time, conversations
with parents are spontaneous and concerned with the actual events of the day, but
conversations in which the translator participates cannot be spontaneous. They
need to be planned in advance because the translators work on a voluntary basis
and have other, regular jobs. It can be difficult to find a time which suits the
educator, the parents and the translator and for that reason, external translators are
not used very often by the respondents.
7.5 Strategies for the Language Support for Migrant Children
One of the main focuses of the HKJGB as well as of the education and upbringing
plan is language support. Educators have the task to assist children in the
acquisition of the German language, so that migrant children have adequate
German knowledge when entering primary school and are not left behind because
of poor German language skills. The fact that migrant children most often have
their first longer-term German language contact not until kindergarten emphasizes
the importance of language support in kindergartens and is also mentioned by the
interviewees.
(14)
Interviewee 3: And children have their first contact to the German language
in the kindergarten. (…) This being the case, I think
kindergartens are a very, very, very important place for
children to develop, especially to develop linguistically.
Interview 3: (32:31-32:55)
Kindergartens are an important place for children to acquire the German language
in a naturally context and educators need to provide adequate linguistic input in
order to assist them in their linguistic development. Figure 8 illustrates the
strategies the respondents use for supporting migrant children in the acquisition of
German.
47
Figure 8. Question 37: Do you try to teach children with poor German skills the language? How?
Multiple answers are possible.
The respondents of the online questionnaire chose several strategies in order to
support the German acquisition process of the children. 88.6% of the respondents
stated that they use slow and easy speech accompanied by pictures of pictograms.
This strategy was also mentioned in Chapter 7.4 which shows that the respondents
connect communication and language learning, which is very advisable and in
accordance to the education and upbringing plan as well as to the concept of
language learning in the context of everyday activities.
54.3% of the respondents also use certain phrases or words in German, which
are repeated often throughout the day, so that the child learns and memories them.
It is important that these phrases or words are situation-related and not out of
context because only then the child is able to fully comprehend the meaning
(Dörfler 2014). Interviewee 1 stated during the interview that educators often
name things children use at the very moment, so that they learn the German term
for it.
(15)
Interviewee 1: When eating. This is a fork, this is called cup, this is a plate.
[One has to] verbalize!
(Interview 1: 27:14-27:26)
According to Interviewee 1, to constantly describe things and situations helps
migrant children to get accustomed to the German language. However, it is
important that he does not choose the linguistic input randomly, but that he adapts
2.9% 2.9%
88.6%
22.9%
77.1%
54.3%
60%
14.3%5.7%
Strategies for supporting the acquisition of German
not responsible
additonal employees
use of pictures
use of bilingual books
singing of simple songs
use of certain phrases
children play with German-
speaking childrenno strategy
no time
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
48
it to the living environment and interests of the child. Otherwise the child sees no
need to acquire the language and refuses the given linguistic input (Ruberg,
Rothweiler 2012: 43).
Another approach to child-friendly language learning is singing. Most children
like music and like to sing, so this can be used for language learning. There are
several children songs one can sing with the children to support the acquisition of
the German language, e.g. Das Lied von den Farben (The Song of Colors) or the
song Wie heißt du? (What‟s your name?) (Hirler 2002). 77.1% of the respondents
use this musical approach to language learning which does not only help children
without any German knowledge to get accustomed to the language but also helps
children who already speak German. They can practice their German
pronunciation and strengthen their vocabulary.
Two respondents of the online questionnaire stated that they use a combination
of pictograms and songs to support the language acquisition of the children and
reported that they are very successful with it. However, they were the only ones
who mentioned that, even though most respondents use both songs and
pictograms. Consequently, this combination should be advertised more.
Furthermore, 60% of the respondents encourage children whose German skills
need improvement to play with children with good German skills. This way the
children can learn from each other in an informal setting and additionally build
intercultural friendships which broaden their horizon.
A strategy which is not as popular as the others but also used by 22.9% of the
respondents is the reading of bilingual books. This percentage, however, was
expected because bilingual books can only be used if the educators have language
skills in both German and the migrant languages or if they have help from
someone who can speak both languages, e.g. co-workers or parents.
The majority of respondents try to integrate language support into their daily
pedagogical, which is a positive and satisfactory result. However, 2.9% of the
respondents stated that it is not their responsibility to teach German and 14.3% of
the respondents reported that they try to teach German to the children but do not
have any strategies in order to support the acquisition of German. In addition to
that, 5.7% of the respondents stated that they do not have time for language
support. Even though, the amount of respondents who do not or cannot support
49
the acquisition of German is lower than the amount of respondents, who do
support the acquisition, their answers also must be taken into consideration.
A closer look into the answers of the 14.3 % of respondents, who try to teach
German to the children but claim to not have any strategies, revealed that 80% of
them additionally stated that they sing songs with the children and that they use
pictograms and easy speech in order to support the children‟s language
development. Also, 40% of them reported that they have certain phrases which
they use consistently. Consequently, most of the 14.5% of respondents do have
strategies but might be unsure of their efficiency or do not really think that these
are legitimate strategies. It is possible that they wish for formulated, written down
language support strategies and concepts from their kindergarten institution as
well as for a better qualification. This hypothesis is supported by interviewee 4
who said:
(16)
Interviewee 4: It takes much more professional coaching, support and
process-oriented further education.
(Interview 4: 01:27:27-01:27:33)
In order to guarantee qualitative language support in kindergartens, more
professional training for educators is needed. Interviewee 4 stresses the
importance of process-oriented further education which means that concrete
language support concepts need to be designed and passed forward to the
educators. The respondents do have concepts in order to help children to
acquire the German language, but it seems that most of them do not connect
these concepts with each other, which would make the strategies even more
efficient. Further education and specific language projects would help the
respondents to make this connection.
I also asked in an open, obligatory question if the kindergartens of the
respondents have any concepts or projects in regard to the language support of
migrant children, in order to see if they are part of an existing language project or
if they are very engaged in language support. The question was answered by 24
respondents and eleven of them just wrote that they kindergartens do not have any
specific concepts or programs. Five respondents mentioned the project wortstark
which is a language promotion project of the Education Authority Office of
50
Frankfurt and will be further explained in Chapter 8. Furthermore, two
respondents wrote that their kindergartens have additional skilled workers for the
language support and one respondent simply wrote, that her kindergarten has a
concept but did not explained it further. Another five respondents stated that they
support the acquisition of German during everyday activities, which is consistent
with the answers of the closed question and in accordance to the Hanen-program
presented in chapter 5. Interviewee 2 also uses the Hanen-program and thinks that
interaction is most important.
(17) Interviewee 2: The key to educational processes und learning processes (…) is
interaction and also that the activity of the child is the key. Not
that you are a teacher and force [language into the child] but
that it happens dialogical. That is also something which is stated
in the education and upbringing plan, yet the implementation is
very challenging and often educators are left alone with that.
(Interview 2: 29:21-29:49)
Her position about interaction being the key of language learning is supported by
several authors, e.g. Ruberg and Rothweiler (2011), Jungmann and Albers (2013),
Best et al. (2011). Interaction with people and situations in which the child has to
actively produce language, are important requirements for the language
acquisition of the child. Linguistic input alone is insufficient, which is also the
reason why watching TV or listening to audio books does not support the
language acquisition of children (Ruberg, Rothweiler 2011: 43). They need
linguistic interaction with real persons. Most educators do know that interaction
and letting the child lead the conversation is the key to language support but some
have difficulties to put it into practice because they did not learn how to do this.
Interviewee 2 further complained that the politic demands qualitative work in
kindergarten, like it is stated in the education and upbringing plan, but does not
support educators in achieving this.
The answers of the respondents have shown that most of them include
language support into their daily pedagogical work and that they are aware of
their important role in the German language acquisition of migrant children. It is
also supported by the answers of question 42 in which I ask the respondents who,
they think, is responsible for supporting the German language acquisition of
51
migrant children. 88.2% of the respondents stated that kindergartens are
responsible, followed by parents with 58.8%. Furthermore, 38.2% of the
respondents stated that external language schools should also be used for the
language support and 26.5% of the respondent stated that primary schools are also
responsible for the language support. It was also stated that a collaboration of all
these institutions and persons would be preferable, which many of the respondents
seems to agree with because most of them chose more than one answer
possibility.
According to the respondents, especially collaborations between kindergartens
and parents would be beneficial for the children. Both, Educators and parents,
should support the German acquisition of the children, but on a different level.
While educators need to actively speak and interact with the children in German,
parents should not do this if German is not their mother tongue. Instead they
should use the language which they can speak the best. Thus, the children do not
transfer the German language mistakes of the parents into their own German
language system, which is very counterproductive for the children‟s German
language acquisition (Jungmann, Albers 2012). Furthermore, parents can only
pass on their language to the children if they actively use the language, e.g. in
conversations or when reading a book to the children.
External language schools, however, are not advisable for young children.
Children learn best in a natural environment and if they attend kindergarten at an
early age and if the kindergarten provides sufficient linguistic input and
interactions in German than additional German languages courses are not needed.
Adequate and child-centered language support by the educators is worth much
more than strict language learning in a school.
Most respondents claim to have adequate strategies for the language support of
migrant children, but 71.4% of the respondents reported that they did not acquire
this knowledge during their job training. While I first thought that maybe only the
older respondents did not learn anything about diversity in their job training, a
closer look to the results revealed that also younger respondents stated that they
did not learn how to work with migrant children. The lack of training content in
regard to the linguistic diversity means additional work for the educators when
they start their job in diverse kindergartens because then they suddenly need to
find appropriate strategies without even learning about how to work in a diverse
52
environment. As a consequence, professional schools should include linguistic
and cultural diversity into their curriculum because it is a topic that educators in
Frankfurt are concerned with on a daily basis. With scientific background
information about diversity, second language acquisition and language teaching
strategies, educators would be more qualified for the daily work with migrant
children and would have higher chances of success in providing equal
opportunities for every child. Also, all interviewees are in agreement about the
importance of including diversity into the school curricula of childcare training.
(18)
Interviewee 5: At least they [the educators] need to have knowledge about
language acquisition, they need to have an idea about what
language consists of (…), they need to know a lot about second
language acquisition (…), about observation, about procedures
of documentation, about the assessment of language levels (…)
and then, of course, they also need to have an idea about how
they can support the language. So, that is a very broad spectrum
of subjects (…) They need a very good basis.
(Interview 5: 23:08-24:59)
Interviewee 5 listed several topics in regard to language support that should be
included into the training of educators. She admitted, however, that it is not
possible for the schools to include all of them because there are other topics
beside language support which also need attention. Nevertheless, some of them
need to be included in order to train qualified educators.
However, to what extent language support, language acquisition and linguistic
and cultural diversity are represented in today‟s school curricula for educators
could not be examined. Schools that train educators were not available for
interviews and also my interviewees did not have much knowledge about it.
Considering that the interviewees 3, 4 and 5 offer further training for educators,
the lack of knowledge is counterproductive. The coordination with vocational
schools would be beneficial for everyone involved in early-childhood education
because programs and further training seminars could be designed in accordance
to the subjects in school. Possible gaps in the curricula could be closed and
interested educators could get more in-depth knowledge about certain topics, e.g.
second language acquisition or intercultural education.
53
7.6 Strategies for the Appreciation of Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
According to the education and upbringing plan, lived diversity in kindergartens
strengthens the cosmopolitanism of all children and makes the migrant children
feel more welcome and more valued (Fthenakis 2014). Therefore, I asked the
respondents of the questionnaire if they appreciate the linguistic and cultural
diversity in their kindergarten groups and if they include it into their daily work.
Most of the respondents embrace the different languages and use them actively
in their work. 64.1% of the respondents stated that they learned certain words and
simple phrases in the migrant languages, e.g. Welcome and Goodbye!, or How are
you? which helps migrant children to feel welcome and more at home in the
kindergarten. Additionally, 48.7% of the respondents reported that they show
appreciation with making the different languages visible, e.g. through multilingual
posters. The kindergarten of interviewee 1, for example, had welcome greetings in
all present languages on posters in the entry area, which shows that he and his
coworkers appreciate and embrace the linguistic diversity of their kindergarten.
Furthermore, Interviewee 1 told me that he and other educators also have a few
songs in which the linguistic diversity is mentioned and appreciated, e.g. Paule
Puhlmanns Padelboot, where the protagonists sails to different countries. The
main song is in German, but in each verse “Hello” and “Goodbye” is sung in a
different language, according to where the protagonist of the song sails to, e.g.
Italy, Turkey or Greece. Children who have a background in one of these
countries are then excited if their country is mentioned and their greetings are
used. Additionally, other children learn more about the migrant children‟s
linguistic background.
Furthermore, 28.2% of the respondents organized specific language projects
for their kindergarten group where children with another mother tongue than
German present their languages with the help of the educator or together with
their parents. The children are seen as language experts for their mother tongue
and experience acceptation, curiousness and appreciation. In addition to that,
language projects support the language awareness of all children and help them to
become more open-minded. Interview 5 also told me about a language project
where the linguistic background of every child was considered.
54
(19)
Interviewee 5: Recently, we had a really nice book, the owl book (…) where
everyday situations were photographed and then always
commentated with one sentence and this sentence was then
translated by parents into all mother tongues which are present
in KIZ [the kindergarten] (…) everyone was very proud,
afterwards.
(Interview 5:26:36-27:09)
The language project interviewee 5 mentioned has two main advantages. It
integrates and therefore values all languages of the kindergarten children and also
involves the parents of the children actively. Their language knowledge is needed
for the book, so consequently, they feel more valued and more like a participating
member of the kindergarten community, where the assistance of parents is desired
and needed, e.g. for projects like this or other extracurricular events. Projects like
this should be implemented by more than just 28 % of the respondents.
Furthermore, 25.6% of the respondents stated that they encourage migrant
children with the same mother tongue to communicate with each other in the
language in order to show them that their language is accepted. On one side, this
is positive because the children might feel more welcome and more at home, on
the other side this can be a risk because it could support the division into language
groups. In general, it is recommended to not let the children use their mother
tongue to often in order to prevent parallel societies. Instead, it is advised to
encourage migrant children to introduce their mother tongue to other children and
to the whole kindergarten group as 28.2% of the respondents do. This way, the
language is not stigmatized as a „forbidden‟ language and the language use can be
monitored more closely. To prohibit migrant languages completely would be very
counterproductive for the development of the children and would sent the wrong
signal to the parents and the other children, namely that the linguistic diversity is
not valued. Furthermore, when educators forbid children to use their mother
tongue completely, the children are less likely motivated to learn German because
it feels like they are forced to do so (Küpelikilinc, Taşan 2012:83). So, instead of
forbidding the language, educators should observe the linguistic interactions of
the children and decide when the use of the mother tongue is appropriate and
when they should intervene and encourage the children to use German.
55
However, not all respondents seem to value the linguistic diversity. 25.6% of the
respondents stated that the linguistic diversity complicates their work. They do not
see diversity as a chance but more as a challenge which can be a dangerous
attitude. It can influence their pedagogical work negatively and children might
feel that their background is not appreciated and not valued which can have a
negative effect on their language development. Due to the fact that the
respondents were allowed to chose multiple answer possibilities most of the
respondents who stated that linguistic diversity complicated their work also stated
that they do not have any concepts (20.5%) and not enough knowledge of the
languages (23.1%). Maybe their attitude would change if they would learn about
concrete and well-elaborated concepts for working with linguistic diversity.
In addition to the linguistic diversity, the majority of respondents also integrate
the cultural diversity of the children into the kindergarten group. 76.9% of the
respondents encourage the children to tell each other about typical characteristics
of their cultures, e.g. special food, celebrations, stories, etc. and to compare them
with each other. It can raise the self-esteem of the children, when they are
allowed to tell other children about their typical cultural traditions and it
contributes to the personal development of the children. Also, 51.3% of the
respondents take the initiative and talk to the children about the different cultures,
about similarities and differences. Educators are often role models or figures of
authority for the children, so it is important that the educators acknowledge the
cultural differences and similarities in the group.
For 15.4% of the respondents intercultural education is very important. They
state that they organize specific cultural days, in which parents join the
kindergarten group for a day and introduce their culture. These are special days
for all children because they learn more about the cultures and experience them
first-hand. It is more unique and personal when a member of a certain culture
talks about it as when the educator just explains it theoretically. Children learn
more if they see and can use things, so the strategy of inviting parents or other
members of different cultures should be used by more than just 15.4% of the
respondents and can easily be connected with language projects.
Nevertheless, not all educators integrate the different cultures into their
pedagogical work. 17.9% of my respondents stated that they do not have the time
for taking all cultures into consideration and also 17.9% of the respondents claim
56
to not have enough knowledge about the cultures in order to integrate them into
their work. These are unfortunate results because the respondents do not give the
children the chance to learn about different cultures and also deny the migrant
children the positive experiences of teaching other children about their culture.
7.7 Chances of multilingual kindergartens
The work in diverse kindergartens is not only challenging but also rewarding. In
the online questionnaire the respondents were asked to write down what makes
work in a multilingual environment interesting as well as what positive
experiences they had made, e.g. in the daily work with migrant children and their
parents. Most of the answers were quite general, e.g. to become acquainted with
new language, cultures and religions. Some respondents also mentioned that
positive experiences often exceed the negative experiences and challenges. They
wrote that it is a wonderful experience when a child successfully learns German
and is suddenly able to communicate verbally with other children and educators.
The children are very proud then and this is nice to witness, according to the
respondents. Another respondent wrote that it is great to see when the children
succeed in life. One of the children she cared for visited her recently and told her
that she got a recommendation for the Gymnasium, the highest type of secondary
school German pupils can attend after primary school. This was a great success
story for the respondent and one she was very proud of.
However, one of the biggest chances a multilingual kindergarten can offer is
teaching language awareness. Most children are confronted with linguistic
diversity every day, not only in kindergarten but also in their surroundings. In
shops or simply on the street one can hear many different languages, which
confirms that Germany is a country of immigration. Therefore, it is important to
show children that different languages are not a disadvantage but that all
languages are a useful resource.
(20)
Interviewee 3: A language like e.g. Amharic or a language of the Persian area
[is] equally valuable like French, for example. And we try to
teach that to the pedagogical staff (…) an equality of the
languages. I think this is very, very important.
(Interview 3: 01:02:52-01:04:37)
57
Interviewee 3 appreciates and values all languages to the same amount and also
thinks that society should value smaller, more unknown languages like Amharic
more, also in regard to professional development. She tries to teach this attitude to
educators so that they can transfer it into their kindergarten group. Children are
already curious about the mother tongues of the other children attending the
kindergarten group. They want to know which language their friends use when
talking to their families and maybe even want to know some words in the
language. This curiousness arises from the close contact the children have with
each other and this curiousness needs to be used in order to promote language
awareness. If children learn to value linguistic diversity at an early-age, there is a
great chance that they also value it as an adult and become a participating and
open-minded member in a multilingual and multicultural world.
Learning to value all languages can also be transferred to the topic area of
cultural awareness because where many languages are present, also many
different cultures exist.
(21)
Interviewee 3: The multicultural environment is a great, great chance, I
think. When children realize that there are other cultures,
other customs, in my view that is a great chance, so that
children, so to speak, grow up as open-minded and free
humans, who are culturally sensitive. Grow up without
reservations. But that also needs to be well accompanied.
(Interview 3: 27:27- 27:57)
According to Interviewee 3, a diverse environment is a great chance for
developing an open mind. It can reduce prejudices and can help to become
acquainted with many different cultures. Behaviors that first seem outlandish and
disconcerting can be experienced, explained and eventually understood and
appreciated. This is not only applicable to migrant children and German children
but also to migrant children among themselves. Sometimes their cultures or
religions are hostile towards each other but intensive contact, accompanied by a
qualified educator who explains differences and similarities, can counteract this
attitude. While children play with each other, prejudices can be eliminated and
even friendships can develop because often their curiousness is bigger than their
reservations. Also, a positive attitude towards different cultures can have a
58
positive influence on the children‟s future life‟s journeys in a world, which moves
closer together every day.
Some respondents stated in the online questionnaire that the linguistic and
cultural diversity is also a personal enrichment for them. They not only teach and
care for the migrant children, they also learn from them; a chance one does not
have when working in a monolingual kindergarten. One respondent mentioned
that the work with the children has broadened her own horizon because she
learned about new cultures and language which she did not know before, e.g.
Hindi or Persian. Interviewee 2 also said that the work with migrant children is
very enriching.
(22)
Interviewee 2: ….that you get insights into other cultures. How people live
elsewhere, how they raise their children in other countries,
what are the values there, whereon do the people place the
importance on? That is very interesting and it incentivizes
you to think about your own culture.
(Interview 2: 1:37-1:54)
Interviewee 2 is very interested in different cultures and actively compares them
to each other, searches for differences and similarities. She also reflects her own
values and beliefs which can help her in finding a good-working balance between
the German culture and the migrant cultures. She shows interest in all languages
and cultures which are present in her kindergarten and this is something all
educators should do. They need to use the chance the multilingual environment
offers and show children that all languages and cultures are equal and that it is a
great value to speak more than one language.
8 Language Projects in Frankfurt
In the last few years the demand for language support strategies grew and the
Office for Multicultural Affairs, the Education Authority Office of Frankfurt and
the largest kindergarten institution of Frankfurt Kita Frankfurt decided to develop
language projects for Frankfurt‟s kindergartens. These projects had the aim to
develop the individual kindergarten concepts further and to qualify educators for
the work with multilingual children. So, in 2009 the projects mitSprache and
59
wortstark were launched and I was able to conduct interviews with three people
responsible for the projects in order to ask them how they were put into practice
and if they were successful.
The project mitSprache was originally designed in the year 2000, but for the
linguistic and socio-cultural integration of primary-school pupils with a migration
background and not for children in kindergartens. In cooperation with six primary
schools the program was put into practice and the schools‟ pedagogical concepts
regarding language support and language awareness were examined, discussed
and further developed.
MitSprache followed the integrative approach to language learning, which
means that the language support was integrated into the normal classroom and did
not take place in additional language learning groups. This had the advantage that
the children who needed the language support were not excluded from their
German-speaking classmates and were not stigmatized as the less well-off.
Furthermore, mitSprache advised teachers to make the different languages visible
at school, to incorporate the linguistic diversity of the classroom into activities
and projects and to consider the languages during the lessons, e.g. to let children
explain what certain animals are called in their mother tongue or to let them count
to ten in their mother tongue (Blum 2003: 49). This way, migrant children receive
an appreciation of their linguistic competences and are no longer children with
poor German skills but children with expert-knowledge in a language the teacher
and other children do not speak. This raises their self-esteem and also helps them
in the acquisition of German.
Furthermore, mitSprache takes into account that good language skills in L1
help to acquire L2 (Gogolin 2010, Küpelikilinc, Taşan 2012). It is easier for
migrant children to learn a second language when they first language is
established and when they have good language skills in this language. The project
supported mother tongue teaching and provided language teachers for the migrant
children. For migrant languages with many speakers in Germany, e.g. Turkish,
Russian, Italian or Arabic, language classes could easily be provided but it was
more difficult to find teachers for migrant languages which are less spoken in
Germany, e.g. Persian, Amharic and other African languages. It was not possible
to offer language classes in the less spoken languages.
60
In 2009 the Office for Multicultural Affairs decided to include five kindergartens
into the project because language support and language awareness should already
begin in kindergarten and then continue in school (Nagel 2012: 7). The project
was adapted to the work of educators in kindergartens because work in the
kindergarten group differs from the work in the classroom, e.g. it is not as
structured as the lessons in school. The focus on German language support and on
the appreciation of the children‟s mother tongues, however, stayed. The
kindergartens, which participated in the project, were kindergartens with a high
number of migrant children. In some kindergartens up to 90% of the children had
a migration background, according to Interviewee 3. In these kindergartens,
language appreciation and language support were especially important, which is
the reason why they were chosen for the project.
The available publications of the project all focused on the primary schools and
not on kindergartens because the kindergartens were later added to the project. It
was difficult to find specific strategies educators learned during the project, but
interviewee 3 mentioned during the interview that educators learned in
workgroups how to integrate language support into the daily pedagogical work
and how to appreciate the linguistic and cultural diversity of their kindergarten
group. She worded her statements about the project more in general terms, which
might be due to the fact that she implements a new project at the moment, the
project SiA- Sprachbildung im interkulturellen Alltag (Language development in
intercultural everyday life) and wanted to focus on the new project rather than on
the completed project.
SiA is the newest cooperation project between the Office for Multicultural
Affairs, the Education Authority Office and Kita Frankfurt and started in April
2015 with a duration of two years. The program originated from the project
mitSprache, but was specifically developed for educators in multilingual
kindergartens. It has the aim to qualify educators in regard to multilingualism and
language support so that they can extend the already existing structures, projects
and experiences in the kindergarten.
The project is divided into two modules; into Module 1 Intercultural
kindergarten and into Module 2 Language Support in the context of everyday
activities. The main aims of the projects are to further develop language support
concepts and to integrate language support as a fixed module into the kindergarten
61
concept. Further aims are to support cultural and linguistic heterogeneity, to
qualify the whole kindergarten team for the topics multilingualism and German as
a second language and to specifically qualify the educators for language support
in the context of everyday activities (Jansen-Riffel, Winkler Hesse 2014: 2).
The project does not have a large range; only 10 kindergartens are participating
in the project. According to Interviewee 3, it was not possible to open the project
for more kindergartens because of financial and personnel restrictions, which is
often a problem in early-childhood education. During the project, each
participating kindergarten gets an additional part–time employee, so that the
kindergartens are not understaffed when the participating educators attend the
seminars and workshops. Furthermore, they get a 1000 € budget for further
training as well as further trainings for the whole team in regard to language
support in the context of everyday activities. Due to the fact that this program just
started, no results are available yet, but SiA is very similar to the program
wortstark, which started in 2009 and just ended last year.
Wortstark was a project for educators in kindergartens with the aim to increase
the quality of interaction between educator and child. The educators learned
strategies to support the German acquisition of the children but also learned to
appreciate and respect the children‟s first languages, which is important for the
children‟s identity and their self-perception. A well-working language support
program needs to cater to the child‟s needs and interests and this is where
wortstark starts, according to Interviewee 4 who was one of the persons
responsible for the project.
During the five years of the project, 28 different kindergartens participated and
each kindergarten had send between one and three educators into training (Dörfler
2014: 8). The educators attended seminars in which they learned more about
language acquisition, observation and language support. After each seminar a
practical phase followed, so that they were able to use and to strengthen their
new-learned knowledge in the field.
The program was divided into three main modules, which had to be attended in
a chronological order. Module 1 had the aim to qualify the educators in regard to
language acquisition and second language acquisition, in module 2 they took
lessons on how to observe, evaluate and describe the language acquisition
processes of the children and in module 3 they learned how to develop language
62
supporting activities and programs for the children, adapted to their
communication styles and interests.
Wortstark recommends the concept of learning a language naturally in the
context of everyday activities which is based on the language support concept
Learning Language and Loving It by the Hanen Centre, (presented in chapter 5 of
this study) but the project has shown that it was difficult for the educators to use
this concept in the practice. As a consequence, the coordinators of wortstark
decided to extend the training time and invited official Hanen coaches from the
Hanen Centre to the seminars. The participating educators then got individual
coaching and assistance in developing a language support plan for a child and
during the practical phase the educators applied this plan which was videotaped
for the purpose of professional reflection. The video was viewed together with the
coaches and the strategies of the educator and the responses of the child were
reflected and evaluated in order to see what went well and what could have been
improved. During the reflection, the educators learned what they have to be
mindful of and what they can do in order to enhance the language support.
After the project ended, the participants and those responsible evaluated the
program. They learned that often a short, undisturbed contact with a child was
more successful for its language support than specific language support activities
with the whole group. Through the videotaping they realized that it helps the
child, when educators wait for the child to take the initiative and to start a
conversation, even if it takes some time. Furthermore, the educators became even
more aware of their important role as linguistic role model and learned how they
could use their newly-acquired strategies in order to assist the children in the
acquisition of German.
However, there were also drawbacks in the project. The participating educators
were supposed to pass on their knowledge to the other educators of their
kindergartens, so that the whole kindergarten staff could provide qualified
language support, but this did not work. For interviewee 4, who was partly
responsible for the project, this was a disappointment.
63
(23)
Interviewee 4: However, that [the passing on of the strategies did not work] was the
biggest disillusionment after 5 years (…). These interaction-based
supporting strategies (…) this „meet the children‟s needs‟, no
educator was able to pass this on to the team [of the other educators
in the kindergarten]
(Interview 4: 53:44-54:03)
The educators were not able to transfer their knowledge to their co-workers, so
consequently the kindergartens did not benefit from the programs like they
initially hoped. Especially the actual technique to react to the child‟s needs, to
show interest in what the child does and to wait until it takes the initiative to start
a conversation was difficult for the other educators of the kindergarten. They were
not used to wait for a long time for an answer or for the start of a conversation and
then started to take the lead and talk. Furthermore, it was difficult to find time for
the language support. Often the kindergartens were short-staffed and educators
were not able to just focus uninterrupted on one child, not even for just 5 minutes.
However, I think the program was still a success because the participants
learned how to support children in the acquisition of German and some
kindergartens still use the program. Five respondents of the online questionnaire
wrote that their kindergarten uses wortstark in order to support the German
acquisition of the children, so it can be assumed that they liked how the program
worked out and that they learned how to work with a multilingual environment. It
will be interesting to see in the future, if they are able to maintain their knowledge
or if the new-learned strategies get lost in the everyday kindergarten life.
Due to the fact that the projects were very limited and only 43 kindergartens
were able to participate, the projects did not, or in the case of SiA, do not have a
wide range. Only kindergartens, which are in contact with the Office for
Multicultural Affairs or the Education Authority Office, are able to participate in
the language projects, e.g. Kita Frankfurt. Other kindergartens, e.g. from private
institutions or churches have difficulties with getting accepted into the projects. It
would be a positive development, if the project and strategies were available for
every kindergarten in Frankfurt, for example with the assistance of an open
network. This network could consist of employees of the Office for Multicultural
Affairs and the Education Authority Office as well as of educators who
participated in the language support programs mitSprache, wortstark and SiA.
64
Interviewee 3 mentioned plans for such a network and hopes that at the end of the
newest project SiA, such a network can be established. This would ensure that
kindergarten who do not participate in the project have at least the chance to
inform themselves about the projects and used strategies, even if it does not have
the same effect as being part of the actual project. However, for this to work it
needs the commitment of the educators and a positive attitude towards linguistic
and cultural diversity in general, because only then they are willing to do the
additional work a network entails.
9 Conclusion
The analysis of the data has shown that kindergartens in Frankfurt are indeed very
multilingual. Both the respondents of the online questionnaire as well as the
interviewees stated that multilingualism is the norm in Frankfurt rather than the
exception. It is not uncommon that more than five languages are spoken in the
kindergartens and in some districts of Frankfurt the number of languages can even
rise to 30 languages, according to the interviewees. Consequently a diverse
working environment is the reality for educators in Frankfurt and the data indicate
that most respondents of the questionnaire cope well with this diversity, even
though they are not well-prepared for it during their educational training.
Most of the respondents have adequate strategies for the communication with
migrant children and are able to find ways to communicate with migrant children
who already have German skills as well as with children who do not have any
German knowledge yet. The use of gestures, facial expressions and pictograms
are the favored strategies for communication, all accompanied by German words
and phrases which is in accordance to the education and upbringing plan as well
as to the HKJGB because talking to the children in German helps them to acquire
the language.
In general, the data suggest that language support is a very important topic in
Frankfurt‟s kindergartens. In the year 2000, the Office for Multicultural Affairs
and the Education Authority Office launched the language support program
wortstark; first in primary schools and then also in five kindergartens. The project
mitSprache followed in 2009 and just this April the project SiA started. The
projects all focus on language support in the context of everyday activities and
65
have the aim to qualify educators for that concept. Unfortunately, the projects are
very limited and only exclusive for communal kindergartens, but the answers of
the respondents indicate that, even though most educators do not participate in the
projects, they still have adequate strategies for the language support. The majority
of the respondents as well as Interviewees 1 and 2 stated that they use slow and
simple speech as well as often repeat certain phrases that are usefully in the
everyday kindergarten life in order to provide adequate linguistic input for the
children. Furthermore, they encourage migrant children to play with native
German-speaking children, so that language support can happen in a natural
environment.
These language support strategies as well as the Hanen program, which is used
for the projects and is recommended to educators in general, are all in accordance
with the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis and the Affectice
Filter Hypothesis by Krashen which were presented in Chapter 4. The support of
the language acquisition does happen in a natural environment, the linguistic input
is given in natural communicative situations and the educator does not actively
teach the language but rather motivates the child to start a conversation by
showing interest in its actions.
In general, child SLA theories and the actual work of educators are closely
interconnected. Children who attend kindergartens usually have the age where
they can still acquire a language to a native-like level of competence, according
the Critical Period Hypothesis, so it is important that educators know about the
basics of child SLA and try their best to support the language acquisition of the
children. Consequently, the school curricula for educators need to change in that
regard and need to include SLA theories as well as strategies on how educators
can put the theoretical knowledge of these theories into practice especially
because only 28% of the respondents learned in their educational training how to
support migrant children.
Even though, most of the respondents also did not learn in their educational
training how to include the linguistic and cultural diversity into their work, the
majority of the respondents of the questionnaire do consider the diversity in their
kindergarten group. Nearly half of the respondents make the different languages
visible by hanging up multilingual posters as well as by singing songs where more
than one language is mentioned. They also integrate the cultural background of
66
the children into the kindergarten group and explain specific holidays when they
occur.
Unfortunately, the strategy of inviting parents into the kindergarten group in
order to talk to the children about their languages and cultures is not a very often
used strategy. Only 28% of the respondents organize these kinds of projects, but
to involve parents with a migration background into cultural or linguistic projects
has many advantages as the Owl-book project mentioned by Interviewee 4 has
shown. It teaches the whole kindergarten group that all languages are equally
appreciated and also makes the parents feel more welcome and more valued.
Therefore, educators should design more projects like this.
While most of the results are very positive, there are also some negative
results. 25% of the respondents stated that the linguistic diversity makes their
work more difficult and 18% of the respondents reported that they do not include
the cultural diversity into their work. Most often these respondents lacked
strategies as well as knowledge but this can be changed with further training or
new school curricula where intercultural education is included.
In general, however, the study has shown that the educator in Frankfurt‟s
kindergarten do have well working strategies for the language support and cultural
and linguistic appreciation and work in the frameworks of the HKJGB and the
education and upbringing plan, which is however, not difficult, because they are
kept very general. Furthermore, most of the respondents of the study have a
positive attitude towards diversity and try to pass it on to the children of their
kindergartens.
Of course, there are several small things that could be improved. The education
and upbringing plan could include strategies and programs which educators could
use for supporting the acquisition of the German language and for showing and
teaching language awareness and schools who train educators should include
subjects related to the linguistic and cultural diversity into their curricula.
Furthermore, the language projects of the communal institutions should become
more wide-spread and should open up to all kindergartens in Frankfurt, but all of
this is criticism on a very high level. According to my data, Frankfurt and its
educators are well positioned in regard to language support and appreciation of
diversity.
67
However, I have to mention that participating in the study was optional so it is
possible that mostly educators, who are interested in multilingualism and diversity
and have a positive attitude towards it, participated in the study. 93 respondents
only represent a small portion of all educators in Frankfurt and this number is
statistically not representative. Nevertheless, I think that their data still gives an
indication and it is a very positive result that most of the respondents do have
adequate strategies for working in a diverse environment and also that the city of
Frankfurt supports their communal kindergartens and offers language projects as
well as further training.
Frankfurt, as the most diverse city in Germany, has a pioneering role and has to
show that diversity works and entails many chances, especially in early-childhood
education. With language support and cultural and linguistic appreciation from the
beginning, migrant children as well as native-German children can become open-
minded, cosmopolitan and multilingual citizens of a world, which economical
moves closer together every day. It is to hope that children, who attend
kindergartens where linguistic and cultural diversity is valued, still value this
diversity when becoming adults and are able to counteract the recent political
developments where nationalism and xenophobic attitudes are on the rise.
68
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74
Appendix I: Original quotations in German
(1)
die Entwicklung des Kindes zu einer eigenverantwortlichen und
gemeinschaftsfähigen Persönlichkeit fördern,
die Erziehung und Bildung in der Familie unterstützen und ergänzen,
den Eltern dabei helfen, Erwerbstätigkeit und Kindererziehung besser
miteinander vereinbaren zu können.
(SGB VIII - KJHG – Art. 1 §22 Grundsätze der Förderung 2012)
(2)
Für Tageseinrichtungen, in denen der Anteil der Kinder, in deren Familie
vorwiegend nicht deutsch gesprochen wird (…), mindestens 22% beträgt, wird zur
Unterstützung der Sprachförderung der Kinder in der Tageseinrichtung,
Förderung der Gesundheit, der sozialen, kulturellen und interkulturellen
Kompetenzen der Kinder, Förderung der Bildungs- und
Erziehungspartnerschaft (…),
Unterstützung der Vernetzung der Tageseinrichtung im Sozialraum
eine Pauschale in Höhe von bis zu 390 Euro für jedes (…) Kind (…)
gewährt.
(Hessisches Kinder- und Jugendhilfegesetzbuch (HKJGB) 2013: §32a (4))
(3)
Besondere Bedeutung kommt heute der sprachlichen Bildung zu: Sie beginnt mit
dem ersten Tag des Einrichtungsbesuchs und ist kontinuierlich weiterzuführen.
Sie ist Voraussetzung für (…) Bildungserfolge. Der Elementarbereich kann
wesentlich dazu beitragen, dass jedem Kind, ungeachtet seiner sozialen Herkunft,
gute Startchancen für seine schulische Bildungsbiographie zuteil werden.
(Fthenakis et.al. 2014: 37)
75
(4)
Für viele Kinder, die Deutsch als Zweitsprache lernen, gibt es in
Bildungseinrichtungen zusätzlich Angebote in der deutschen Sprache. Wichtig für
die Sprachförderung ist hier auch die Wertschätzung der Familiensprachen und
eine aktive, kontinuierliche Elternarbeit.
(Fthenakis et al. 2014: 66)
(5)
Zwei- und Mehrsprachigkeit sowie interkulturelle Kompetenz können Kindern
helfen, sich zu weltgewandten, weltoffenen Persönlichkeiten zu entwickeln.
Gemeinsame Lernaktivitäten, bei denen sich Kinder mit verschiedenem
kulturellem Hintergrund begegnen, sind geeignet, um interkulturelle Kompetenz
einzuüben. Die Kinder werden neugierig auf andere Kulturen und lernen
Andersartigkeit zu achten (…).
(Fthenakis et al. 2014: 32 )
76
Appendix II: Online Questionnaire
Part 1: Introduction
Hello and welcome to this questionnaire!
Thank you for participating in my study and for supporting my master
thesis. I am a student of the Johannes Gutenberg - University Mainz
and study the master program Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism.
My thesis approaches the topic of linguistic diversity in German
kindergartens and I have put the main focus on the city of Frankfurt. I
would like to get an impression of the linguistic and cultural diversity
of Frankfurt‟s kindergartens and then investigate how educators and
other employees cope with this sometimes challenging situation. In
order to do that, I need your help.
The questionnaire will take approx. 15-25 minutes and it is
important that you answer it not later than 12. March 2015 because it is
limited in time. The questionnaire begins with some demographical
questions, which are then followed by more specific questions reading
communication, integration and language support strategies. There are
no right or wrong answers; I simply would like to know your personal
experiences and impressions of the diversity in kindergartens.
Of course, your anonymity and the anonymity of your kindergarten will
be preserved; no personal data will be stored or published. If you have
any questions or reservations about the study, please feel free to send
me an e-mail: [email protected].
In addition to the questionnaire, interviews are also important for my
master thesis. They approach the same topics as the questionnaire and I
would be delighted, if you consent to give an interview. You can write
down your contact information on the last page of this questionnaire.
Thank you in advance!
Furthermore, if you are interested, I will send the results of my study to
you after I finished it.
Thank you for participating,
Maren Gockel
77
Part 2: Demographical Data of the Respondents
1. How old are you?
o Under 18 years
o 18-25 years
o 26-35 years
o 36-45 years
o 46-55 years
o 56-65 years
o 65 + years
2. Please state the year of your birth.
3. Please indicate your gender.
o female
o male
4. Do you have a German citizenship?
o yes
o no
5. Please state the country you were born in.
6. Please indicate your mother tongue(s).
o German
o Arabic
o English
o French
o Polish
o Russian
o Turkish
o Others:
78
7. Did you grow up multilingual?
o Yes
o No
8. How long have you been working in kindergarten already?
o 1-5 years
o 6-10 years
o 11-20 years
o 20-25 years
o 26-30 years
o 30 + years
9. What is your professional training?
o Childcare assistant
o State-approved educator / kindergarten teacher
o Social pedagogue
o others:
10. Did you deliberately decide to work in a multilingual and
multicultural kindergarten
o Yes
o No
o I do not work in a multilingual and multicultural kindergarten.
79
Part 3: Demographical Data of the Kindergarten Group
11. How many children are in your kindergarten group?
o 1-10 children
o 10-15 children
o 15-20 children
o 20-15 children
o 25-30 children
o 30 + children
12. How many pedagogical skilled employees work in your
kindergarten group?
o 1
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 4 +
13. How many languages are spoken in your kindergarten group?
o 1 language
o 2-3 languages
o 4-5 languages
o 6-7 languages
o 8-9 languages
o 10 languages
o 10 + languages
14. Which language is the most spoken languages in your
kindergarten group?
o German
o Turkish
o Arabic
o English
o Russian
o French
o Polish
o Others:
80
15. Which language is the second most spoken languages in your
kindergarten group?
o German
o Turkish
o Arabic
o English
o Russian
o French
o Polish
o Others:
16. Is your kindergarten an officially recognized multilingual
kindergarten, e.g. is it written down in official kindergarten
statutes?
o Yes
o No
o I do not know.
17. How many children in your kindergarten group do not have
German as their mother tongue than German?
o 1-15 %
o 15-30%
o 30-40%
o 40-50%
o 50-60%
o 60-80%
o 80-90%
o 90-96%
o 97-100%
81
Part 4: Communication with migrant children and their parents
18. How do you communicate with migrant children? Multiple answers are possible.
o I do not have any migrant children in my kindergarten group.
o I talk to them in German
o I talk to them in their mother tongue.
o I talk to them in German and their mother tongue.
o My institution has hired a person, who has language skills in the
required languages. She/he is mainly responsible for migrant
children.
o I do not talk to migrant children.
o Others:
19. How do you communicate with children who do not speak
German and whose mother tongue you do not speak? Multiple answers are possible.
o I do not have any migrant children in my kindergarten group.
o I can speak and understand the mother tongue of every child in
my kindergarten group.
o I use facial expressions and gestures in order to communicate
with the children.
o I ask other co-workers, who have some knowledge of the mother
tongue, for help.
o I ask other children, who have the same mother tongue and
good German skills, for help.
o My institution has hired a person, who has language skills in the
required languages. She/he is mainly responsible for migrant
children.
o I do not communicate with migrant children.
o Others:
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20. Do any linguistic problem-situations come to your mind in
regard to the communication with children whose mother
tongue is not German? Please indicate.
21. Please indicate your solution strategy for the aforementioned
problem.
22. Please describe positive experiences you have / had with
migrant children.
83
23. How do you communicate with the parents of migrant children? Multiple answers are possible.
o I do not have any migrant children in my kindergarten group.
o I talk to them in German
o I talk to them in their mother tongue.
o I talk to them in German and their mother tongue.
o My institution has hired a person, who has language skills in the
required languages. She/he is mainly responsible for talking with the
parents of migrant children.
o I do not communicate with the parents of migrant children.
o Others:
24. How do you communicate with parents who do not speak German
and whose mother tongue you do not speak? Multiple answers are possible.
o I do not have any migrant children in my kindergarten group.
o I can speak and understand the mother tongue of all parents.
o I use facial expressions and gestures in order to communicate iwth the
parents.
o I ask co-workers, who have language skills in the mother tongue of
the parents for help.
o I ask other parents who share the same mother tongue with the parents
and have some German knowledge, for help.
o I ask children who share the same mother tongue with the parents and
have some German knowledge, for help.
o My institution has hired a person, who has language skills in the
required languages. She/he is mainly responsible for talking with the
parents of migrant children.
o I do not communicate with the parents of migrant children.
o Others:
84
25. Do any linguistic problem-situations come to your mind in regard
to the communication with parents whose mother tongue is not
German? Please indicate.
26. Please indicate your solution strategy for the aforementioned
problem.
85
Part 5: Appreciation of the linguistic and cultural diversity
27. Which strategies do you have for the integration of migrant
children into the kindergarten group.
28. Which challenges do you experience when trying to integrate
migrant children into the kindergarten group.
29. What positive experiences do you make/did you make with
migrant children?
86
30. Do you try to include the linguistic diversity of your
kindergarten group into your pedagogical work? Multiple answers are possible
o There is no linguistic diversity in my kindergarten group.
o Yes, I learned some basic vocabulary of the languages which are
present in the group in order to make the children feel welcome.
o Yes, I have a language project in my pedagogical concept. The
children should get to know the different languages, e.g. children
and/or parents present their language(s) and introduce basic
vocabulary or children songs.
o Yes, I have bilingual book in my kindergarten group, adjusted
accordingly to the linguistic situation there.
o Yes, I try to. However, I lack a suitable concept.
o I do not include the linguistic diversity into my daily
pedagogical work because I do not have the time.
o I do not include the linguistic diversity into my daily
pedagogical work because I do not have enough knowledge
about it.
o I do not include the linguistic diversity into my daily
pedagogical work because I do not have any pedagogical
concepts.
o I do not include the linguistic diversity into my daily
pedagogical work because I am not interested in it.
o Others:
87
31. Do you appreciate the linguistic diversity in your kindergarten
group? Multiple answers are possible.
o There is no linguistic diversity in my group.
o Yes, I show my appreciation by making the different languages
visible, e.g. language posters, books, games and songs.
o Yes, I encourage the children speak their mother tongue, e.g. to
talk with children of the same mother tongue.
o Yes, I encourage the children to present their mother tongue to
other children and the whole kindergarten group.
o No, the linguistic diversity makes my work more difficult.
o Others:
32. Do you have a pedagogical concept or specific strategies in
order to cope with the linguistic diversity in your kindergarten
group? Please describe it.
If you do not have a pedagogical concept or strategy, please write it down.
33. What makes the work in a multilingual environment interesting? Describe
positive experiences with children, colleagues and parents.
88
34. Do you try to include the cultural background of the children
into your pedagogical work? Multiple answers are possible.
o No, there is no cultural diversity in my kindergarten group.
o Yes, I encourage the cultural exchange between the children.
The children can tell each other about their cultures or sing their
own songs.
o Yes, I talk to the children about the different cultures in the
group and explain similarities and differences.
o Yes, I include the different cultures into my daily pedagogical
work, e.g. by taking the different holidays into account, which I
explain to the children.
o Yes, the cultural integration is really important for me. I
organize, e.g. cultural days, where parents come into the
kindergarten group and talk about their culture.
o No, I do not have the time for including the cultural background
of all children into my pedagogical work.
o No, I lack the knowledge in order to include the cultural
background of all children into my pedagogical work.
o No, I do not have any interest to include the cultural background
of all children into my pedagogical work.
o Others:
35. Do you have a pedagogical concept or specific strategies in
order to cope with the cultural diversity in your kindergarten
group? Please describe it.
If you do not have a pedagogical concept or strategy, please write it down.
89
Part 6: Challenges in the daily pedagogical work
36. Please indicate the most difficult tasks in your daily
pedagogical work; starting with 1-most difficult and ending
with 8-least difficult.
It is difficult for me to understand migrant children linguistically.
It is difficult for me to understand the culture of the migrant
children.
It is difficult for me to talk with the parents of the migrant
children about their children.
It is difficult for me to talk with the parents of the migrant
children about the pedagogical concept of the kindergarten.
It is difficult for me to find the right methods and strategies in
order to support the migrant children in the acquisition of
German.
It is difficult for me to build a relationship with the migrant
children.
It is difficult for me to create a balance between the German
language and culture and the migrant languages and cultures.
It is difficult for me to not neglect children without a migration
background.
90
Part 7: Strategies for the German languages support
37. Do you try to teach children with poor German skills the
language? How? Multiple answers are possible.
o No, to support the acquisition of the German language is the
responsibility of the parents.
o No, my kindergarten has an additional skilled worker, who
teaches German to the children.
o Yes, I support the development of the vocabulary by e.g. using
pictures and pronouncing new words slowly and distinctly.
o Yes, I use bilingual books which I read with the children.
o Yes, I sing simple songs which strengthen the vocabulary of the
children.
o Yes, I use certain phrases for certain routines and repeat them
often throughout the day.
o Yes, I encourage children with poor German skills to play with
children with good German skills, so that their German improves
in a natural context.
o I try to teach German to the children, but I do not know how. I
do not have adequate strategies.
o I do not have the time for language support.
o Others:
38. Does your kindergarten has an additional skilled worker that
supports migrant children in their acquisition of the German
language?
o We do not have any migrant children who need help in the
acquisition of German.
o No
o Yes
91
39. Did you learn during your job training how to work in and
with a multilingual environment and how to support migrant
children?
o Yes
o No
40. Does your kindergarten has any specific concepts or standards
for supporting the acquisition of the German language? Please
indicate.
If your kindergarten does not have any language support concepts or
strategies, please answer with “No.”.
41. Does your kindergarten has any specific concepts or standards, which
explain how to cope with a multilingual and multicultural environment?
Please indicate.
If your kindergarten does not have any language support concepts or
strategies, please answer with “No.”
92
42. Who is, according to your opinion, responsible for supporting
the German language acquisition of migrant children? Multiple answers are possible.
o The parents
o The kindergarten
o The primary school
o An external language school which children should attend in
addition to a kindergarten.
o Others:
Part 8: Interview - Participation
Alongside the questionnaire, also interviews are important for my
master thesis. The interviews approach the same topics as this
questionnaire did: your daily pedagogical work in a kindergarten. If
you do not want to give an interview, please still click the “Done!”
button, so that the questionnaire is finished and can be submitted
into my statistics.
However, I would be very happy, if you are willing to give an
interview and leave your contact data, e.g. an email address in the
box down below. Of course, I will ensure your confidentiality and
no personal data will be saved or published.
Thank you,
Maren Gockel [email protected]
93
Appendix III: Interview Questionnaires Questionnaire 1
1) What is your professional education?
2) How long do you work in a kindergarten?
3) Do you work in a multilingual kindergarten? Official?
a. How many languages and cultures are present in your
kindergarten group?
b. Did you deliberately decide to work in a multicultural
kindergarten? Why?
4) What is it like to work in a multilingual environment?
a. Problems? Challenges?
b. Positive experiences?
5) Does your kindergarten has children who do not understand nor speak
German?
a. How do you communicate with these children?
b. What problems do occur?
c. What positive experiences do you have with working with these
children?
6) What is the most difficult for you in your daily pedagogical work?
7) Did you learn during your training how to cope with a multilingual
working environment?
a. Appreciation of the migrant languages
b. Communication with children and parents
c. Support of the German language
8) Do you work with a specific concept or project in order to support German
and the migrant languages?
9) Does your kindergarten has an additional employee for language support?
10) In general, what do you think about linguistic diversity?
94
Questionnaire 2
1) Would you say that Frankfurt is a multicultural and multilingual city?
2) Is multilingualism a reality in Frankfurt‟s kindergartens? What are your
experiences?
3) What chances does a multilingual and multicultural environment entail?
4) What possible challenges can occur in the work with a multicultural and
multilingual environment?
5) How important are kindergartens in regard to the acquisition of German as
a second language?
6) How does the city of Frankfurt supports kindergartens in regard to
language support (Strategies and concepts)
7) Language Projects mitSprache, wortstark, SiA
a. Description of the project
b. How did the project happen?
c. Aims of the project?
d. Results of the project: Success / Challenges /Sustainability
8) How does the city of Frankfurt supports kindergartens in regard to the
appreciation of the migrant languages and the multilingualism of the
children?
9) What responsibilities / task do educators have?
10) How qualified do educators in kindergartens need to be? What do they
need to know?
11) Are German as a second language and Multilingualism in kindergartens,
topics in the school curricula for educators?
12) Does the city of Frankfurt offers further training for educators in regard to
the topics German as a second language and Multilingualism in
kindergartens?
13) Is the qualification of educators sufficient enough regarding language
support and multilingualism?
14) In general, what do you think about linguistic diversity?
95
Appendix IV: Original German Quotations from the
Interviewees
(6) Interviewee 3: Und wir versuchen natürlich auch den Anteil an
Fachkräften, die selbst einen Migrationshintergrund
haben, zu fördern. Zum einen weil der
Fachkräftemangel da ist, aber zum anderen auch mit
Blick darauf, was so die Bildungsteilhabe, die
gesellschaftliche Teilhabe angeht von Migranten.
(Interview 3: 37:12-37:30)
(7) Interviewee 4: Ansonsten ist es [die sprachliche Situation in
Frankfurt] total durchmischt und das spürt man in den
Kitas. Wir haben Kitas, da werden bis zu 30
Sprachen...bringen die Kinder mit.
(Interview 4: 08:05-08:13)
(8) Interviewee 1: Am ersten März waren das 68 von 83 Kindern [mit
Migrationshintergrund]. Deswegen Schwerpunktkita.
(Interview 1: 05:25-05:36)
(9) Interviewee 2: Klar, wenn jetzt Eltern wenig bis gar kein Deutsch
können. (…) Dann ist die Verständigung schon nicht
ganz einfach. Klar, kann man oft mit Händen und
Füßen, mit Bildern und allem zeigen, aber für schnell
mal.. Dass man kurz mal eine Info gibt. Das ist dann
schwierig, das ist wirklich schwierig. (…) Es kommt
immer zu Missverständnissen, das ist klar. Das sind
dann die Momente, wo man vielleicht mal aneinander
vorbei redet und da Unstimmigkeiten und Frust
entsteht, auf beiden Seiten.
(Interview 2: 12:52-13:39)
(10) Interviewee 4: Die Erzieherinnen sind nicht gut darauf vorbereitet,
sich auf Kinder einzustellen, die wenig Deutsch können
(…) Und ich finde, dass ist auch ein Manko in der
Qualifizierung [der Erzieher] (...) im Grunde sind ganz
viele heillos überfordert.
(Interview 4: 24:46-25:55)
96
(11) Interviewee 5: Es gibt auch Einrichtungen wo das ein großes Problem
ist. Die, die einen hohen Anteil an Kindern aus einer
anderen [nicht deutschen] Erstsprache haben, da ist es
wirklich manchmal so, dass die sagen: „Wir wissen
nicht, wie wir damit umgehen sollen.“ Weil die sich
wirklich abschotten (…) bewusst auch ausgrenzen
andere Kinder. Wir wollen natürlich die Erstsprache
zulassen, wir wollen sie wertschätzen (...) Aber es wird
dann natürlich zum Problem…in dem Moment wo dann
auch nicht mehr die Motivation da ist auch das das
Deutsche zu lernen und dann auch vielleicht Kindern
mit einer anderen Sprache ausgegrenzt werden.
(Interview 5: 05:10-05:54)
(12) Interviewee 1: Mit Gesten, (…) mit Erklären auf Deutsch. Kinder in
dem Alter sind noch multilingual, das geht einfach und
die lernen schneller als man denkt.
(Interview 1: 17:29-17:41)
(13) Interviewee 3: Und bei der Stadt Frankfurt gibt es einen Übersetzter-
Pool, auf den man zurückgreifen kann. Also da sind
alle Mitarbeiter der Frankfurter Stadtverwaltung, die
sich freiwillig gemeldet haben und gesagt haben „Ich
kann übersetzen in den und den Sprachen“ (…) Aber
das muss man halt vorher planen.
(Interview 3: 35:21-35:40)
(14) Interviewee 3: Und die Kinder haben dann halt im Kindergarten zum
ersten Mal Kontakt zur deutschen Sprache. (…) Von
daher sehe ich den Kindergarten als ein ganz, ganz,
ganz wichtig Umfeld für die Kinder an, um sich zu
entwickeln, sich vor allem sprachlich zu entwickeln.
Interview 3: (32:31-32:55)
(15) Interviewee 1:In Essenssituationen. Das ist eine Gabel, das nennt
man Becher, das ist ein Teller. [Man muss]
verbalisieren!
(Interview 1: 27:14-27:26)
97
(16) Interviewee 4: Es braucht viel mehr fachliches Coaching, eine
Begleitung und eine prozessorientierte Fort- und
Weiterbildung.
(Interview 4: 01:27:27-01:27:33)
(17) Interviewee 2:Der Schlüssel für die Bildungs- und Lernprozesse (…)
ist die Interaktion und auch die Aktivität des Kindes ist
der Schlüssel. Nicht, dass man Lehrerin ist und trichtert
rein sondern dass es wirklich in diesem dialogischen
Sinne ist. Das ist auch das, was in den Bildungs-und
Erziehungsplänen steht, aber die Umsetzung ist hoch
anspruchsvoll und da werden die Erzieherinnen oft
allein gelassen. Das wird unterschätzt.
(Interview 2: 29:21-29:49)
(18) Interviewee 5: Die [Erzieher] müssen zumindest ein Wissen haben
über Spracherwerb, die müssen eine Vorstellung haben,
woraus besteht Sprache überhaupt, (…) die müssen viel
wissen über Zweitspracherwerb, (…) über
Beobachtung, Dokumentationsverfahren,
Sprachstandserfassung (...), und dann müssen sie
natürlich noch eine Vorstellung darüber haben, wie
kann ich die Sprache fördern, wie kann ich es
unterstützen. Also das ist schon ein breites
Themenspektrum (...)Die brauchen schon ein gutes
Fundament.
(Interview 5: 23:08-24:59)
(19) Interviewee 5: Wir hatten jetzt neulich ein ganz schönes Buch, das
Eulenbuch (...), wo dann die Alltagssituationen
fotografiert wurden und dann immer mit einem Satz
kommentiert wurden und der Satz wurde dann in alle in
KIZ [der Kindergarten] vorkommenden Muttersprachen
übersetzt, durch die Eltern (...) und alle waren
hinterher total stolz.
(Interview 5:26:36-27:09)
(20)Interviewee 3: Eine Sprache wie z.B. jetzt Amharisch oder eine
Sprache aus dem persischen Raum [ist] genauso wertvoll
wie das Französische zum Beispiel. Und das versuchen
wir dann so mit den pädagogischen Fachkräften zu
erarbeiten (...) einfach eine Gleichwertigkeit der
Sprachen. Das finde ich ganz, ganz wichtig.
98
(Interview 3: 01:02:52-01:04:37)
(21) Interviewee 3:Das multikulturelle Umfeld sehe ich als eine ganz, ganz
große Chance an. Wenn Kinder sehen, es gibt andere
Kulturen, es gibt andere Bräuche, sehe ich das als eine
große Chance, damit Kinder sozusagen als offene, freie
Menschen heranwachsen, die kultursensibel sind. Da
ohne Vorbehalte aufwachsen. Aber auch da, das muss
gut begleitet werden.
(Interview 3: 27:27- 27:57)
(23) Interviewee 2: …dass man Einblicke bekommt in andere Kulturen.
Wie leben Menschen woanders, wie erziehen Menschen
in anderen Ländern ihre Kinder, was sind da die Werte,
auf was legen die Menschen wert? Das ist sehr
interessant und das reizt auch nochmal zum
nachdenken über unsere Kultur.
(Interview 2: 1:37-1:54)
(23)Interviewee 4: Allerdings, das [die nicht Weitergabe der Strategien] war
die größte Ernüchterung nach 5 Jahren (...) Diese
interaktionsfördernde Strategien (...) dieses ‚auf die Kinder
eingehen‘, das kann keine Erzieherin im Team [an die
anderen Erzieher im Kindergarten] weitergeben.
(Interview 4: 53:44-54:03)
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Appendix V: CD of the Interviews
100
Appendix VI: Deutsche Zusammenfassung der Masterarbeit
(German Summary of the Master Thesis)
Diese Masterarbeit befasst sich mit der Thematik der Vielsprachigkeit in
Kindertagesstätten in Frankfurt. Ziel der Studie ist es herauszufinden, welche
Strategien Erzieher und andere Angestellte in Kindergärten nutzen, um mit der
dortigen kulturellen und sprachlichen Vielfalt umzugehen und alle Kinder
bestmöglich zu fördern und auf die Grundschule vorzubereiten.
Ich habe Frankfurt als meinen Forschungsbereich ausgewählt, da Frankfurt mit
einem Migrantenanteil von 43% die vielfältigste Stadt Deutschlands ist. Mehr als
170 unterschiedliche Nationalitäten sind in Frankfurt zuhause, was sich auch in
den Kindertagesstätten widerspiegelt. Mit einem durchschnittlichen
Migrantenanteil von 59% - 63% sind Frankfurts Kindertagesstätten besonders
vielfältig.
Um herauszufinden, welche Strategien die Erzieher nutzen, um mit den
Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund zu kommunizieren, um sie beim Erwerb der
deutschen Sprache zu unterstützen und wie sie die Diversität wertschätzen und in
die Kindergartengruppe integrieren, habe ich eine Online-Umfrage erstellt als
auch Interviews durchgeführt. An der Online-Umfrage haben 93 Personen
teilgenommen und Interviews konnte ich mit insgesamt 5 Personen führen.
Die Ergebnisse der Studie waren sehr positiv. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die
meisten Teilnehmer der Umfrage adäquate Strategien nutzen, um mit den Kindern
zu kommunizieren und um sie beim Deutscherwerb zu unterstützen. Außerdem
schätzen die meisten Studienteilnehmer die sprachliche und kulturelle Vielfalt in
ihren Kindergartengruppen und versuchen dies an die Kinder weiterzugeben.
Zusätzlich unterstützen das Amt für multikulturelle Angelegenheit, das
Stadtschulamt und Kita Frankfurt die städtischen Kindergärten im Bereich
Sprachförderung und Diversität mit Sprachprojekten, an denen sie teilnehmen
können.
101
Appendix VII: Statement on Plagiarism
I, Maren Gockel, have read the requirements for research papers in the MA
programme Sociolinguistics and Multilingualism. I understand that plagiarism is
wrong and that it can take different forms, some direct and some indirect. I also
understand that plagiarism in an essay, project or thesis submitted to this
programme will result in a greatly reduced mark or rejection of the paper entirely.
