Curriculum for English as a Foreign Language in Steiner Waldorf SchoolsBased on the German version by Christoph Jaffke and others, published in Pdagogischer Auftrag und Unterrichtsziele.Vom Lehrplan der Waldorfschulen, edited by Tobias Richter.General aspects and aims for Classes 1 to 12The aim of foreign language teaching in Steiner Waldorf schools is to encourage a positive attitude towards people of other cultures and languages, as well as fostering human understanding generally through establishing the ability to empathise with another persons perspective and way of seeing the world. Learning foreign languages offers the individual other perspectives on his or her own language, culture, attitudes and mentality, thus helping the pupil see the world in a more differentiated way.The aims therefore of learning foreign languages are composite. On the one hand, the practical, utilitarian goal of being able to understand another language through listening and reading and being able to express oneself with a good degree of fluency in speaking and writing. On the other hand, to introduce the students to the character, customs and traditions, literature, culture, geography, history typical of the peoples who speak the given language. The third, pedagogical aim of foreign language teaching is to assist the overall development of the child through the subject specific qualities, as well as giving the individual insight into different ways of viewing the world, thus broadening the pupils own perspective.Learning foreign languages orally strengthens the pupils ability to listen to another person, to follow and grasp the other persons spoken and unspoken intentions, since it enhances sensitivity to language at all levels and not merely the semantic level. This encourages greater powers of understanding, forming balanced judgments and empathy, all qualities needed in complex social situations. Being competent in at least two other languages supports the ability of flexible, mobile thinking, since the different languages allow access to different realms of experience and this in turn stimulates greater interest in the world and other people.Language is threefold in its basic nature. It facilitates self-expression, communication and provides a framework for dialogue, speaking and listening. Secondly, language is a means of structuring and representing concepts and thoughts. This enables the child to map his or her experiences. The universal principles of syntactical relationships enable the translation of meaning from one individual to another but also from one language to another. Every language can be translated into every other. Thirdly, language is revelatory by nature. In contrast to materialistic conceptions of language, Steiner Waldorf takes the view that language, in its phonic, lexical and syntactical elements gives expression to something of the essence of what it describes. This is why language is such a powerful formative force. Gaining insight into the syntactical and grammatical structures common to all languages provides a good basis for the subsequent study of language and linguistics. Teaching methodsInitial contact with the foreign language in school is a broad experiential and contextual one, which becomes increasingly more conscious through analysis. There is an intrinsic progression from oral to literate language and the oral element remains paramount. In building literacy on orality, there is a strong emphasis on the gesture and situation. Language holds a middle position between movement which is internalised to become speech and speech which is further internalised in thinking. Given that a large percentage of communicated meaning in normal conversation is non-semantic, there is a strong emphasis on gesture, pantomime, body language and the entire non-verbal realm of orality remains important throughout the curriculum.Working intensively with language harmonises and extends the childs affective responses to the world. Not only do the pupils become more articulate; they have more to say. Thus the process of foreign learning languages can serve to meet the developmental needs of the child as well as enabling them to develop abilities which serve their own individuation process whilst developing social competence. In working with the nature of language itself, and assuming that the teaching method respects the inner principles of language and language acquisition, the child engages his or her own being with the being of language itself. During the first three years of instruction the child is immersed in the orality of the language within the context of the lessons, most, if not all of which are conducted entirely in the foreign language. The children are introduced to a range of activities, verbal exchanges (greetings, question and answers to everyday situations), verses, poems, counting rhymes, skipping chants, songs and gam