Many children in Luxembourg do not speak Luxembourgish at home but rather French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian or Cape Verdean, among others. To accommodate these Romance languages, a pilot project sought to integrate the French language into daily school life for young children, adding grammar and vocabulary lessons at an earlier stage and holding maths lessons in French.
Four primary schools in Larochette, Differdange, Dudelange and Schifflange joined the pilot project last year. The changes started as early as first year - where other primary schools focus on learning to read and write in German from the outset, the pilot project introduces nine hours of French per week, in addition to mathematics. German lessons are reduced to one hour per week by comparison.
For other subjects, the pupils are mixed with other classes in their year and taught in Luxembourgish. Individual details are then translated into German or French to permit pupils to follow the lessons regardless of their linguistic background.
After a term and a half, the authorities have expressed satisfaction with the pilot project’s initial results. Staff report they no longer have to translate large amounts into French when explaining activities or homework to pupils who might otherwise be overwhelmed if the work was in German. Maths exercises, for example, are prone to misinterpretation if a pupil cannot understand the exercise correctly.
Another advantage of the pilot project is that it enables French-speaking parents to get involved with their children’s homework.
Pupils in the French stream will continue to follow the pilot project system until they leave primary education. Although the model obviously will not suit all Luxembourg pupils, it provides a complementary offer to the traditional German literacy model used for years. The aim of the project is to offer all children the same educational opportunities.
Video report in Luxembourgish and French:
