In the wake of the “PISA shock,” educators and administrators in the German school sector have been engaged in heated discussions about where the focus in foreign language tuition should lie and what competences students ought to acquire in the course of learning a foreign language at school. A resulting move toward output orientation and standardization has brought changes to curricula which critics bemoan as a turning away from prized educational goals that view the learning of a foreign language as an integral part of the Humboldtian ideal of ‘Bildung’ as a formative, potentially enlightening process. In our seminar we will enquire about the purpose(s) of teaching a foreign language and the potential of learning a foreign language for school learners; we will discuss our role as teachers in the learning processes of our students; and we will try out and reflect examples of teaching English as part of an emancipatory education. A course syllabus as well as required primary and secondary literature will be provided in a Moodle course under www.moodle.hu-berlin.de and – if needed – in a reader at the Sprintout copy shop in Georgenstraße/Universitätsstraße. Please register for the seminar by sending an e-mail to Mrs. Stutzke: silke.stutzke@rz.hu-berlin.de. Max. number of participants: 20 |
