Individual learning of “teachersʼ language”

Starting position/challenge

As part of a job training scheme at the IQ regional network Hamburg - NOBI, immigrant teachers with recognised teaching degrees can complete a bridge training (APQ) or an aptitude test at the Hamburg State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development in order to achieve the full recognition of their professional qualification. The “teacher's language” is at the centre of the measure because experience showed that standardised training courses did not meet the diverse background knowledge of the target group. However, mastering the teacher's language is necessary to carry out work professionally. The IQ subproject addresses this challenge with a new approach and developed the “diagnostic tool for occupational language competence in the teaching
 profession”.

Implementation of the tool

The diagnostic tool “Potential analysis”, initiated and developed by language trainers as part of the project “Support for Teachers with Foreign Professional Credentials”, serves to ascertain the occupational language competence and determine the development needs of the participants. The potential analysis forms the basis for the occupational language preparation of the teachers before the beginning of the actual bridge training.

The participants are given the task of performing various standard communicative situations from the area of teaching and school, such as presenting themselves at the parent-teacher conference, presenting an explanation for a process or telling a story. These exercises are recorded with a video camera or, for example, reading is recorded on tape. The video and audio recordings are then analysed and evaluated by the language trainers. This way, each participant receives personal feedback on his or her language skills and individual training goals and reflects on the applied linguistic tools. The training plan includes feedback on accent expression, the knowledge of the vocabulary of the subject, and the characteristics such as speaking rate or emphasis. Based on the individual diagnosis and demand situation, the participants can choose the offers which are most suitable for their linguistic development.

Summary

The analysis for potential to improve the teachers' language of the participants has been carried out since 2015 and shows very promising results in the evaluation. It relies on a high level of self-motivation and a strong commitment to the personal learning objectives of teachers from all over the world. It is also characterised by a high degree of professionalism for the linguistic area, which is also passed on to the pupils by the participants, as well as a professional approach to different linguistic cultures.