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Mother Tongue Programme
At the International School of Hamburg, we are aware of the importance of learning
the individual mother tongue. Our Mother Tongue programme encourages and
provides the opportunity for students to continuously develop their home or native
languages alongside their daily school curriculum.
The Mother Tongue Programme supports both students who
cannot be provided with formal tuition in their mother tongue
during school hours as well as those MYP and DP students
who wish to take a mother tongue language course as part of
the curriculum.
Research shows that the development of the student’s mother
tongue or first language (usually the language spoken at
home) is critical for their cognitive development; children who
have not fully developed a first language can experience
language-based cognitive difficulties later on.
Students may be fluent in their mother tongue, however, it is
essential that they are also provided with the opportunity to
become literate in their first language. The level of linguistic
competence a student can achieve in their second language
is directly dependent on the extent to which their literacy in
the mother tongue has been developed. The student’s sense
of cultural and personal identity, and their self-esteem, is also
greatly strengthened by mother tongue instruction.
ISH helps organise Mother Tongue classes outside the school
curriculum using school facilities at the end of a regular school
day and within the school curriculum for MYP and DP students.
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The lessons are taught by experienced private teachers with
whom the parents enter into an agreement about participation and payment. The Mother Tongue Coordinators also
assist in finding suitable teachers for these courses. Some
programmes, such as Swedish and Dutch, follow the national
curriculum of their country.
When students reach IB Diploma level, they have the opportunity to study Literature or Language in their mother tongue.
There are two options. Provided there is a qualified teacher
available, students can study at higher or standard level. This
option is funded privately by the parents of the student. Alternatively, students can choose what is called the “school-supported” programme which means students can study their
mother tongue at standard level and without a teacher.
The students should ideally study the language and literature
of their first language prior to entering grade 11. To facilitate
and encourage students to choose the above options, the
Mother Tongue Programme is offered to both Junior School
and Secondary School students. There are currently mother
tongue programmes for the following languages: Chinese,
Danish, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish,
Hebrew, Russian and Spanish.
