Deutsch für Kinder in der Bibliothek

New Haven, CT

The Department of Germanic Languages and Literature at Yale University has recently developed a new outreach program in collaboration with the Public New Haven library. The outreach effort is geared toward children ages 6-12 and planned and led by graduate students in the German Department and the School of Music. Supervised by the language program director, the four one-hour events are intended to give children an opportunity to learn about German language and culture in a friendly and playful environment. Each week, the sessions introduce a new topic (basic phrases and numbers, animals, carnival, and fairy tales) and students participate in songs, games, crafts, and a simple introduction to German words and sentences pertaining to the topics. 

Through this outreach program, the German department at Yale hopes to increase a general interest in German language and culture and offer children who don’t have the opportunity to take German in school a chance to learn about a different language and culture. 

The library is providing the room and craft supplies, and also set up a pre-registration system so that patrons of the library could sign up for the event beforehand. 

Through this program, the graduate student volunteers are getting an opportunity to share their love of German language and culture with younger students and are gaining valuable teaching experience outside of their usual classrooms.

-Submitted by Theresa Schenker, Yale University