Every History Lesson Is Also a German Lesson

How can students not only understand historical developments, but also explain them clearly and precisely in German? This question has been a particular focus in Grade 9 History at the German International School Accra since the beginning of the school year.

In language-sensitive subject teaching, academic learning and language development are deliberately connected. The aim is not to simplify historical content. Instead, students are given linguistic tools that help them describe, explain and evaluate demanding historical developments with increasing independence.

In class, students work with sentence starters, sentence patterns, word scaffolds, diagrams and cause-and-effect chains. During the topic “The Home Front in the First World War”, for example, complex relationships were first organised visually and then gradually transformed into historical explanations in German. Similar language scaffolds support students when working with sources or preparing their own historical judgements.

Initial feedback before the autumn break has been very positive. Students report that the language support is especially helpful when understanding historical relationships, expressing their own ideas and structuring difficult content. Sentence starters, images and clearly organised visual material were mentioned particularly often as useful forms of support.

At the same time, the feedback also shows how the approach can be developed further. Longer connected explanations, confident use of historical terminology and well-founded historical judgements will remain important areas of focus in the coming months. Proven language supports will continue to be used regularly and gradually reduced as students become more confident and independent.

The goal remains clear: students should increasingly be able to understand, structure, explain and evaluate historical developments independently, while at the same time becoming more confident in academic and subject-specific German.

This makes one guiding principle of our History lessons especially visible:

“Every History lesson is also a German lesson.”