German is a wonderful language but not well supported by American schools. Whether your family is German or you are drawn to the German language or people, here is a gentle way to teach German to your three- to five-year-old child.
The Plan
This plan uses 6 books, 1 audio and 1 set of audible talking flashcards off of Amazon, but each resource is introduced in a different month, so you can buy them all at the beginning, or along the way, and surprise your child each month with their ‘new book’. We will start slowly and work up to learning German for 10 minutes 4 days a week. The focus is on exposure to the language and gentle learning of German words.
If your child has had moderate exposure to the German language, but is not really speaking it, or if your child has never heard German before, this slow language approach will work well for them. If your child is speaking more than 20 words or so of German already, another program would probably work better for them, or you may be able to adapt this plan for them. Feel free to adapt this for your specific child as I am for mine. If needed, use Google Translate to practice your pronunciation before teaching German to your child.
This German language plan is for 9 months, but a plan for prekindergarten will come out next spring, so if you choose, you can transition straight from the preschool to prekindergarten plan without stopping for summer. With learning a foreign language, continuous learning, rather than taking a 3-month break, would be best. Both a year-round (40 weeks) and a 9-month (36 weeks) option will be provided for the prekindergarten year.
Teach German Slowly with Exposure
For September, we will start small with reading Animal Counting Fun: Spaß beim Zählen (1-10). If your child is not counting from 1 to 10 in English, skip this book, then come back later. I would also suggest checking out my preschool math curriculum. Read this book to your child once a week for 5 minutes in German. Let your child count the animals in English while you count them in German. Laugh over the different sounds and have fun exposing your child to German without requiring them to speak any of the German words themselves. If they do try the words, don’t try to correct their pronunciation. This is all you will be doing for the first month and we will continue with this book for 2 months total before setting it aside to return to it in prekindergarten.
Animal Counting Fun: Spaß beim Zählen (1-10)
For October, we will be introducing some German children’s music. You can listen to Amazon music using your phone or computer. Try to listen for 5 minutes once a week to the music. Sing along if you can, dance with your child and start tuning their ear into another language. If they ask, you can explain that this is another language called German. You will listen to these same songs for the full 8 months. Down the line, we will translate and learn these songs. Music is a wonderful and simple way to teach German to children.
Amazon Music – Kinderlieder German Children’s Music & Nursery Rhymes
By month three, your child will most likely be losing interest in the number book, so we will be replacing it with the book Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary. Look through this book together twice a week for 5 minutes. Set a timer, so you spend the full-time looking at German, but not so much time that your child loses interest. Look at each picture together and have your child guess the English word while you say the German word. Make this like a game.
Once again, there should be no pressure for your child to speak German. This is about making a foreign language accessible and fun for young children. This book will be used for the entire school year, so don’t feel like you need to rush through it. There should be lots of repetition and if your child wants to pretend to be an elefant along the way, have fun with it. If you are not already a German speaker, take this opportunity to also gently learn the words.
Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary
Moving Forward to Speaking German
For December, we will start with My First 100 German Words Coloring Book. One day a week have your child spend 5 minutes coloring, or scribbling, one of the pages while you talk together about what the picture is in both English and German.
For the first time, you will be asking your child “Can you say …. in German?” There should be no pressure if they don’t want to, but your goal should ideally be for both you and your child to each say the word 5 times. We want them to hear the word 5 times and we want them to try to say the word 5 times. Try to make this a game, either I say a word and you repeat after me (throw in random words or sounds with just the one German word) or who can say the word the fastest, slowest, loudest, or quietest. Try to be creative in what works best for your child.
My First 100 German Words Coloring Book
In January, we will start reading the book Where is My Little Elephant? Wo ist mein kleiner elefant? This is a search and find book, so read each page in German and then see if your child can find the elephant with no English prompts, just listening to the German. This should be treated as a game. For these ages, games, music and fun should be the focus for how to teach German.
There is a full series of books by this author, but the Elephant one is the easiest one. If your child is 5 years old, or older, you might want to pick one of the other books from the series. Also, if your child really loves this book, feel free to buy some of the other books and continue using them to supplement your German learning. At this point, change Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary to 10 minutes once a week rather than 5 minutes twice a week.
Where is My Little Elephant? Wo ist mein kleiner elefant?
In February, we will be adding German Audible Talking Flashcards 5 minutes once a week so children can hear the correct pronunciation of words. Pick 5 words to focus on each week from your other sources to teach the German words. Listen to them together and see if your child knows what each word means. Practice saying the words together loud, soft, slow or fast. Try hopping around the room saying the words or clapping the words. Make it fun and try to say each word at least 5 times.
At this time, I would suggest increasing My First 100 German Words Coloring Book to 10 minutes once a week. Depending on your child’s speed with coloring and how they enjoy saying the words, this could be one or two pages. If your child does not enjoy coloring, trying using stamps or stickers in the book while reinforcing the words.
German Audible Talking Flashcards 510
In March, we will be replacing Where is My Little Elephant? Wo ist mein kleiner elefant? with the book Cousins Forever – Für immer Cousinen. This is a bilingual book, so English is on top and German on the bottom. I suggest just reading this book in German to your child. Exposure to German in a fun and engaging manner is the first step in how to teach German to a young child. Ask your child if they recognize any words. They might know a few German words but see if they can recognize the words that are similar between the two languages, like cousins and cousinen. This is about exposure to German and translation will happen down the line.
Cousins Forever – Fur immer Cousinen
In May, we will replace the cousins’ book with the book Am I small? Bin ich klein? Read this book once a week to your child. It should take less than 10 minutes. This can be during the day, or even at bedtime. This book will be just for reading and exposing your child to more German, rather than creating a game from it. Keep this book and the other books for prekindergarten and kindergarten, because we will return to translate these books.
Summarizing How to Teach German
I will provide a chart for parents to understand the structure of the plan for how to teach German better. Remember we are starting slow with our youngest of children so that learning a foreign language is not overwhelming, but fun and enjoyable. All of these books will be used again over the next two years, except for the coloring book, which will be used the first 4 months or so of prekindergarten to completion before starting a new coloring book. I recommend buying these books, rather than borrowing them.
Our goal at the end of this year is for children to be able to speak about 20 German words reliably, mostly animals, numbers, colors and food, while understanding around 100 German words. If your child is not there at the end of this year, that is okay. They may just need more time, or they may understand more than you realize. I would love any feedback you have about this plan as you navigate it with your child. I will make updates based on my experience with my child throughout the year, but this is my plan at this time for her and I would love to hear how it goes for other families as well.
| Months | Mondays | Tuesdays | Wednesdays | Thursdays |
| September | 5 minutes Animal Counting Fun: Spaß beim Zählen (1-10) | |||
| October | 5 minutes Animal Counting Fun: Spaß beim Zählen (1-10) | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs | ||
| November | 5 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs | 5 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | |
| December | 5 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs | 5 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
| January | 10 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs | 10 minutes Where is My Little Elephant? Wo ist mein kleiner elefant? | 5 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
| February | 10 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs 5 minutes Audible Talking Flashcards | 10 minutes Where is My Little Elephant? Wo ist mein kleiner elefant? | 10 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
| March | 10 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs 5 minutes Audible Talking Flashcards | 10 minutes Cousins Forever – Für immer Cousinen | 10 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
| April | 10 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs 5 minutes Audible Talking Flashcards | 10 minutes Cousins Forever – Für immer Cousinen | 10 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
| May | 10 minutes Let’s Learn German Picture Dictionary | 5 minutes Kinderlieder: German Children’s Songs 5 minutes Audible Talking Flashcards | 10 minutes Am I small? Bin ich klein? | 10 minutes My First 100 German Words Coloring Book |
Happy Learning
Beautiful Summer Preschool Plan Invitation – hummingbirdhomelife.com
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