English Teaching Materials for Bilingual Primary Schools in Germany
English Teaching Materials for Bilingual Primary Schools in Germany
Teaching a bilingual stream (bilingualer Zug) in Germany means you are always translating between two school systems. Your timetable and Lehrplan are German, but the English has to sound like English. These materials were written for US classrooms, in the English a teacher in Ohio would use, and every unit has a teacher guide that explains each lesson. This page shows which units suit which Klasse, where US conventions get in the way and how colleagues use them alongside German lessons.
Browse the K–5 resources →Resources that fit
Seven units that work well in bilingual Klasse 1–4
These seven cover the subjects most bilingual streams teach in English: early literacy, some math, Sachunterricht-style science and classroom routines. Start with the oral and hands-on sets, because they ask the least of a child who is still building English vocabulary.
Phonemic Awareness Daily Routines | 36 Weeks of Oral Sound Routines | Kindergarten
Oral sound routines with picture cues; children answer with sounds, so reading is not required yet.
Classroom Routines and Social Skills | 20 Social Stories & Routine Cards | Pre-K–K
Twenty routine stories for the first weeks of Klasse 1, with a visual schedule you can edit.
Number Sense to 20 | 15 Hands-On Math Centers | Kindergarten
Hands-on centers where counters carry the meaning and the English stays short.
Pushes and Pulls | Forces, Fair Tests & a Design Challenge | Kindergarten
Forces through doing: start, stop and turn objects, then a small design task.
Decodable Readers Grade One | 20 Stories with Word Work & Comprehension | Grade 1
Twenty decodable stories once children start reading English text.
Heart Words | 100 High-Frequency Words with Sound Mapping | Grade 1
Maps 100 common words sound by sound, which helps children who decode German first.
Light and Sound | Vibrations, Materials, Shadows & Signals | Grade 1
Ten investigations on vibration, light and shadows that fit Sachunterricht topics.
Grade levels
How US grades line up with German Klassen
US children start Kindergarten at five and Grade 1 at six, so a US grade is roughly one step ahead of the German Klasse with the same number in age terms. The table gives a working guide. It is a starting point for planning, not a statement about any German Lehrplan.
| US grade | Typical age | Rough German equivalent | What tends to fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 4–5 | Kita, older group | Routine stories, oral games |
| Kindergarten | 5–6 | Vorschule / start of Klasse 1 | Oral sound work, number sense to 20, pushes and pulls |
| Grade 1 | 6–7 | Klasse 1–2 | Decodable stories, heart words, light and sound |
| Grade 2 | 7–8 | Klasse 2–3 | Text features, length and money |
| Grade 3 | 8–9 | Klasse 3–4 | Multiplication facts, story writing, cursive |
| Grade 4 | 9–10 | Klasse 4 (last Grundschule year in most states) | Fluency passages, multi-digit methods, opinion writing |
| Grade 5 | 10–11 | Klasse 5 (Grundschule in Berlin and Brandenburg) | Text evidence and written answers |
The age column matters less than the language column you add yourself. In many bilingual streams, a large part of the class learns English mainly at school. For them, a Kindergarten oral routine can be the right level well into Klasse 2, and that is fine: the tasks are short and do not look babyish. Children with an English-speaking parent may be ready for Grade 1 or 2 sets. Because every unit uses the same lesson routine from start to end, you can run two levels side by side without teaching two formats.
US conventions
What is American about the materials, and when it matters
- US spelling throughout: color, center, favorite
- US money in the Grade 2 unit (dollars and cents)
- Inches next to centimeters in measurement
- US manuscript letter shapes in handwriting
- Common Core and NGSS references in the teacher guides
- Grade names (Kindergarten, Grade 1) instead of Klassen
For reading, phonics and science, these differences hardly show up. They matter in three places. The handwriting sets use US manuscript and cursive forms, which differ from the Grundschrift or the Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift many German schools use, so compare letters with your German colleagues before you print. The Grade 2 money unit is built on dollars and cents; use it as a deliberate look at another currency, or skip that half. And the teacher guides cite US standards, which you can read as a description of the skill rather than a requirement for you.
In practice
How colleagues use the units next to German lessons
- Choose by language, then by ageLook at what your children can say and understand in English, then pick the unit. A Klasse 1 group new to English starts with the oral routines and the social stories, not the readers.
- Pre-teach the wordsThe phonemic awareness guide separates vocabulary from the sound task: a child who does not know "fish" learns the word first. Apply the same rule to every unit and spend two minutes on key words before the task.
- Keep the routine fixedEach unit repeats one lesson pattern from its opening page. Children who are still learning English benefit most from that, because they can predict what comes next and put their effort into the content.
- Edit the examplesSwap names, places and rules in the DOCX files so children see their own school. The PDF stays the print reference.
Questions teachers ask
Frequently asked questions
Are these materials written for German learners of English?
No. They are written in native-level US English for US classrooms. That makes them useful for authentic input and for native-speaking children, but learners of English will often need a lower US grade than their age suggests, plus some pre-teaching of vocabulary.
Do they follow a German Lehrplan?
No, and we make no claim that they do. The teacher guides refer to US standards such as Common Core and NGSS. Many topics, such as light and shadow or counting to 20, also appear in German primary school, but you decide where a unit fits your plan.
Will the PDFs print on A4?
Yes. The PDFs are A4 to begin with, so they print in German schools without scaling. They also print on US Letter with fit-to-page.
Can I change words or names?
Yes. Every unit includes an editable DOCX text version and an editable PowerPoint. Pagination in the DOCX can differ from the PDF.
What about the US handwriting style?
The handwriting sets use common US manuscript and cursive forms. If your school teaches Grundschrift or a German Ausgangsschrift, compare the letters first. One option is to keep German letter forms and use the English sets only for the writing tasks.
Which unit should a new bilingual Klasse 1 start with?
The classroom routines stories and the phonemic awareness routines. Both rely on listening and speaking, use pictures, and give children a predictable daily pattern in English.
English that sounds like English
Pick by language level, print on A4 and keep your German timetable.
See the early reading resources →