Science in English for Bilingual Classes in Germany: Forces, Light and Sound
Science in English for Bilingual Classes in Germany: Forces, Light and Sound
Sachunterricht is a natural subject to teach in English. Children are busy with ramps, rulers, flashlights and boxes, and the English comes with the action. The risk is that the lesson turns into vocabulary work and the science gets lost. The two units below avoid that by putting a small test at the center of every lesson. Children push a ball harder and watch what changes, or hold a cloudy sheet in front of a flashlight and decide whether light passes through. The English they need is short, and it describes something they just did.
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Science units and a reading pack for bilingual classes
Start with Pushes and Pulls in Vorschule or Klasse 1, move to Light and Sound in Klasse 1 or 2, and add the nonfiction pack when children are ready to read short informational texts.
Pushes and Pulls | Forces, Fair Tests & a Design Challenge | Kindergarten
Start, stop and turn objects, fair tests on a ramp and a design-a-turn task.
Light and Sound | Vibrations, Materials, Shadows & Signals | Grade 1
Vibration, seeing in a dark box, clear, cloudy and opaque, and shadows.
Nonfiction Text Features | Original Science Passages & Diagram Workshop | Grade 2
Eight original passages on seeds, water in plants, weather and fair tests.
My Community: Helpers, Maps and Rules | Community Helpers, Map Skills & Rules | Grades K–2
Maps from above, symbols and a field visit for the social studies side of Sachunterricht.
Grade levels
Units, German Klassen and topics
| Unit (US grade) | Rough Klasse | Lessons | Links to familiar Sachunterricht topics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pushes and Pulls (K) | Vorschule / Klasse 1 | Push or pull; start, stop, change direction; gentle and stronger; ramp and surface tests; design and improve | Forces and motion, early experiments |
| Light and Sound (1) | Klasse 1–2 | Vibration; ruler sound; sound moves an object; dark box; clear, cloudy, opaque; shadows; light and sound messages | Licht und Schatten, Schall |
| Nonfiction Text Features (2) | Klasse 2–3 | Eight passages and a diagram workshop on a plant water route | Plants, weather, fair tests |
| My Community (K–2) | Klasse 1–3 | Helpers, maps from above, symbols and legend, routes, rules and laws | Orientation, maps, living together |
The topic column describes overlap in content. It is not a claim that the units follow any German Lehrplan.
Why it works
Investigation first, words second
In Light and Sound, the first lesson is about something children can feel: a gentle vibration. Then a ruler makes a sound, and in Lesson 3 sound moves a light object. By the time you introduce "vibrate", every child has felt it. The light lessons start with a dark box: children find they can see inside only when light gets in. Then they sort materials as clear, cloudy or opaque by testing them, and the shadow investigation builds on that. The last two lessons ask them to send a message across the room with light and then with sound.
Pushes and Pulls follows the same logic with forces. The core idea is short: a push or a pull can start something moving, stop it or change its direction. From Lesson 5 children compare a gentle push with a stronger one, and with a ramp and different surfaces they run fair tests, changing one thing and keeping the rest the same. For CLIL that is a useful sentence frame in itself: "We changed only the surface."
In practice
Running a bilingual science lesson with these units
- Show before you nameDo the test first, then give the English word. Children attach "opaque" to the card that blocked the flashlight, not to a translation.
- Keep a word wall per unitTen lessons produce a manageable list: push, pull, ramp, surface, stronger, gentle; or vibration, clear, cloudy, opaque, shadow.
- Read the prompts aloudThe written parts ask children to record and explain. In Klasse 1 read prompts aloud and accept drawings and single words.
- Use the learning recordBoth units close with a learning record where children track what they did. It doubles as a record of the English they can now use.
- Bridge to GermanIf your school reports science in German, a five-minute recap in German at the end helps children connect both sets of words.
Good to know
What is American about these units
The teacher guides map the lessons to NGSS, the US science standards, and describe what US Kindergarten students are and are not expected to do. You can read those boundaries as useful guidance on age-appropriate depth. The language is US English, and the materials are everyday classroom objects, so there is little else to adapt. All files come as A4 PDFs with editable DOCX and PowerPoint versions.
Questions teachers ask
Frequently asked questions
Which science unit should a bilingual Klasse 1 start with?
Pushes and Pulls if the class is new to English, because the actions are easy to show and the key words are few. Light and Sound if children already follow simple instructions in English.
What materials do I need?
Everyday objects to push, pull and roll, something to build a ramp and a few surfaces for Pushes and Pulls. A ruler, a box for the dark-box test, clear, cloudy and opaque materials and a light object for Light and Sound.
Is there a lot of reading?
No. Most of the time goes into testing and observing. The written parts ask children to record and explain, and you can read the prompts aloud.
Do the units follow the German Sachunterricht curriculum?
They were written for US grades and their guides refer to NGSS. Topics such as light, shadow and forces also appear in German primary science, but we make no claim about any Lehrplan.
How do I assess the units?
Each teacher guide includes notes on assessment with its NGSS section, answers for every lesson and an observation section. Children also keep a learning record.
Can I change the texts?
Yes. Each unit has editable DOCX and PowerPoint files, so you can simplify instructions or add German support words.
Let the test do the explaining
Two investigation units where every English word is tied to something children just tried.
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