Children who speak a language other than German at home and children from underprivileged families need support to promote linguistic skills in order for them to keep up with academic and professional challenges. It is evident that support has to be continued beyond kindergarten. In this project, an attempt is made to implement sustained language support from grades 1 to 6 in schools in Heidelberg (Germany). The program focuses on basic skills in primary schools and progresses to higher literacy skills in secondary schools. One of the main objectives of the project is to enable schools to continue the program even after the project has been completed.

The project comprises four components: acquiring basic skills for academic German (Deutsch für den Schulstart), grades 1-2; expanding vocabulary through “Robust Vocabulary Instruction”, grades 3-4; fostering reading comprehension through “Reciprocal Teaching”, grade 5; writing expository texts, grade 6.