GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SYLLABUS IN GERMAN FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BUKOVYNA (THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY)

Abstract

The article describes the general characteristics of the syllabus in German for public schools of Bukovyna (the second half of the 19th century). The concept of “public school” refers to the primary education level. Teaching German in Bukovina in the study time period started in elementary school and continued in different types of secondary schools. Primary school laid the foundation of knowledge in German for Ukrainian-speaking students. The analysis of different types of documents made it possible to distinguish German as the second foreign language in Bukovyna region. The analysis of contact hours and the content of the study material for learning foreign languages, comparative characteristics of the process of learning German in public schools of Bukovyna and Vienna allowed highlighting common and distinctive features of teaching the language. Learning German in elementary schools of Bukovyna lasted for six years, eight years in Viennese schools. The study material in the German language was the same for both German-speaking and non-German-speaking students. A Ukrainian-speaking student had the same requirements concerning the knowledge of German language as a native speaker. Study material offered to the first-grade students presupposed familiarity with its surroundings; learning phonetic material was carried out by teaching vowels, consonants in written and printed forms. Teaching reading was associated with teaching speaking. Students had to be able to read slowly and later quickly and correctly and render the content of what has been read. The curriculum for elementary schools presupposed learning by heart simple works of fiction. Teaching writing was exercised through re-writing texts from the textbook. In the second grade, according to the syllabus, the students had to read aloud correctly; answer the questions and memorize samples of fiction. In the analyzed period of time the students were asked to do spelling exercises taking into account the peculiarities of vowels pronunciation, spelling capitalized words. Teaching grammar material implied students’ acquaintance with: simple sentence structure; nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals and so on. Teaching writing was carried out by re-writing a certain amount of text from manuals and doing exercises. In addition, non-German-speaking students were asked to do translations. The third-grade students had to read clearly and quickly printed and hand-written texts; render the content of what has been read and understand the author’s intentions of the work; memorize excerpts of fiction. They were also introduced to the morphological structure of lexical items, semantics of words and their use in context. Regarding the grammatical material, they had to be able to do spelling exercises, given the similarity in the sounding of words; know the structure of the extended simple, compound and complex sentences. Also the in-depth study of morphology was offered. Teaching speaking presupposed rendering the content of what has been read, narration, description; teaching writing was carried through doing exercises, writing letters and business correspondence. The syllabi in German for public schools of Bukovyna and Vienna were aimed at students’ mastering of basic grammatical and spelling material, favored the development of dialogical and monologue speech skills, develop reading and writing skills, form the skills of translation from a foreign language into a mother tongue. All this indicates the trend of the expansion of general culture and the personality of the student, the significance of this stage in his preparation for obtaining secondary education, the formation of practical skills.