Between the Languages: Linguistic Basics, Institutional Forms and Didactic Concepts of Teaching Ukrainian as a Heritage Language in Berlin and Beyond.

The large number of Ukrainian refugee children poses a complex challenge to educational institutions. The students should learn German quickly and take part in regular classes, but they often don't want to lose contact with their Ukrainian schools, because that raises questions about socio-cultural identity, opportunities to return, and educational and career prospects. In order to develop suitable offers for Ukrainian lessons, a number of questions need to be clarified that (1) relate to the language situation of the children, their wishes and the ideas of the parents regarding language lessons, (2) relate the results to the educational policy and institutional framework for native language teaching in Germany, (3) take into account the experiences of teachers in program development and in teaching the Ukrainian language and culture in Germany. The latter includes a look at the professional preparation and qualification of teachers. The aim of the project is the modeling of didactic principles for Ukrainian lessons, which take into account the special language acquisition situation of children "between the languages" Ukrainian-Russian-German. The focus is on the establishment of criteria for the development and evaluation of curricula and learning materials that are suitable for different institutional circumstances (also beyond the Berlin school system) and also build bridges to the Ukrainian school program. As part of a secondment to the Berlin Senate Administration, the materials will be tailored to the content and structural requirements of the Berlin learning space and the dialogue with the Ukrainian education system will be initiated. The result is a modularized offer for further training for teachers, the interaction between science and society is to be established in different formats. The project will strengthen the close partnership with the Fellows' home institution in Lviv.