Foreign language in the first cycle of Waldorf primary education

V prispevku predstavljamo stališča staršev iz Slovenije, Avstrije in Nemčije, katerih otroci obiskujejo waldorfsko osnovno šolo, do učenja tujih jezikov na nižji stopnji osnovne šole. V prvem delu članka predstavimo glavne značilnosti učenja in poučevanja tujih jezikov v waldorfskih osnovnih šolah in primerjamo učne načrte za prvi tuji jezik v Avstriji, Sloveniji in Nemčiji. V nadaljevanju se osredotočimo na rezultate empirične raziskave, v kateri je sodelovalo 215 staršev. Rezultati raziskave kažejo, da so starši, ki imajo možnost neposredno opazovati učinke učenja tujega jezika v otroštvu, temu naklonjeni in seznanjeni s prednostmi, ki ga takšno učenje jezika prinaša otroku, saj so se v večini strinjali, da otroci kažejo boljše jezikovne zmožnosti za pridobivanje tujih jezikov kot odrasli in da učenje tujih jezikov nima negativnega vpliva na materinščino in otrokovo osebnost.This paper seeks to present the viewpoints of Slovenian, Austrian, and German parents whose children attend Waldorf primary schools, about learning foreign languages at the primary level. The first section of the paper outlines the main characteristics of learning and teaching foreign languages in Waldorf primary schools and compares the syllabus for the first foreign language in Austria, Slovenia, and Germany. Further on, the paper focuses on the results of an empirical research which involved 215 parents. The results showed that parents who could directly observe the effects of learning a foreign language in childhood were more inclined to it. They were also familiar with the benefits of learning a foreign language for a child. Also, the majority of them agreed that learning second languages was easier for children, and they did not think it had any adverse impact on the mother tongue or the child\u27s personality