Foreign Languages

At EWS, students learn both Spanish and German in grades 1-8. Learning two foreign languages is an important part of the Waldorf approach to education—important not just as an academic exercise but as a gateway to understanding and communicating with human beings who are different from us, with their own individuality and experiences of daily life. Through learning a foreign language, the child’s thinking becomes more flexible, and his whole horizon is widened. In addition, when we learn a foreign language, we become more subtly aware of our mother tongue, discovering its own particular capacities of expression, its own beauty and musicality.

The learning of a foreign language greatly depends on imitative musical abilities. In Grades 1-3, we use these imitative abilities to teach language through gesture, mime, songs and poems. Through games, the class learns their numbers, colors, names of clothing, parts of the classroom, parts of the body, the seasons, etc, so that such words become a part of their vocabulary. There is no need to translate, and the teacher does so only if a child asks for a meaning. Recitation is done mostly in chorus, but the children are slowly encouraged to speak along, to answer questions about their family, pets, and their house. All work is done orally, and everything that is learned and memorized forms the basis for later, more formal, language lessons.

In Grades 4-6, the children begin to learn to write in Spanish and German by writing down the poems, stories and dialogues presented to them in the earlier grades. It is essentially the task of these grades to learn to read the foreign language, to be able to do simple dictation, and to write answers to questions that have first been dealt with orally in a living way. As reading and writing skills grow, the teacher draws attention to such things as grammatical details and spelling rules.

In 7th –8th grades, poetry, songs, plays, oral exercises and grammar are continued, but now, in addition, the printed book is introduced. In High School, more advanced conversation, grammar, reading and writing instruction is given in at least one language,until the student is expected to have obtained mastery of at least one foreign language by graduation.

“Foreign languages play an essential role in the curriculum of the Waldorf school…Each language contributes to our appreciation of the world around us. Perhaps it may be said that the teacher of foreign languages in a Waldorf school is dedicating his own efforts to the re-enlivening of language so that a true sense of brotherhood may arise among human beings.”

- Rene Querido

Handwork

Handwork is a special subject taught once a week in a double period to all students grades 1-8. Handwork really begins in the Early Childhood classes, with finger knitting and hand-sewing. This continues through the grades with knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch, making patterns, animals and dolls, and finally machine sewing in 8th grade. 

Handwork in the Waldorf curriculum brings a balancing element between intellectual activities and movement activities, and allows the students to engage in the struggle, the joy, and the care natural to the creator. There are also subtle intellectual and moral benefits. Rhythmic repetition such as knitting and crocheting, strengthens their concentration and hand-eye coordination, and enhances math skills through counting rows and stitches, measuring out patterns and creating three dimensional items. Children learn to correct their mistakes, and value quality, utility and hard work. Nothing is wasted and all materials are treated with care and respect, helping the children to be respectful and grateful for the gifts of earth, plants and animals. Finally, the joy of accomplishment, as the children accomplish increasingly difficult tasks in small steps, creates the self-confidence necessary to tackle much larger tasks in their future lives.

                                                                                                                  More about the Handwork program.

Watch a Video on Handwork in Waldorf Schools

Practical Arts

Beginning in the 6th grade, students take Practical Arts classes.  In their Practical Arts classes, the students make beautiful, practical objects out of wood and metal. We use only hand tools, concentrating on exactness in the use of those tools and developing endurance and skillfulness of hand. This helps to train the children’s senses and their will, as well as enhancing their understanding of Geometry, biology of animals, physics and other subject they are studying in Main Lesson.

“Children who learn while they are young to make practical things by hand in an artistic way, and for the benefit of others as well as for themselves, will not be strangers to life or to other people when they are older. They will be able to form their lives and their relationships in a social and artistic way, so that ther lives are thereby enriched. Out of their hands can come technicians and artists who will know how to solve the problems and tasks set us.”

- Rudolf Steiner

                                                                                                                   More about our Practical Arts program.

Music

Emerson Waldorf School resounds with music. Every child in each classroom sings every day with their class teacher, and you may often find a class playing flutes or dancing. Being surrounded by music, the children are wonderfully musical. The music program nurtures that musicality, educates it and ultimately gives it the chance to shine in our performing ensembles.

EWS music classes nurture and strengthen a child’s inner sense for music in the early years without any academic instruction, but eventually expand to include music literacy instruction that exceeds the National Standards for Music Education. Nonetheless, the inner qualities of music are still emphasized, and the classes focus just as much on listening, responding, composing and improvising.

Every child at Emerson Waldorf School participates in instrumental music. Starting in first grade, they learn to play both the flute and the lyre. In fourth grade, every child enters the orchestral music program by beginning to learn the violin, viola or cello. In sixth grade, students have the option to stay with their string instrument or begin learning an orchestral wind instrument: flute, clarinet, trumpet or trombone. The children also all continue working with the flutes they started in first grade, only by now they’ve graduated up to a full recorder consort and are playing four and five part arrangements for soprano, alto, tenor and bass recorders.

Students at Emerson Waldorf School all join the chorus starting in fifth grade. In chorus they strengthen their music reading skills, learn the basics of good vocal production and work carefully with the expressive elements in music in order to make their performances artistic and interesting. The choruses learn some challenging multi-part music and always impress audiences.

EWS high school students choose a music performance elective. Their options include our North Carolina String Band, World Drum Orchestra and Advanced Chorus.

Our music program assumes that every human being is musical, and is designed to help our students claim that natural birthright. It is not aimed at producing musical technicians trained to perform and impress, rather, it nurtures a strong sense of musicality. Our performing ensembles include everyone, not just the “music students,” and the quality of these ensembles demonstrates the robust musicality that our music program fosters.

                                                                                               More about the Music Program, here and here.

Physical Education

We provide Physical Education classes twice a week for children in Grades 2-8. As one might expect in a Waldorf School, PE looks very different from grade to grade, as the children are in different places developmentally. In the early grades, we play imaginative games which include running, jumping, skipping and dancing and provide both exercise and good lessons in social interaction.

In Grades 4-6, Physical Education focuses on the events of the Greek Pentathalon, in conjunction with their study of ancient Greece. This culminates in a regional event held in the spring, in which 7 or more Waldorf Schools from the Southeast region participate in a Greek Pentathalon together.

In 6-8th grades, we begin to develop the skills necessary to play a variety of sports strenuously and by the rules. Activities such as volleyball, basketball, baseball and Frisbee begin to develop physical strength and mastery of one’s body, as well as team work and good sportsmanship.

Each class also has an Eurythmy block each year.

                                                                                                        More about our Movement program (page 5).

Middle School Track Classes

In Middle School, students begin to take Language Arts and Math as Special Subjects, twice a week throughout the year, in addition to several the Main Lesson Blocks they will study on these subjects. Language Arts focuses on grammar and writing skills through classroom work and homework assignments, and Math focuses on practicing math and pre-algebra skills in Grades 6-7 and the beginning of Algebra in Grade 8.

The Class Play

Every year, each class in Grades 1-8 performs a class play, related to the curriculum they are studying.  Each child in the class is in the play, and in the older grades the children often make the costumes and the sets themselves.