Karneval or Fasching is a wonderful event in Germany and Austria, and it offers great opportunities for teachers and children to explore language and culture. It begins at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th November, and carries on until just before Lent. Sometimes. Especially in the South of Germany and in the Rheinland it is called the 5th season! Here Neil McHale from John Buchan Middle School, Paderborn, describes his event at a middle school for services’ children in Paderborn, Germany.

Youngsters and teachers from Paderborn schools have been celebrating Karneval German style! John Buchan Middle School, which hosted the event, invited all year 4 pupils from Robert Browning, William Wordsworth and Bishops Park schools to join in the activities, enjoyment and madness.

Once all the colourful, costume clad children had arrived, Year 5 led the procession around the school. Then back in the hall the party began in earnest with lots of German music and song. All the children had been busy learning the German songs in language and singing lessons before the event. At times it was hard to believe that we were in a British school as the children’s German singing was so remarkable. Mr Hawkes (Head of German) dressed in his clown suit, sporting confetti guns and streamers, certainly helped to ensure that enjoyment was had by all!

After all of the children had paraded around the hall, showing off their fancy costumes, it was time to select the Karneval König und Königin, the King and Queen for the event as tradition dictates. Whilst the judges deliberated the children enjoyed Krapfen, the special doughnuts eaten at this time. Dylan (clown), Oliver (pirate) and Luke (Tutankhamen) were all awarded the title of Karneval König as they had all made such an effort and Holly (Spanish dancer) was the one and only Karneval Königin.

The youngsters really entered into the spirit of things and were a credit to themselves and their respective schools.
Above all it offered an ideal opportunity for children to have a lot of enjoyment whilst deepening their understanding of German culture and it helped them to extend their language skills. At the same time the children from feeder schools were able to have a look around at what might well be their next school. The event was a total success in every respect and is set to become a permanent fixture in the school calendar.

"I thought Karneval was brilliant because we got to dress up and learn German." Amy

"I had a fantastic day. It was great! We celebrated a German tradition which was wonderful! We had
a really cool time parading around the school, the year 6 classes were cheering us on as we went past." Emi

How to organise a Karneval event or similar festival

• Firstly you need to identify three or four songs to teach the children. The following have proven popular for German:
  Hände zum Himmel, Am Rosenmontag, Alles hat ein Ende nur die Wurst hat zwei, Da steht ein Pferd auf’m Flur, An der Nordseekuste. Remember to allow enough time to learn the choruses of the songs. I use both German and Singing Lessons.
• Secondly you need to choose Karneval music for the procession around school (optional). I have used a selection of German and Latin/Samba music played on CD players strategically placed around the route. (You may need to delegate the job of starting music to a colleague)
• Thirdly, a running order needs to be drawn up for the parades and songs in the hall. I have created a CD which opens with Carnival de Paris followed by a song, followed by another Karneval tune, then another song. This alternate pattern continues throughout the CD which helps the event to run smoothly.
• So the format is one class parades around the hall to Karneval music, followed by everybody singing, then another class parades and so on. Once all the classes and teachers have paraded the Karneval König and Königin are crowned.
• Throughout the event streamers and sweets are thrown and distributed amongst the children, which is common for German Karneval. Schools in the area often give the children Berliner (doughnuts) on this day. The emphasis is very much on colour and fun, so don’t forget to make or hire a costume.

Paderborn alaaf! (a Karneval greeting)  

Karneval Framework references

I organised both whole school and year group Karnevals. This has enabled children to meet many of the objectives set out in the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages with an emphasis on the strands of Oracy and Intercultural Understanding. Here are some examples of the objectives that we sought to meet:

Oracy 6.2    
Perform to an audience
Singing Karneval songs

Intercultural Understanding 3.2   
Locate country where the language is spoken.
Know some facts about one country e.g main towns, famous landmarks.
The huge Karneval towns are mainly along the Rhine, such as Köln, Düsseldorf and Mainz.

Intercultural Understanding 4.4
Learn about ways of travelling to the country.
Let's visit Karneval – how would we get there?

Intercultural Understanding 5.2
Recocgnise similarities and differences between places.
Learn about buildings and places in different countries.
Dom in Köln and Dom in Münster – Münster Dom is twinned with Coventry cathedral because both were bombed in the war.