Shortly after I posted Thursday’s post about school I spoke to a student about school subjects and the question came up:”What subject do German children learn?”
In the four years at primary school they learn the following general subjects:
Deutsch – German
Mathe(matik) – Maths
Musik – Music
Kunst – Art
Heimat- und Sachunterricht – general knowledge and local history
Religion – RE
Sport – PE
Werken/ Textil/ Gestalten – arts and craft
From year 3 onwards they also learn English.
At secondary school level it depends on the type of school and the states, as they may vary, but typical subjects at secondary level are:
Biologie – Biology
Chemie – Chemistry
Deutsch – German
Englisch – English
Erdkunde – Geography
Ethik – Ethics
Französisch – French
Geschichte – History
Informatik – IT
Kunst – Art
Latein – Latin
Mathe – Maths
Musik – Music
Pädagogik – Pedagogy
Philosophie – Philosophy
Physik – Physics
Politik und Wirtschaft – Politics and Economy
Psychologie – Psychology
Religion – RE
Sport – PE
Theater – Drama
Some subjects have different names in certain schools. For example, art in Baden-Württemberg is called ‘BK’, which stands for ‘Bildende Kunst’ (visual arts). Other schools have ‘NWA’ (Naturwissenschaftliches Arbeiten). That’s more like our Science instead of the individual subjects of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
There is one big difference, though, and that is the name for ‘student’. At primary and secondary schools, which are compulsory, they are called ‘Schüler’ (pupils) and only at university level, or anything else they voluntary study AFTER they finished compulsory education, are they called ‘Studenten’ (students).
Schüler lernen, Studenten studieren – pupils learn, students study!
If you learned German in the late 90s, you may remember this video 😛
So, what is your favourite subject? – Was ist dein Lieblingsfach?
I found your article useful however there are more than 2 schools in german schooling! 🙁
Thanks, Sandra! I know there are, but as this post was about school subjects I only said that subjects depended on the type of school. I might write another post about the types of schools one day.
I go to a Realschule in the 9th grade, in two weeks I’m 10th, and I choose to learn a second foreign language so besides English I learn French. Overall, I have 13 subjects and just two of them are not nessecary to pass the year and in the other 11 if I had there twice a 5 or once a 6 you would fail. I’m good my average this year should be around 1,9.
My favourite subjects are History and Physics.
Btw I’m sorry for mistakes!
Thanks for commenting Xuli!
With an average of 1.9 there is no danger of you failing and having to repeat the year (unlike me who had to repeat my year 10 because I failed in English and French – don’t tell anybody!).
Enjoy your summer holidays!
Very useful. thanks
My pleasure!