Why I will always #shoutoutforgerman

And how you can, too!

This week (19th - 24th January 2026) is "Shout out for German" week - a time to celebrate teaching and learning German in the UK, so I wanted to share some ideas about how to keep German alive and well, in spite of many schools' best efforts to get rid of it!

Many of you don't know this, but I'm actually half German. My Oma came from Schleswig Holstein and my Opa was from Berlin. They came to England (separately) after the Second World War, met in Oxford, and my mum was born and brought up in Stamford, Lincolnshire. My great-grandmother, a German Jew who had fled Berlin on the last plane to leave Germany before the outbreak of war in September 1939, also lived with them for the majority of my mum's childhood.

So, German is quite literally in my blood... and it has been a huge part of my education and teaching career. I spent a few years as head of German in a couple of different schools, and I always feel that German is my first foreign language. Sadly, I didn't actually grow up bilingual, and had to learn it at school and university like everyone else!

Over the past few years, I've found it so hard to watch German being eradicated from so many schools, and I must confess I have wondered whether it is still worth my while creating resources in German. I mean, there are only around 20 people with subscriptions or lifetime access to German resources, compared to over 75 for French and more than 50 for Spanish! Plus the nearly 190 people who have Buy Everything for all languages... I'd be interested to see how many of those people are actually teaching German, though 🤔

But as I said, German is in my blood and I have made some amazing connections with lots of lovely German teachers out there, so I will continue to create resources for you, for as long as there is a German GCSE to create resources for!

So, that's one little thing I'm doing to try and keep German on the map... here are 3 things you could be doing to shout out for German in your schools, even if it is being phased out in the classroom:

1. Run a German club at lunchtime or after school.

I know it's not ideal to work during your lunch break or after school, but show students your passion for German by running a fun club. You could focus on cultural elements such as film and music, enter competitions run by the Goethe Institut, etc. 

2. Get together with another department and run a trip to Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

Can you join forces with the history teachers and take some students to Berlin? How about a music trip to Vienna, or a ski trip in Switzerland? OK, the last one might involve winning the lottery, but you see where I'm going with this! You could then teach the students some essential German before they go, and encourage them to practise while they're there.

3. Have a German cultural day once a year.

Choose an important date such as 3rd October, and have lots of German-themed activities all day. Create German-themed starter activities for different subjects, have German food in the canteen at lunch, even have a German bake sale - who wouldn't love a slice of Apfelstreuselkuchen at break time?!

And last but not least, use the hashtag #shoutoutforgerman and share on social media this week why you love German!

PS I initially sent this out as a Top Tips Tuesday email (join my mailing list if you want to start receiving these every week), and got a wonderful response from a German teacher, letting me know what they are doing to Shout Out for German this week:

"For German week this week we are having a "Mein deutsches Lieblingswort" activity where we are getting together to create pretend Lebkuchenherzen out of brown card and washi tape, and writing our favourite German words on them for a display."

I thought it was such a great idea, I just had to share it with you!