I'm from France and here, we use a specific type of paper at school with lines as shown on the picture (not just to learn how to write but in general even to write lecture notes in uni). Children are all taught to write in cursive using these lines exactly like on this picture. I know that it doesn't work the same in other countries so I'm wondering how it is in Germany.

by mikroonde

5 comments

  3. I don’t know how it is done today (I heard that some schools skip cursive completely nowadays, but don’t know if it is true). When I was in primary school 20 years ago, it worked like this:

    In first grade, we learned to write in block letters using a pencil, first by just tracing the letters on templates and then writing on paper sheets with ruler lines, called “Lineatur 1” (you can just google the term to see what they look like). They have 4 ruler lines per line of text to make it easier to place the characters.

    In second grade, we learned & switched to cursive with a pencil on “Lineatur 2” sheets. They look very similar to Lineatur 1, only difference is that they are a bit smaller, so more text lines fit on one sheet.

    In third grade, we switched to an ink pen and sheets with “Lineatur 3”. Lineatur 3 has 2 ruler lines per line of text, so there is still some guidance on where to place characters but less than in the grades before.

    In fourth grade, we switched to “Lineatur 4”. Lineatur 4 has only one ruler line per line of text, so no additional guidance anymore.

    Later on, after primary school, there usually weren’t strict rules about which paper to use for notes or how to write. Most people eventually settled with “Lineatur 28” for everything, which is just a sheet with squares, and adopted a writing style that is a mix between block letters and cursive.

  4. Our school fonts are much simpler. Cursive is still the goal in most States, but is sometimes optional.

    Most common is VA (vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift) eastern states sometimes use SAS (developed in the GDR)

    More recent one is the Grundschrift, which is rounder and kids can connect the letters in different way, not all need to be connected, but in the end you can develop connected way of writing. Grundschrift ommits learning an entirely new cursive variant. In VA and SAS you learn disconnected letters first and during second grade you learn the cursive and connected variant. Scientific assessment on Grundschrift is still up for debate iirc.

  5. We first learned block letters, then print letters and at last cursive script. All during the first year of school.

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