Phraseological Units in Teaching Serbian as a Non-Native Language

A Proposal for Selection within Curriculum A

Abstract

Serbian as a Non-Native Language in the Republic of Serbia is a mandatory subject for students educated in one of the languages of national minorities. The overarching document for organizing the teaching of this subject is the General Achievement Standards for Serbian as a Non-Native Language, based on which two Program variants have been developed: Variant A (primarily for students whose native language belongs to non-Slavic languages, living in homogeneous environments with less command of the Serbian language) and Variant B (primarily for students whose native language belongs to Slavic languages, living in heterogeneous environments and having better command of the Serbian language). An inseparable part of the linguistic richness and culture of a nation are phraseologisms, which are often an integral part of everyday communication. Mastering the use of phraseologisms in the appropriate context is a significant segment of learning a language. The Serbian as a Non-Native Language Program does not offer a selection of phraseologisms, nor are they included in supplementary literature that lists recommended lexicon. Therefore, based on existing literature, this paper presents a list of phraseologisms that can be incorporated into teaching, primarily in Variant A of the Program for elementary school.