Celebrate with us the end of an excellent year of learning.
GERMAN SCHOOL campus ends this school year on a strong note with our students bringing home 15 awards for their exceptional work in the German National Exam testing in May: 10 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze Award!
“But how do you get there?” Parents frequently ask us. In the following we hope to offer some answers by letting you in on our teaching philosophy as well as on what a successful first year of German language studies may look like.
A successful year of learning German.
For many of our students this school year was their first year being exposed to the German language and for some it was even the first year learning a foreign language all together. It is amazing to witness the immense progress students have made by the end of each school year.
When classes start out in late August, many parents, who have signed up their children to learn German, are anxious about how their child will cope with learning a foreign language. What will they learn during the first year? What will they actually be able to understand by the end of the year?
They are always surprised but excited to find out that many of our first time learners partake in either the German National Exam for teenagers or the A1-“Vergleichsarbeit” test for our younger children. And this, by the end of only one year of German language instruction!
The Road to Success
It’s an exciting learning path throughout the year, where each student studies not only German grammar and vocabulary but also discovers quite a bit about German culture. At GERMAN SCHOOL campus we are teaching along the guidelines of the Common European Framework. For students starting out with studying German this means learning a lot about daily life scenarios.
Students will learn how to introduce themselves in German, how to talk about their family, their hobbies and their pets. Throughout the duration of the school year, they will practice chatting with fellow students about their day and can strike up a conversation about friends and school.
Fun Along the Way
Part of our teaching philosophy is to regularly incorporate fun and engaging ways to help our students retain new vocabulary and learn grammatical concepts more easily. If we talk about sports, we’ll make use of our exceptional location right on the Newport Bay, and take our students out on the water, where they can learn how to kayak, or rig a sailboat “in German”. Who says working on new vocabulary can’t be fun?!
Another lesson that students enjoy each year is the chapter about food. 
We invite the whole class to join us for our traditional German breakfast and principal ‘Frau Ursula’ literally “makes the breakfast vocabulary come to life”! What better way to learn German vocabulary than by munching on delectable German cookies, enjoying German chocolate milk and indulging on the vast variety of German breads, cold cuts and cheeses?
While sipping tea or chocolate milk, students work on how to ask in German for another piece of bread, or practice how to offer a fellow student another cup of tea. “The success of each of my students is very much on my mind all year long”, says principal Ursula Schoeneich, “and moments like our breakfast, when I see our children start conversing in German, assure me that we are on the right path.”
Excellence is our Goal
German is a very structured language and, yes, has many rules. But once you understand the basics, there is a system you can build on. Especially English speakers have an advantage. The English language has so much in common with German that “even today, 80 of the 100 most common words in English are Germanic in origin…making the most frequently spoken words in English and German …extremely similar!” Kindergarden-Kindergarten; ball- Ball; sun-Sonne.
At GERMAN SCHOOL campus we like to give our students little goals to work on before tackling the big goal of the National German Exam testing. This gives them a sense of purpose and turns learning into a game by achieving various benchmarks along the line. We encourage all of our students to take part in the year-end German National Exams and that way be eligible for the Delta Epsilon Phi National Honor Society for High School Students of German. We are proud to have two students qualify for this award in 2017!
Mark your Calendar for these Upcoming Dates :
July 1st
Join us for our End-of-the-Year Award Ceremony and celebrate our students! Students, please bring parents and friends and join us for a delicious breakfast and receive your awards and medals!
July 3rd – 8th
Summer STEM-Language Camp at GERMAN SCHOOL campus. Come and have fun with us at the Newport Bay! Please sign up here!
August 28th
The new 2017/2018 School year at GERMAN SCHOOL campus starts out. You can enroll your student right here.