GERMAN SCHOOL UPSTATE

S O U T H   C A R O L I N A

Courses Offered

Classic School Year Course
From August / September to May / June

The classic school year course consists of 30 weeks and roughly follows the public school calendar in regard to holidays. A school day consists of 3 hours of class with a break time in-between. This equals a total of 90 lessons (30x3x45min) active German per school year. Classes are limited to 10 students. 

Levels

• Kindergarten
• Beginner
• Advance
• Adults

To attend GERMAN SCHOOL UPSTATE, students must be at least five years old by August 1st. New students are interviewed by an instructor to determine their placement. Students of all abilities are welcome to enroll any time during the year if places are available.​ Enrolling at the beginning of the school year is preferred.

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The individual targets for each level / class are different. Our final goal is that our students can understand, read, speak and write in German on a level that is recognized by High Schools and Universities.
This also includes raising awareness of German culture, including customs and celebrations, geographical and historical facts relating to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The GERMAN SCHOOL UPSTATE provides the professional, personal guidance that helps students to achieve this goal.

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German as a Foreign Language

Our students can be divided into two main groups based on their previous exposure to the German language: One group are students for whom German is a Foreign Language.
Classes clearly focus on achieving communicative competence and adequate literacy by developing skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. We want our students to be able to reach at least an A2 or B1 level (Common European Framework to Reference – CEFR) – which means that they can understand the main points and standard language as used.

German as a Heritage Language

The other group are students that have already been exposed to German mainly through their families (Heritage Language learners). This circumstance is recognized in our curriculum too.
We help them find and correct deficiencies in their grammar and vocabulary. The school strives to enable these students to reach an academic and professional level of their German – level B1 or C1 (Common European Framework to Reference – CEFR).