“Local roots, global understanding” is our motto. We want our students to feel rooted, safe and secure in our community – regardless of where they come from. We celebrate all cultures and languages and welcome cosmopolitan views of all religions. Project and theme days with international and global topics are firmly anchored in our school culture. We discuss and debate political developments at national and international levels, learn to exercise our rights, freedoms and responsibilities, and seek to advocate for goals close to our hearts. To meet these demands, bilingual education is essential for us. The term bilingual school is not protected, so we specifically educate according to the immersion principle (so-called language bath). Learning through immersion means that the children are immersed in a language. They hear, speak and learn the language in authentic everyday contexts and experience it in their familiar environment. They thus learn the new language as naturally as their mother tongue – without any pressure. The two languages German and English in relation to the language of instruction are distributed as follows:
| English | German | |
| Nursery | 60 % | 40 % |
| Kindergarten | 50 % | 50 % |
| Primary School | ||
| Years 1 + 2 | 90 % | 10 % |
| Years 3 + 4 | 80 % | 20 % |
| Secondary School * | 50 % | 50 % |
Immersion
We work with the immersion method (the “language bath”), which is considered the most successful method of learning a language worldwide. Immersion is similar to the way a person learns their mother tongue. Our teachers, who come from Anglo-Saxon countries, support everything they say with gestures, pointing and other (visual) materials and technical aids – this makes language acquisition free from any pressure and unbound to the mother tongue, which is the colloquial language in the family.
Transfer students
In order to give pupils from other schools access to our school and our curriculum, we have a special programme for newcomers to our primary school and our secondary school. For newcomers from German schools, there is sometimes a considerable gap to be filled – English language comprehension and especially the written requirements in English have to be adapted to the high level of our school. Special immersion lessons (separately for primary school and secondary school) in small groups (or individual lessons) are intended to help develop these skills and quickly give the new pupils self-confidence. Everything else comes “on its own” – the children virtually soak up the new language and after a few weeks the biggest hurdles are already overcome.
For newcomers from abroad, on the other hand, we offer German immersion classes to help them integrate into our school. Since English is the school language and for the most part also the language of instruction, this process should be sufficient in the primary school. In the secondary school, we recommend organising additional German lessons, because the proportion of German-language teaching instructions increases with the grade level. In order not to influence the teaching process of the other lessons, we choose pedagogically sensible times for these weekly lessons. The extent to which additional interventions are necessary depends on the individual performance and language level of the new pupil. Through our trial day system, we see exactly how we can best support our newcomers to our school concept. Of course, progress and other changes will be closely monitored and evaluated in the months after entry and parents will be regularly informed about any additional support measures. C)
Languages at KIBS
In the primary school, we focus on the development of our two core languages, English and German. From grade 5 onwards, Spanish is added and in grade 7, students choose between French, Latin and Chinese. Pupils who attend classes in their language of origin at recognised external locations can also have this attested on their school report.
Cambridge exams
Every year, the Cambridge exams take place at our school. In primary school there are the Young Learners Exams, in secondary school we continue with the KEY/KET, PET, FCE and CAE exams. The exam results are based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and are valued and recognised by thousands of organisations worldwide. They are therefore a seal of quality and open doors to exciting study and work opportunities.
You can find out more about the exams here:
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/de/exams-and-tests/qualifications/schools/
