Study Aids and Tips

Don’t throw everything away at the end of the school year! For example, if you begin collecting all the grammar pages on the green take-out-pages of your Workbook from year 7 on, you’ve got a little “grammar Bible” to turn to!

Writing down the new words and expressions by hand has been proven to be the first useful step. Some students learn best with a handwritten vocabulary list, others with index cards [Karteikarten] that you can take with you in your trouser pockets or mind maps. We also recommend the “Phase 6” app.

is the slogan for language learning. Therefore be as active in class discussions as you can and don’t be afraid to make mistakes! Having your mistakes corrected and being motivated by your improvement, however small it might seem to be at first will help you get better! ( After all, your teachers are paid for this 😉 – we love to keep busy that way! )

In the books for years 7-10, there are some red “DIFF POOL” pages with extra exercises. There is never enough time in class to do all exercises. Why not prepare for a classtest with the left-over ones from those pages? You might also want to do some exercises all over again which you’ve checked the right answers in class for. That way you can test yourself before the real test.

In the book for years 11-12, the “SKILLS FILES” in the back can be used like the “Orientierungswissen” in German class – all the methodical basics in one place, plus language help on the side! How to write a summary, how to talk about a cartoon or skim through a text – if you’re still a bit wobbly with a method, look it up again and follow the advised steps.

It’s fun to improve your listening skills that way and you might be in for a surprise here and there – for example if your favourite actor speaks with a Scottish accent, which is totally lost in the German translation. Subtitles (German for beginners, English for more advanced students) might help you understand.

just for fun on the side! There are books for different levels in our school library!

Most English teachers at our school can tell you about their own experiences as former exchange students, au pairs or University students. And, of course, there are always some former exchange students who have just recently returned from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or … [fill in your personal dream destination for this life-changing experience!]. There are lots of possibilities for scholarships [Stipendien], too, e.g. by the German Bundestag (“Parlamentarisches Patenschaftsprogramm”)