Preschool - middle School

3-year olds - 14-year olds

Willkommen to the 2022/23 school year at the Kinderschule!

class description

Our community based heritage learning classes are full immersion German programs with an emphasis on project-based learning, where we support the learning journeys of our students by engaging them social-emotionally, as well as by challenging them academically. It is important to us that our students not only learn the language, but also the culture, and become part of our community.

Academically, our program is accredited with the Zentralstelle für Auslandsschulwesen (ZfA), we follow the European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), offer the Deutsche Sprachdiplom I to our middle schoolers (and DSD II to our High Schoolers), offer the National German Exam provided by the AATG, and offer the Internationale Vergleichsarbeit (IVA) to measure our younger students' learning path. And while we offer and prepare for these exams, students take these on a voluntary basis as it is more important to us that our students enjoy the culture and learning the language than that they excel in any standardized test.

Meeting times

Classes meet in-person on Saturdays (see detailed calendar here) from 9:15-12pm. Students have the option to stay 30min longer to do homework under supervision.

Students can also choose our online classes, Tuesday and/or Thursday to augment their Saturday learning, or as stand-alones. Please click here to find out more.

Class placement

We are changing our placement and class structures this school year!

• If your child(ren) have been enrolled with us in the school year 2021/22, we have evaluated them, and will place them according to their skills, combined with minor attention to their age (mixing of ages will start with the 5-6 year olds). Simply register them here, and you're done.
  
• If your child(ren) are younger than 3, our parent-toddler group (Krabbelgruppe) is the best match. Please click here to find out more.
• If your child(ren) have passed the DSD I Exam, or are on a CEFR B1+ Level, please enroll them in the DSD II/Advanced class here.
  
• If your child(ren) are a new student, we require a placement evaluation on August 27, 2022, if they are over 5 years old, during our open Haus. This placement will be age appropriate and will take about 10-15 minutes.

Price

Our school year has 32 sessions, and costs $1023.

The 30min homework add-on costs $5 per session, resulting in $160 for 32 sessions, which will be paid during registration.

If you would like to pay this amount in full, please indicate so during registration, if not, we will invoice you quarterly, resulting in 4 (four) charges of $255.75.

Discounts are available to friends of the DANK - click here to learn more!

Sign-up fee

To sign up for class, we charge a non-refundable $50 fee. This fee will be deducted from your first invoice.

New: Testing center - Prüfungsverbund

We are excited to now work together with our friends at DANK North and the German School of Naperville to bring the DSD to all corners of the Chicago area!

See you in class! / Bis dahin!

Payment must be received within 15 minutes of registration to avoid cancelling your enrollment. Please contact  kinderschule@dankhaus.com with any questions.