In order to be able to find your way successfully in Germany, it is important that you should learn the German language. To do this, you have the possibility to participate in various language courses offered by voluntary or full-time providers in Schleswig-Holstein. Such opportunities vary from language support courses offered by voluntary individuals or neighbourhood initiatives to full-time initial orientation and certified language courses for your own personal and professional future.
Integration courses are German-language and orientation courses which can be successfully concluded with an internationally recognized certificate. In these courses, you can learn about such everyday topics as living and working in Germany, health and leisure or German culture and politics.
Integration courses take place at different locations in Schleswig-Holstein. It depends on your country of origin, on your residence status and on your level of proficiency in the German language whether you are able, or perhaps even obliged to attend an integration course.More detailed information on the different kinds of course available and their contents, on who can participate in these courses or may be obliged to attend, on the rights and obligations of participants and on where to find a course provider may be obtained from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF):
Informationen zum Integrationskurs
Schnellsuche über das BAMF-Navi
There are courses that support women in arriving and finding their way in Germany (Migrantinnen einfach stark im Alltag – MiA). The courses are aimed at women from all countries without German citizenship. Compared with classic language courses, the German language in these courses is not taught in a classroom, but in practical workshops or excursions. Topics can be migration experiences, role models, knowledge of German society or strengthening of educational skills. The main aim here is to strengthen the empowerment of women without striving for a specific target level.
MiA – Migrantinnen einfach stark im Alltag
Initial orientation courses are available throughout Schleswig-Holstein. These courses ("Starter Package for Refugees in Schleswig-Holstein": abbreviated to STAFF SH) are available on principle to all asylum-seekers in the community in which they are accommodated. This form of learning the language teaches you basic communication patterns in German and provides you with additional information on habits, modes of social behaviour and advisory and support services that are offered on the spot. Such initial orientation courses are offered by language-course providers acting throughout the federal state, such as the Association of German Adult Education Centres in Schleswig-Holstein, in cooperation with additional regional partners on the spot. A course comprises 100 teaching units, generally spread over ten weeks, with ten teaching units per week.
You may find information on STAFF courses in Schleswig-Holstein under the following links:
Erstorientierungskurse des BAMF für Asylbewerber mit unklarer Bleibeperspektive
Information on the courses offered and on conditions for attendance at courses provided at national level in vocational/professional language training may also be found under:
Berufsbezogene Sprachkurse finden
The E-learning portal made available by the Association of German Adult Education Centres gives you the opportunity to learn German online at integration course level (A1 – B1). The portal also provides a German-language course with a wide variety of materials for promoting literacy.
The E-learning portal can be accessed free of charge and may be found in several languages under the following link: Ich will Deutsch lernen: Zum Lernportal der VHS
Information in your language on the different levels of language proficiency defined in accordance with the joint European framework (CEFR) can be found under the following link: Gemeinsamer Europäischer Referenzrahmen
Below we list a collection of other possibilities available free of charge. The list shown on our website can in no way act as a substitute for specialized didactic appraisal.
Such programs can be used to support you in your efforts to learn the German language. However, you should not put your trust in apps alone to help you learn the German language. Apps cannot – and should not – be a substitute for language courses and practical training in everyday situations.
Arrival app (Ankommen-App)
You will find a great deal of information in this excellent app on your first steps in Germany, on German culture and German people and on asylum procedures, work and training. It also provides a very good opportunity for you to learn your first words and phrases in German.
Ankommen - Ein Wegbegleiter für Ihre ersten Wochen in Deutschland
"I want to learn German" ("Ich-will-Deutsch-lernen")
This website provides a German-language course at levels A1-B1 and a German-language course at level A1; it …
Practically all children in Germany attend a day nursery or day-care centre (Kita) before they go to school at the age of six. They all come together here in a sheltered environment to play, sing, do handicrafts, paint and learn without being subject to any pressure. Attendance at a day nursery or day-care centre (Kita) offers your children the best opportunity to make friends with other children and to learn the German language. Here, your children will be given selective support in their attempts to speak to other children. In addition, their overall development will be promoted and they will be well prepared for their attendance at school at a later date. Every child at day nurseries/day-care centres (Kitas) is given support according to his or her own strengths, abilities and interests; there are no marks or grades given and no corporal punishment.
You yourselves can also profit from day nurseries/day-care centres. You can discuss the development of your child with pedagogical experts. In addition, employees at such nurseries and centres can give you advice on general questions of upbringing and education or in cases of acute problems and related issues. You will be able to get to know other parents and children there, to exchange information and make friends. If you like, you can also become involved yourselves in the everyday life of a day nursery/day-care centre through celebrations, parties or joint activities in which you may, for example, tell a story from your own home country or bake a special cake. When your child attends a day nursery/day-care centre, this will also give you time e.g. to attend German lessons or to go to the local authorities.
You can obtain information from the municipality at your place of residence on which local day nurseries/day-care centres are available; it is also frequently possible to find this out on the Internet.
According to § 24 of the German Social Code, Book VIII, children of asylum-seekers and refugees have a legal right to support in day nurseries/day-care centres whenever the parents can present a residence title, temporary residence authorization in accordance with the German Asylum Act (AsylG) or a certificate of suspension of deportation (toleration certificate) in accordance with the German Residence Act (AufenthG). Parents are not required to be gainfully employed for this purpose. As soon as your child is one year old, he or she will have the legal right to a place in a day nursery/day-care centre until it is time to attend school. For children up to the age of three, there is also the alternative possibility that your child may be looked after in a small-group day-care facility (similar to the situation in a family).
This right consists of care for your child for at least half a day on five days a week, or for more when required.
You need to apply for a place in a day nursery/day-care centre (Kita) with the local municipal authorities at your place of residence. As a place in a day nursery/day-care centre cannot always be provided immediately whenever all the places at local nurseries and small-group facilities have been taken, you should make an application for a place as soon as possible. In this way, the local municipal authorities will have the opportunity to analyse needs and if necessary to establish more places as required. You may, of course, make contact directly with nurseries/centres or small-group organisers at your place of residence – they will certainly be willing to provide you with further information. There, you can also learn how the daily life at a nursery/centre is run and what pedagogical support is available.
In all nurseries/centres, you will be allowed to remain with your child on the first few days and to get to know the nursery/centre together. This makes it easier for the child to become accustomed to the nursery/centre so that he or she will feel secure and well-cared for.
If you receive only income in accordance with Unemployment Benefits Act II or maintenance benefits in accordance with the Asylum-Seekers’ Benefits Act (AsylbG), your children will be entitled to attend day nurseries/day-care centres or small-group day-care facilities free of charge. You should inquire at your place of residence about the regulations that apply and on how to apply for waiving of your financial contribution.
If, on the other hand, you earn your own income, you must make a financial contribution to the costs of running such day nurseries/day-care centres. As a rule, low-income families and families with several children at day nurseries/day-care centres and at small group day-care facilities are granted a reduction in their contribution to running costs. Further …
Important for your child – attendance at a day nursery/day-care centre (Kita)
Many different sections and levels come together to form the whole school system in Germany. The individual institutions and establishments which must or can be attended by your children or – depending on age – by you yourselves may be found in the following interactive overview. Along the top of this diagram of the German educational system, you will see a line containing different ages and below this a further line with class years/grades. Use the mouse to click on the appropriate place in the list and you will proceed to the corresponding types of school available. The arrows which appear when you click on a particular type of school show you which higher-level institution your child can attend after achieving a specific leaving certificate/qualification.
Vocational training/professional education or a successful course of study is frequently necessary in order to take up employment in Germany. In order to train as an apprentice, you generally need to have a school leaving certificate. It is possible for you to obtain this in Germany.
If you do not have a vocational training/professional education certificate, you will be subject to the legal obligation to attend vocational training school until the end of the school half-year in which you reach the age of eighteen. You will attend so-called first-year vocational classes and will complete a ‟pre-training year”. As a rule, you will also be given socio-educational counselling and German as a Second Language classes at a different language level. If you have a place as an apprentice at a later date, you will be subject to the legal obligation to attend vocational school and will be given vocational training.
DaZ centres are affiliated to an existing school institution and are responsible for organizing German language classes in an especially defined catchment area, regardless of the type of school with which they are linked. That is to say, children of school-age and young persons with no or extremely little knowledge of German are all taught together at a central location – by teachers especially trained and qualified for this purpose.
The aim is to enable children and young persons to follow normal school classes successfully and to obtain a school-leaving certificate appropriate to their own individual performance level. This is the case, irrespective of their mother tongue or their country of origin.
Children and young persons generally begin to learn German at the basic level: in many administrative districts and administratively independent towns/cities, they are given an average of 25 hours’ teaching per week. However, it is also possible for them to be given German language teaching for at least two class-hours per day and for them to attend "normal" classes during the rest of the morning. Class teachers are responsible for deciding how long pupils attend classes at basic level.
They will then proceed to the intermediate level. That is to say, pupils leave German as a Second Language classes at the basic level and attend regular classes; some of them will move on to a different school. In addition to normal classes, children attend classes in German for four to six hours per week taught by teachers at DaZ centres. At the final-stage level, pupils attend all subjects taught in regular classes. However, they will continue to be given special language support classes on a regular basis by their teachers.
Pupils obliged to attend vocational schools requiring further assistance in German as a Second Language are cared for and given language support within the process of learning German and the different stages of their integration courses at Regional Professional/Vocational Training Centres (RBZ) and Vocational Schools (BBS).
Pupils are first enabled to acquire German-language competence at level A2 through a course entitled Professional Integration Classes in German as a Second Language (BiK-DaZ); this is then accompanied by further language acquisition classes during their subsequent Schleswig-Holstein Vocational Training Preparation year, making it possible for them to be given preparatory training in professional/vocational education and to obtain their initial school leaving certificate in general education (ESA). The aim is that they should be able to transfer to dual apprenticeship training or to an additional full-time school-based course of education.
