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Since 1961, Waldsee's core curriculum and
the program that has defined what Waldsee is all about has been
its two-week immersion program. Villagers are introduced to a
wide variety of language skills through interactive learning,
language games, singing, and real-life situational learning.
Recreational activities form a core element of the Waldsee
experience. Villagers can choose from Schwimmen (swimming),
Fußball (soccer), Tonarbeit (pottery), Malen (painting),
Kanufahren (canoeing), Fechten (fencing), Bogenschießen
(archery), and many more.
At the root of all these opportunities is the mixture of
learning and having fun in the outdoors. Where else can you take
a sauna with twenty of your closest friends or learn your
prepositions while on a ropes course? At Waldsee, we place a
strong emphasis on making German fun and providing a supportive
atmosphere that can challenge any type of learner from a
beginner to a near-native speaker.
Returning villagers and advanced learners might be interested in
one of our many adventure programs described below.
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In just four weeks, villagers
at Waldsee can earn a year's credit of high school German.
As an extension of Waldsee's core curriculum, the credit
program emphasizes active learning–drawing
on all of the resources that Waldsee has to offer, including
the rich natural surroundings, a variety of outdoor and
sporting activities, and Village life.
Students engage the German language using a theme-based
curriculum that melds cultural content with grammar lessons.
Waldsee's credit program is much more than a classroom in
the middle of the woods: it redefines how language is
learned. It emphasizes learning in natural situations, like
going to the Laden (store), ordering food at the
Waldsee Café, or producing our own Seifenoper
(soap opera) for the rest of the village.
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Some high schools now offer AP
credit in German. Waldsee's College Credit for High School Students
takes advanced curriculum to the next level: it offers villagers
the opportunity to earn college credit–which
can be transferred to any college or
university–from
Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.
Unlike AP
courses in German, Waldsee's course on Modern Germany merges
grammar and language lessons with history and political science.
Students (or Studis) learn how Germany's recent
past has shaped Germany's political system, its economy, its
culture, and its role as a leader in European and international
affairs.
Studis work on independent projects throughout the
four-week period, focusing on their own interests in
consultation with the course instructor. Some examples of past
projects include the history of German fashion, the German
Holocaust Memorial, and Germany's current immigration policy.
The Studi program is a great preparation for college and
is an excellent capstone experience for multi-year villagers. |
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Life at Waldsee is always active
and lively. While activities and lessons at Waldsee tend to emphasize
speaking and listening, we also realize that some students would
like to improve their reading and writing skills. To this end,
we have started Kollegstufe as an
extension of our core two-week curriculum.
Villagers in the Kollegstufe work through the same
questions of the day that form the basis of the core curriculum,
but a greater emphasis is placed on learning through the use of
texts and writing exercises. Typical
Kollegstufe participants are villagers who have already
participated in the core curriculum for several years or
who are advanced learners looking to focus more on reading and
writing or are preparing for a high school
credit session in a future summer.
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