Starting from September 2009, Huamei began cooperation with a German governmental organization to offer a German language course to students in Grade 4, 5 and 7. The Huamei primary section then became the first primary school which provides German language courses in the circle of DSD membership schools. It is also the first German language certificate (DSD) program implemented in schools of Guangzhou city. Then in 2010, the program extended to Grade 6 and 8. In the school year of 2014-2015, Huamei had students continuing learning German in Grade 9. Thus, Huamei now are having German language students through Grades 4 to 9.

With joint efforts of the school, the German governmental organization and the German teachers from Germany andChina, the past five years witnessed success in terms of the students’ great interest in and good academic performance in the German course.

• Curricular Objectives

1.        Enable students to learn a second foreign language, master different levels of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and eventually achieve DSD I (with the language level of B1) or II (level C1) certificate.

2.        Expose students to German culture and further develop their cross-cultural understanding and communication skills.

• Candidates Requirement and Class Setup

In principle, the students above Grade 4 who perform well in the English language course are qualified to apply for this program. Each grade has two classes in primary school and one/two in the middle school, with class size of 25 in primary section and 30 in the middle school.

Starting from the Fall of 2013, one specialized German Class was set up in Grade 4 to better support the students to learn effectively and consistently, and achieve the final objectives of the program in the end.

• Time Allocation

For primary school, there are four teaching hours per week for specialized classes of Grade 4 & 5, and three for Grade 6; while three for other elective classes.

• Teaching and Quality Assurance

1. The German course is delivered by qualified teachers from both Germany and China, with the aid from a German intern if available.

2. On-going supervision is conducted by a German language consultant assigned by the German government.

3. The supervisor from Germany organized workshops and seminars to promote the German teachers qualification.