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German Clubs and Culture Days

Key graphic for German Clubs

Dive into German with our German Clubs or celebrate the diversity of languages with our Culture Day Packages. Not a specialist teacher? Not a problem! Our resources contain fully planned sessions, with interactive media and challenges appropriate to students‘ ages. Choose a weekly German club to run across the year for a continuous exploration of German or host a one-off Culture & Languages Celebration Day for your school community!

  • German Clubs

    Explore German language teaching with our German Club Starter Kits! German Club Starter Kits will include a German Club Handbook (digital or hardcopy) for club leaders, gamified learning challenges, badges, and awards for students, with different learning routes according to students' ages. We further offer comprehensive professional training and incentive trips for teachers and heads who start up a club.

  • Culture Days with European Languages

    Host a culture and language celebration with our free culture day package – a new resource developed by the Institut Français, the Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido and the Goethe-Institut UK for NCLE! The Culture Day Package’s target groups are teachers or German club leaders. Each resource is accompanied by a detailed teacher guide and further ideas and tips on creating a memorable, fun and creative language & culture celebration for the entire school community.

How to start a German Club

Language teaching has never been easier! We have prepared club materials and in-person support at your school to help you start a German club.

German Club Resources

Pre-planned sessions and activities

We continuously add club-sessions that are aimed to motivate students and make teaching easy with contemporary materials. Our first physical Starter Kits are ready to order!

  • Primary School

    German Club with Kinderuni

    The Goethe-Institut's Digital Kinderuniversity offers 150 video lectures in 30 languages, bringing fun to exploring nature, medicine, and technology while sparking a passion for learning German. Teachers will find resources for teaching German at level A1 with a focus on science for primary school children in the Kinderuni German Club.

    Order now: Kinderuni Starter Kit→

    The two Kinderuni puppets in the German Club Logo © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

  • Secondary School

    German Club with the GIMAGINE Award

    The Gimagine Award is a highly engaging, innovative self-learning platform for young learners (14–18years of age), equipping them with beginner German skills and current global knowledge about a broad range of topics. Club participants collect points that lead to the GIMAGINE Award Certificate.

    Logo of the GIMAGINE Award German CLub © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

  • Secondary School

    German Club with “A trip to Berlin”

    This club is based around the graphic novel about a diverse group of friends on a day out in Berlin. Themes include everyday communication situations such as asking for directions and ordering food as well as gender-inclusive aspects of the German language. The club provides an insight into modern Germany and how young people spend their leisure time.

    A drawing of people with the Berlin Ferneshturm in the background © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

  • Secondary School

    German Club with music

    From songs about environmental protection to favourite bands and monthly charts, we have collected an array of German learning material that is musically themed. Teachers will find worksheets, solutions, and much more.

    A guitar in the German Club Logo © Goethe-Institut © Goethe-Institut

Why start a German Club?

Give your students a glimpse of German, with our German Club Materials! Not a specialist German teacher? Not a problem! Our Club Leader Handbooks contain fully planned sessions, with interactive media and challenges appropriate to students‘ ages.

Comprehensive club materials, interactive media, worksheets with teacher solutions, and fun activites will ...

  • gamify German language learning for students with badges, awards, and in a fun club-house mentality
  • give teachers the opportunity to strengthen their German language teaching with ready-made template lessons that get students engaged with the German language
  • connect pupils and students who share an interest in language learning across schools and nationwide through community building
  • allow non-specialized teachers to explore German language teaching at their own speed in a pedagogically supervisory role
  • encourage and promote talent in students and teachers under the generous GIMAGINE umbrella, with current initiatives and events, incentive trips for teachers, and exchange programmes for students.


Culture Days

Do you want to explore more than one language and share the experience with your school community? Start with a Culture Day! Our Culture Days are special events at primary and secondary schools that celebrate and showcase the diversity of different European languages and cultures.

Celebrate the diversity of languages and cultures

Our resources include a wide range of activities that highlight different cultures' traditions, arts, heritage, and customs. Throughout a culture day, students engage in a variety of activities and work on different topics, including the preparation of presentations, performances, and creative projects. These outcomes are subsequently presented to the wider community during open days or school festivals.

Who is it for?

The Culture Day Package’s target groups are teachers or club leaders and their primary and secondary students and focus on KS 2 to 5:
  • Primary KS2 (7-11)
  • KS3 (12-14) + KS4 (15-16)
Each resource is accompanied by a detailed teacher guide and further ideas and tips on creating a memorable, fun and creative language & culture celebration for the entire school community. You do not need to be a specialist language teacher to run the sessions, and the material (unless specifically stated otherwise) aims at A1 beginner level of each language. You can also encourage KS5 pupils to lead Culture Day sessions.

What are the objectives and benefits of hosting a Culture Day?

  • create a rich and immersive experience to explore and appreciate the diversity of languages and cultures
  • promote cultural and language awareness, language learning, and cross-cultural understanding in an engaging manner
  • provide opportunities for schools to connect with the wider community
  • Empowering KS5 students to help develop Culture Days.

Culture Day Resources

The the Institut Français, the Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido and the Goethe-Institut UK have developed a series of taster sessions and cultural exploration sessions in Spanish, French and German. Furthermore, a joint Language and Culture Quiz and Language Exchange Package comprises activities for all three languages.

Hosting a Culture Day at your school? Tell us about it!

If you are using our resources and ideas to host a Culture Day at your school, we would love to hear about it! Feel free to share your celebrations on social media and tag us:


Goethe-Institut
Instagram
@goetheinstitut_london

X (Previously known as Twitter)
GI_London1

Institut Français :
X and Instagram
@ifru_london 

Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido:
X and Instagram
@consejeriauk

Questions?

We are delighted to hear from you!

  • Learning German

    Sponsored: Online Group Courses

    For all teachers who want to improve their German language skills: Don't miss out on the opportunity to sign up for an Online Group Course for only £25! The courses are available at different levels to help teachers enhance their German proficiency, covering a variety of topics such as grammar, vocabulary, and cultural insights. Take the chance for lifelong learning with the world's leading provider of German courses.

    Frau vor Laptop sitzend in einer Videokonferenz Goethe-Institut © Gettyimages Goethe-Institut © Gettyimages

  • The GEM Network

    Get free professional coaching at your school

    Our German Expert Mentors (GEMs) Network delivers support to German departments and professional upskilling to German teachers in schools across England. Part of a nationwide network, our GEMs will coach and mentor language-teaching professionals, supply updated teaching resources and materials, and re-energise language learning with free-of-charge, bespoke offers that can be tailored to individual needs upon request. 

    Become a GEM © Unsplash © Unsplash

  • Professional development

    Deutsch Lehren Lernen (DLL)

    With our regional DLL courses you will have the opportunity to share and refresh your specialist knowledge with German teachers from the Northwestern Europe region (Ireland, UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands). You will gradually develop your professional skills by trying out new things and reflecting on your own teaching.

    DLL © GettyImages © GettyImages

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German learning community platform

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Goethe-Institut's “Deutsch für Dich” platform is an interactive, gamified, easily accessible and safe self-learning space. Exercises are designed for learners of all language levels and are directed towards a variety of age groups. Interactive features, such as topical forums and comment functions, allow for community building. Users may also create private groups for private exchanges. The Deutsch-für-Dich-team responds to public commentary and deletes inappropriate content.

4 young people are looking at their mobile devices against a blue backdrop Foto: Shutterstock.com, Rawpixel.com Foto: Shutterstock.com, Rawpixel.com

  • Gamified Self-Learning

    From football to fashion, to vacationing, “Deutsch für Dich” offers lessons on all language levels (A1-C2) for a variety of age-groups, and are designed for self-learning.

    A child in the background, another child's hand on a tablet

  • Community Building

    Teachers can create closed groups which can, for instance, facilitate private chats, local club schedules, or challenges. Public forums allow users to connect to German learners worldwide.

    A group of boys playing outside

Logo: GIMAGINE project

Our partners

The Culture Day resources on this webpage are being brought to you in partnership with the following partners

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