Founded in 1991, we are an umbrella organization representing the independently operated German language Saturday schools in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We are designed as a collaborative, bottom-up structured organization where our member schools work together, collaborate, and network with each other. For the past 30 years, we have supported our member schools by representing them to the greater German community, including the German government, other German and cultural organizations, and the community. We work together to share information, expertise, and to support each other.
Additionally, we network with other local and national German and German language organizations. Through the relationships we foster with those organizations, we help further the common goal of keeping the German language alive and available in the Bay Area.
Our member schools primarily provide German language instruction on Saturday mornings. This includes teaching reading, writing, speaking, and the culture of German-speaking countries. Our schools provide this education to students of all ages and levels of German – native speakers, heritage learners, and students learning German as a second language or foreign language. They fill a valuable gap for German language education in the US, where German has been increasingly phased out as a foreign language option in schools.
We assist our schools in preparing their students for elite German exams as well as helping them proctor those exams. Our schools are able to offer the US-based tests from the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and the Advanced Placement (AP) exam. Our schools also offer the German-based tests IVA A1 and A2 as well as the DSD I and DSD II (Deutsches Sprachdiplom). With successful achievement on these test, students can potentially earn credit for college and qualify for university in Germany.