Continuation: The school system

As from the 1998/1999 school year, foreign languages have greater weight in Berlin’s schools. Almost 40 per cent of the pupils in the third school year are early foreign language learners – mainly in English. By the school year 2000/2001, this figure is planned to grow to 100 per cent. Until then, the general rule will be for pupils to begin learning a foreign language in year 5. The available languages are English, French, Latin, Russian and Spanish. Since 1992, the state European schools in Berlin have made an important contribution to international education. Here, foreign and German children are taught through the medium of one of the foreign languages English, French, Italian, Russian, New Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish or Turkish in addition to the lessons in German. For about 50 per cent of these pupils, the respective foreign language is also their native language.

The John F. Kennedy School teaches lessons in both German and English and enables its pupils to obtain German and American school leaving qualifications. At the traditional French grammar school, the language of instruction is French. For children whose parents are only living in Germany for a limited time, it is possible to attend an international private school, for example the Berlin International School, the Berlin British School (British school system), the Cité Scolaire de Reinickendorf (French school system), the Japanese International School Berlin or the Swedish School which has existed in Berlin since 1906 and is open to all Scandinavian children.