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Support measures for non-german-speaking students

The integration of young people with foreign mother tongues into the state gymnasium in Basel is a constant challenge in the face of the strong demographic changes the region in undergoing. Gymnasium am Münsterplatz took up the challenge by establishing a complex support programme in German and French. The number of young persons with non-linear educational biographies is increasing daily in our gymnasium reality thus enriching our school with their very diverse cultural backgrounds, After being assessed in their language skills, these students are progressively introduced into German with subject-specific teaching in small separate groups and feasible steps. The Integration into regular lessons follows a progressive development. The catching uo takes normally place in a time frame of one to three years and goes alongside with compensation measures, especially in the subjects German and French, but also in all other subjects taught in german. The class and subject teachers coordinate these measures and care for a good integration of all pupils in their subject-specific lessons. Since the gymnasium is a post-compoulsory school Level, the State does not bear the costs of the support programme so that the parents have to pay for these extra lessons.

Complimentary measures
The differentiated support in German as second language is designed as a supplementary measure for regular German lessons. With the implementation of this interdisciplinary educational offer we have considerably extended our range of individual support measures.

Compensation measures

Within the framework of the regular teaching in German language (for instance in Geography, History or Biology), the following compensation measures can be applied to students coming from abroad whose German skills don't mett regular Standards (yet):

  • individually tailored materials and assignments
  • longer examination times
  • use of dictionaries
  • answering the exam questions in English
  • individual assessment of learning progress based on the entry level

Participation and integration

Vor dem Hintergrund der Vielfalt an Möglichkeiten sozialer Partizipation, die nur ein staatliches Gymnasium zu bieten vermag, eröffnen wir jungen Menschen nichtdeutscher Herkunftssprache den Raum, um interkulturelle Lernprozesse zu erfahren und kommunikative Kompetenzen zu erweitern. Als treibende Kraft bei der erfolgreichen Integration unserer fremdsprachigen Schüler und Schülerinnen nimmt das tägliche Miteinander - in einem von Offenheit und Toleranz geprägten schulischen Alltag - eine Schlüsselrolle ein. 

As a State grammar school, we offer a great diversity of opportunities for social participation. We open up the local space for young non-german-speaking people coming from all around the world allowing them to experience intercultural learning processes and to expand their communication skills. As a driving force in the successful integration of our foreign-language students, the daily interaction is paramount in an everyday life characterized by openness and tolerance.

For any questions regarding the support programme please refer to:

Vice Principal and IB Coordinator Dr. Manuel Pombo: manuel.pombo@bs.ch

Responsible support programme German: stefan.schwarz1@edubs.ch

Responsible support programme French: yvonne.jansky@edubs.ch