When you send your registration form to ASTUR, a registration fee of 300 EUR becomes due. Naturally, we treat this registration fee as a down payment for the total program costs. Please plan ahead so that there is enough time for the paper work. Among other documents you will need a statement from your German teacher and pediatrician. We can register you as a student only after having received your registration form and all necessary documents.

Important: If your home country is not a member of the Schengen Area, you have to apply for a Visa before you travel to Germany to begin your programme. Students which cannot provide a valid visa to ASTUR before travelling to Germany cannot attend our programme. Kindly be informed that you are responsible yourself for your visa application and any renewal, which might have to be taken care of during your stay in Germany.

After having received your full registration, we will send you a booking confirmation and start the placement process. Of course we will keep you up to date about all steps along the way.

Arrivals and departures for the Short Term High School programme are fixed to take place on the weekend before school begins, so you can get to know your host family before your classes start on Monday. You make your travel arrangements yourself: either your parents bring you to the host family by car, or you arrive by plane or by train at your destination.

Should you travel by train, please note that your host families will pick you up at the train station nearest to their home.

Should you travel by plane, we recommend that you book our transfer service to/from the host family as early as possible. That way you will be picked up on time and won’t have to worry about anything.

If, due to your age, you have booked a UM service (UM = Unaccompanied Minor) with your airline, you also have to book our UM service accordingly – in addition to our general transfer service. This is necessary as handling unaccompanied minors at the airport is more complicated and time-consuming.

School Immersion Classic

In the "Classic’ programme you choose how to spend your afternoons and what activities you do yourself. That way you can pick activities you like to do the most. You will spend the evenings with the host family. They will integrate you in their everyday life. You might cook together with the family or play a typical board game.

School Immersion Premium

In this programme you receive fulltime supervision from a German-speaking supervisor (Teamer). Your Teamer will agree with you on which activities to do and accompany you there. He or she will give
you all the information you need and take into consideration your interests and the opportunities offered by the location. Your Teamer is always happy to talk with you, no matter if you have something on your mind, have a question or just want to chat. For dinner you will return to your host family.

School Immersion Language+

In the Language+ programme you attend further language lessons in the afternoon. You can find details about this in the section “Language course”. You will spend your evenings at your host family.

All variations provide a 24-hour emergency hotline every day. Please contact us whenever a serious incident occurs and we will react immediately.

Your German language course with 15 lessons per week takes place in the afternoon after school from Monday to Friday. At the beginning of the course you will take a placement test which will give your teacher insight in the level of your language proficiency. Furthermore, you will set your own goals for your language course, writing them down in a questionnaire. Together with the results from your placement test this document will serve the teacher as the foundation for the following lessons.

Your teacher will only be there for you. This means that lessons are completely different from what you are used to from your school at home. You are your teacher’s only student. He or she will adapt to your learning speed and allow for a break whenever you may need one. Moreover, break times will always extend your lesson, meaning that after having attended 15 lessons, over 15 hours may have gone by, depending on how many breaks you needed.

Learning to use the language actively is the primary aim of the lessons. Our teachers create their own motivating, cultural and original lesson plans. They can be about a whole range of topics that are taken from “real life” in the form of discussions, role plays, interviews and other active elements. You are encouraged to just talk and not be afraid of your mistakes. Seize this opportunity as speaking the language freely will boost your learning success and motivate you to continue mastering the language in the future. Your vocabulary and knowledge of grammar will expand and improve automatically – not just through ineffective memorising, but rather through speaking and listening.

Our teachers are native speakers. That means that they do not only speak the language fluently, but they have an ingrained understanding of their native culture. They also have experience in imparting their language to students from foreign countries.

We teach in accordance to your level of knowledge. We have different lesson material for every level, and the certificate that you receive at the end of your stay will indicate at what level and for how many hours you were taught.

Tip: It is always possible to book our “Language Plus” programme for additional preparation. It may be beneficial, for example, to supplement the first two weeks of your stay with the “Language Plus” variation before you continue with the regular “Classic” or “Premium” programme. That way you will have taken the ideal first step towards learning the German language.

Before the beginning of your stay you will receive a detailed information pack from us with everything you need to know about arrival, what you should pack and the activity programme. Your host family can give you access to their Wi-Fi. However, ultimately it is their decision to grant or deny you access.

It is most likely that your regular health insurance will not cover all treatment costs incurred in Germany. We, therefore, generally recommend purchasing foreign health insurance as well as accident and liability insurance. ASTUR offers a complete pack, including all necessary insurances, at a small fee for your convenience. If you do not book your insurance through ASTUR, we will need to see proof of your existing insurance before your arrival.

If you need a visa to enter Germany, the visa application process will require you to show proof of existing insurances for the duration of your stay. It’s best to discuss those issues with your agency or with us directly. We’re always happy to help.

Please note that, for our Short Term High School programme, a good understanding of the German language is required. We recommend that you have attained a minimum level of A2 in German according to CEFR standards.

The Short Term High School programme is not available during German school holidays. Owed to the fact that the responsibility for educational matters in Germany rests with the individual Federal States (Bundesländer), dates of school holidays vary geographically. Therefore, you should always get in contact with us for advice before booking your Short Term High School programme.