The basic idea

A real German language homestay: Be a guest at your teacher's house in a quiet rural environment: Listen to German, speak German and study German in German surroundings. This total immersion is the most effective way to gain a real grasp and ease of use of the language - all the more so if you already have some knowledge of rules and forms. Classes will focus on what you need. And as for the rest of the time, you will have many opportunities to hear and speak a lot of German.

Course options

Intensive German
This intensive German language course comes with 20 German lessons per week (45 minutes each). In between tuition times you will be able to work on self-studying material that will be handed out according to your individual level. This may be written exercises for repetition as well as handouts to prepare the next step.
LinkExample of a week's timetable
German & Sightseeing
During a week »On the road« with your German teacher you will be learning German while seeing the sights. There will be less time spent at the desk but a lot of German conversation on excursions together with your teacher - on foot, by bicycle or by car. Thus you will get to know some of our beautiful Allgäu region and neighbouring Austria.
LinkExample of a week's timetable
One-to-one
Most of my students are adults who choose the »classic« one-on-one. This is how you get full-immersion language training.
Two-to-one
You can, of course, also bring along a partner to join you in your studies or to spend your holidays with.
Family
We can also accommodate a whole family. Parents who just want to accompany their children can choose to stay at our place or nearby.

Language instruction

Homestay - full immersion - one-to-one Homestay - full immersion - one-to-one
(left Inge Graf, right Carolyn from Oregon, USA)
Deutsch im Gespräch - Really Speaking German can offer a highly individual approach. Depending on your previous knowledge, needs and interests, classes may focus on speaking and listening skills, pronunciation, grammar, text comprehension, written exercises, translations or more individualized requirements such as German for musicians, business people, students facing a certain exam and so on.
Your teacher has many years of experience in language teaching on all levels and will choose adequate teaching material. On booking the programme, you can already fill in the LinkGerman test to give the teacher a clue of what you need. You can also hand in your choice of topics of discussion or bring along teaching material you would like to use.

Most important: You will really speak German (even if you have so far tried to avoid it for fear of making mistakes!) Written exercises are important as well. In order to make the time spent with the teacher most efficient, written language work will be assigned for self-study time in between classes.

up...

Teacher

Your teacher: Inge Graf Your teacher: Inge Graf My name is Inge Graf, I am 59. I have a university degree in German and English. I taught German and English at a high school in Munich for 16 years. I know some French as well and I have been studying Italian and Spanish for quite a while. Learning Spanish in Malaga at a Spanish teacher’s house gave me the idea of starting a homestay programme for German myself – and dropping out of school teaching.

I feel that the homestay approach is the most efficient and at the same time most relaxed way of learning a foreign language. Take the name of the project »DEUTSCH IM GESPRÄCH / REALLY TALKING GERMAN« as the promise that you will have a lot of opportunities of talking German – not just during lesson time but also over meals or getting the daily breakfast buns from the local bakery or meeting neighbours and friends who may come to pay a visit.

Our place in Aach – where I live with my husband Heinz – is part of a group of houses that were built at the same time and where people know each other, which gives you a good opportunity of broaching some native speakers and trying out your German. While enjoying the atmosphere of a quiet holiday resort, you will not be a tourist yourself, but a private guest studying German with me.

My favourite leisure activities are singing and reading. I am interested in all kinds of things: history, politics, language and everything I can learn about the countries my students are from. But I am also an outdoor person, I know lots of names of endemic herbs and love hiking and cycling. And I would like to show you around our beautiful part of Southern Germany, plus, of course, neighbouring Austria which is equally pretty.

up...

Where to stay

If you choose one-to-one, you will have a single room with separate bathroom and you will be my only language student. Guests who choose to come here together can either have two rooms with two separate bathrooms or a double room.
Living and learning at your teacher’s house also means taking part in all the meals - which allows you to improve your conversational skills in German tremendously!

The House
Our house in Oberstaufen-Aach Our house in Oberstaufen-Aach Our house in Aach has three storeys, a small garden, and two balconies. It is part of a group of eight wooden houses built in 1996 as an avant-garde project in eco-friendly architecture. The cobble-stone private access road leads up to the central »village green« where residents may meet. Like ourselves, most of our neighbours are not locals, but have come to live here from different parts of Germany – so you may hear the local dialect, but most of all the standard High German.
Telephone, fax machine, personal computer with e-mail and internet access, TV, and washing machine are available.



The town of Oberstaufen, and nearby Aach
locality Aach, part of the tourist resort Oberstaufen (Bild: Oberstaufen Tourismus) locality Aach, part of the tourist resort Oberstaufen (Bild: Oberstaufen Tourismus) The tourist resort of Oberstaufen (with only around 7,000 inhabitants) is situated in the »Allgäu«, a region of beautiful hills and mountains in the very South of Germany stretching towards Bodensee (Lake Constance) in the Southwest and bordering Austria in the South. We live 7 km from the center of Oberstaufen in the tiny locality of Aach right at the Austrian border, where the road winds down towards Bregenz (A) on the shores of Lake Constance.
The most characteristic features of the »Allgäu« and neighbouring Austrian »Bregenzerwald« are rolling green hills of pasture land, grazing brown cattle, the first mountain ranges of the Alps reaching up to 7,000 feet, rural settlements with old farmsteads and large churches, well-kept towns, and unpolluted air.
More information on Oberstaufen Linkhere...
Our address onLinkGoogle Maps

Leisure

In summer:
- direct access to Alpine hiking trails
- cable cars up to Hochgrat and Hündle mountain areas
- cycling and mountain biking

In winter:
- cross-country skiing right from our front door
- Alpine skiing resort Steibis only 10 km away by bus

Or else:
- Oberstaufen Aquaria: Indoor pool with various swimming and health facilities, sauna, water slides, etc. (7 km, bus)  Linkwww.aquaria.de
- Golf course: Golfpark Bregenzerwald (1 km, bus)  Linkwww.golf-bregenzerwald.com
- excursions to Lake Constance (Bodensee) with German, Austrian or Swiss destinations: Lindau (D), Bregenz (A) or Arbon (CH)
- a visit to one of the splendid baroque churches of Southern Bavaria or to
- King Ludwig's fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein

The German & Sightseeing programme will offer you the opportunity of enjoying the beautiful scenery accompanied by your teacher.
Hiking at Hochgrat offers a splendid Alpine view
Hiking at Hochgrat offers a splendid Alpine view
Allgäu’ s brown cattle
Allgäu’ s brown cattle
Allgäu cheesery
Allgäu cheesery
up...

Prices 2013

Really speaking German
Living and learning at your teacher's house

Weekly price

Reductions
Weekly package 1:1
1 student, 20 German classes of 45 minutes,
7 days, full board
Euro 1.220 Euro 1.120 for a second week and for guests who have been here before
Accommodation+meals for a second person in the same room (no tuition) Euro 300
Weekly package 2:1
2 students sharing a room
Euro 860 per person Euro 800 for a second week
Weekly package 2:1
2 students in single rooms
Euro 910 per person Euro 830 for a second week
Intensive German - Family ask for prices
Additional class
1:1 (45 min)
Euro 36

Please read theLinkconditions

up...