Salem Summer School
Sunshine, water, fun and many new challenges
Age: 12 - 14 years
Date: Saturday, 26 July - Saturday, 9 August 2025
Fee: 3,250,- €
Salem brings out the joys of life – but also offers many new perspectives and exciting inspiration.
"How do I like community life and learning at the boarding school? What am I really interested in, what is important to me, and what am I especially good at?"
The Summer School Salem is located at Salem Castle, a Cistercian monastery to the north of Lake Constance. It is designed for children aged 12 and 14, who want to enjoy a diverse program and gain an impression of what life at our boarding school is like.
Please note that first-time registrations for each programme have priority. Repeat applicants for the same programme will be placed on a waiting list. Places will be offered if they become available, usually no earlier than May. Thank you for your understanding.
For participants in Baden-Württemberg, please ensure your child has permission to miss the last few days of the summer term!
Vanessa Haseneder
Head of Salem Summer School
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Lessons and much more ....
Mornings at Salem Summer School
Creatively taught lessons and the encouragement of social, technical and artistic abilities are at the core of the Salem education in the Middle School. For this reason the mornings at Salem Summer School include both classroom projects and practical activities in emergency service and arts and crafts.
Classrooms Projects
In the first time block (classroom projects) students can choose between English, German as a Foreign Language (beginners and advanced), Natural Science or Robotics. These subjects are taught in small groups by experienced teachers, with an emphasis on a lively and hands-on approach.
Students registered for one of our "German as a Foreign Language" courses always take a placement test at the beginning of the Salem Summer School. The test covers the contents of all three levels and usually confirms the course chosen. If the results of the test differ from the original choice, we rely on the expertise of our language teachers and reserve the right to place a student in a course corresponding to the test results.
Beginners
This is a course for complete beginners with no, or very little, knowledge of the German language. To the extent possible, students will receive support in all four areas of competency (speaking, writing, reading, and listening comprehension). Lessons will also give due attention to vocabulary, grammar, and Germany's culture and customs.
Advanced Level 1
In the mid-level German classes we offer a combination of grammar topics, culture and customs, and role-playing conversation with a focus on increasing vocabulary. Our goal is to reach the European language level of A1/A2. More specifically we will deal with modal verbs, separable verbs, present and past modal verbs, expressions of time, word order, comparatives, accusative and dative pronouns, as well as the most important connectors. Conversational exercises will involve practice in self-presentation, expressing appreciation, and asking questions. These will be embedded in games, teamwork while exploring German customs, the creation of mind maps as a group project, a quiz and skills rally, as well as in learning contemporary German rap and hip-hop songs.
Advanced Level 2
This class is directed above all at students who already have a high level of competency in speaking and oral comprehension, but still have difficulties with their written skills. Thus the course will focus on writing and reading in order to perfect an already high language level. We will deal intensively with students' own texts and those of other writers, giving particular attention to word choice, text structure, and grammar. Participants will have the opportunity to deal with different types of texts (e.g., news stories, fairy tales, short stories) and understand their characteristics. They will also write their own texts, analyze them, and revise them. Attention is centered on the student's own writing skills, supplemented by the analysis of published writings and their stylistic devices. Prerequisite for enrollment is a diagnostic placement at the European language level A2-B1.
Participants of our Salem Summer School will take a journey back in time. Around the castle where you will be staying, as well as in the nearby Bodensee region steeped in history, students will learn in a practical, close up and detailed way about different historical time periods. A good knowledge of the German language is essential in order to participate in theis group.
To ensure students can profit from an efficient and motivating learning environment, they are first given a placement test. Based on the results students are assigned to an appropriate group. Particular attention is given to the following skills: oral and written expression, reading and listening comprehension as well as grammar topics. Current topics related to English-speaking countries will be followed and discussed with the help of the daily press.
In this study group students get an insight into different scientific processes. For example they will experiment with paper-making or topics related to fire, and other forensic investigations.
Math classes in Summerschool are all about finding fun in mathematics. We take a look at special numbers (such as prime numbers or square numbers) to improve number sense. We also explore where probability appears in everyday life and how it can help you make better decisions, and we apply geometric theorems to determine heights and distances. Good grades in regular math classes are not a requirement.
Salem Emergency Service Activities
In one of the two weeks at Summer School, the second half of the morning is dedicated to the Salem Emergency Services. Here the students have the opportunity to get to know more about one of the core aspects of the Middle School. Students can choose between the Fire Brigade, the Technical Emergency Relief, the Nautical Service and the Emergency First Aid Service. Each provides an opportunity for students to try something completely new and thus experience team spirit, courage, and how to accept responsibility.
In the Fire Brigade the command ‘Water Go!’ will only be given when all student have become familiar with the equipment and fire hose. How is the hose put together, where is it connected, how do you hold it and where do you direct the water? Speed and team spirit are required in equal measure. On the theoretical side, fire safety, proper conduct in a fire, different extinguishing materials and techniques. Students also practice how to use a walkie-talkie.
Members of the Nautical Service will go out on boats as soon as they hear an SOS signal. In this service, students receive an introduction to maritime rescue, learn to tie simple knots and how to use a walkie-talkie. In the school sailing boats and motorboat, students set out on Lake Constance to practice how to assist a ship in distress. At the end of the two weeks, the students should be trained as junior rescuers.
When the students of the THW service have established that an area is safe, the students of the Fire Brigade have extinguished the fire, and the students of the Nautical Service have brought all the injured ashore, then the Emergency First Aid Service begins its work. First they students have received comprehensive introduction to First Aid on the site of an accident. Which measures should be taken first? How should the injured person be positioned? How should a wound be dressed and how should a bandage be tied? And of course the participants practice resuscitation!
In THW, the Technical Emergency Relief Service, the students learn the first skills required in case of a catastrophe. They need to ensure that an area is safe and rescue people from land and buildings. They need to put together crash barriers, construct and climb ladders and rescue and move people with stretchers. Vigor and level-headedness are needed here just as much as strong nerves!
Artisan Craft and Creative Arts
In the alternate week of summer school, students choose from a variety of practical and artistic activities. Photography and film, woodworking and turnery, Painting, tailoring and panting and even practicing with the Summer School Band are offered. Students are given guidance by experienced trainers and artists.
You develop your own style by forming simple vessels and figurines out of clay.
Join in and learn how to make your own cool crochet bag. Many well-known bag companies are currently offering trendy crochet bags - wouldn't you like to create a bag that is just as stylish? Whether you already have experience or not, we will show you how easy it is to make a unique bag in this activity.
A piece of wood sits on the work-bench, uncarved and untreated. What can be created from it? A bowl, a cone? In the woodworking shop this simple piece of wood will be held in a vice and, under the instruction of the master craftsman, can be turned into an useful household object or a work of art.
Participants of our Salem Summer School learn to work with metal and will make useful objects or small artistic pieces using turning, milling and drilling techniques.
Have you ever wanted to direct a film? In this film workshop your dream will come true. Young filmmakers work together on a screenplay and turn it into a real film with editing and cutting. The "final cut" will be shown to parents at the final evening. "Take ONE!"
Students of this workshop are constantly on the move with digital cameras in hand, in search of suitable subjects. A photographer teaches students how to develop a good eye for a the right perspective and supervises image editing on the computer.
To work like Picasso..., or perhaps maybe Rembrandt instead? A blank canvas waits on the easel for brush and paint. The picture in your head wants to be put on paper. Under an artist's guidance different forms, perspectives, shadows and color compositions will emerge. And of course it is worthwhile debatting one of the basic questions: What is Art?
Would you like to sew your own boxer shorts or skirt? Just choose a fabric and a pattern of your liking and off you go!
Sports
The afternoon
In the afternoons students can chose between a wide range of sports activities which are offered over the period of one week.
To start with students head off to the school’s harbour at Lake Constance. Along with learning the basic theory of the sport, practical experience of this water sport is central, Students will use both our traditional cutters and the more sporty jollyboats.
Archery, a very popular sports club in Salem, helps to develop concentration and fine motor skills. Students construct their own arrows, learn to be calm, practice their aim and focus on their target in order to hit the bulls-eye.
Tennis players can chase after the yellow felt balls. Our experienced and enthusiastic trainers will assist beginners as well as advanced students to improve their techniques. There may even be an opportunity to cool down at the end of the day in the nearby Salem Lake.
A total variety of activities awaits students in the outdoor sports program. Exertion and stamina are needed while mastering the rope course in an adventure park, for mountain biking in the hilly landscape and for water tours on Lake Constanze in the school's own canoes. These days are balanced out with relaxing afternoons spent swimming and playing beach volleyball at the nearby Salem Lake.
The key focus of team sports is to have fun doing sports together -- whether indoors or outdoors on Salem’s extensive sports fields, on the basketball or beach volleyball courts, football pitch or playing water polo in the school’s swimming pool.
Playing Hockey is a traditional sport at Salem. Here students can try out a team sport, which they are often not familiar with. They'll learn techniques and moves and then put them into practice in games and competitions.
A dance will be created based on a theme chosen by the group. Dance styles such as Jazz, Hip-Hop and contemporary dance will be explored to produce and perform the final choreographie.
