Languages and integration in Dresden
Mission Statement
Kästner Kolleg e.V. is a registered nonprofit organization for language and culture in Dresden.
Our goal is to bring together people from around the world using language and culture in order to promote their understanding of one another. We view ourselves as an initiator of integration and hope to be a second home for our course participants from foreign countries.
Kästner Kolleg offers an alternative to the large, impersonal courses that can be found at other institutions. Our students prefer to learn foreign languages in an effective, practice-oriented and enjoyable manner. That means that our students learn in small groups with qualified native speakers as their teachers, we apply communicative teaching methods and use up-to-date teaching materials and modern media and classrooms.
Our students are the focus of our efforts. Before they start a course at Kästner Kolleg, they complete a placement test which we use to select a suitable group for them. A detailed consultation regarding our students’ goals and opportunities and regular progress checks are a matter of course.
Alongside our German courses for foreigners, Kästner Kolleg offers further languages such as English, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Russian, of course all taught by native speakers. This creates a truly international atmosphere in our school, it’s multicultural in the best sense of the word.
We are a TANDEM® School, as such the organization of language tandems is part of our service as is our cultural program. With these added features our course participants can get to know Germany, Saxony, and the local people even better.
15 Years of Kästner Kolleg
Our school was founded in 1998 and is one of the leading language schools in Dresden today thanks to fifteen years of continuous and successful language teaching. Our focus on high-quality language teaching, the best service and a personal, familiar atmosphere hasn’t changed during this time. This year we are celebrating our school’s fifteenth birthday and are happy to look back on our achievements and look forward to our future. In connection with this, we’d like to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to our success.
Our Teachers
Our director, Dr. Uwe Kästner, is a doctor of linguistics and has more than 25 years of language teaching experience. He has been a DAAD lecturer, taught in teacher training programs for the Goethe Institut and taught languages in adult education.
All of our language teachers are native speakers. They are all college educated and possess an additional teaching qualification as well as several years of experience teaching their native language as a foreign language. They view themselves as learning partners and are marked by not only their professionalism and competence, but also helpfulness and patience.
Our School
In our newly expanded and updated school you will find 10 bright, well-equipped classrooms. Further we have a library, media center, a comfortable cafeteria with a self-service kitchen, and WIFI throughout.
Next to our school is Alaunpark, the Central Park of our neighborhood, where you can relax and spend your free time.
KaKoGa
Kästner Kolleg runs a small gallery, >>KaKoGa<< , which provides artists from foreign cultures the opportunity to present their work and fosters cultural exchange.
Location
Kästner Kolleg is in the middle of the action, yet located in a quiet, green place. Our home is the trendy neighborhood Dresden-Neustadt, where you can find countless galleries, interesting shops, famous cinemas, colorful facades and peaceful inner courtyards.
The famous Dresden author Erich Kästner spent his childhood here. We’ve adopted his motto: «Es gibt nichts Gutes: Außer man tut es» ("Actions speak louder than words").
Social Engagement
We believe in the principle of equal opportunity, and are engaged to prevent different treatment of employees and course participants due to gender, race, disability, origin, religion, age or sexual orientation.
Disabled course participants have the opportunity to participate in our courses and we employ disabled and rehabilitated individuals according to their qualifications.
Further, we ensure that our employees receive equal payment following the principle “equal pay for equal work”.
Humaneness, dignity and respect are the basis of our communication with our employees, course participants and partners.
In this context, Kästner Kolleg is involved with projects that help people and groups in need, such as the Dresden project “German Courses for Asylum-Seekers”, for which we provide classrooms, or the donation marathon, in which athletes run for donations to the organization Sonnenstrahl e.V., which helps children and young people with cancer.
Additionally, Kästner Kolleg actively participates in the yearly event “Dresden Intercultural Days” and takes a stand against xenophobia and racism in our society.
Environmental Engagement
We respect the environment and protect it with our economical and efficient use of resources and our attention to their sustainability.
We support environmentally-friendly thought and action, for example with our good connection to public transport, high use of recycled materials and our support of initiatives such as “Arche Nova” for humanitarian aid, “Teilauto” car sharing, and “Wilderness International”.
"Low Plastic Location" Campaign
Kästner Kolleg e.V. strives to have as little plastic as possible in the school, and has initiated the "Low Plastic Location" campaign. This means that when there is an alternative to plastic, the plague of our century, we will decide against plastic and for environmentally-friendly materials. In case we have to use plastic, we strive for sustainability, for example we will choose devices with a long lifespan or proper recycling.
We hope to raise awareness and that this will lead to reduced plastic usage in our surroundings.
Find out more about the "Low Plastic Location" campaign by sending an email to loplalo@sprachenmobil.com