Like other international schools, the Kindergarten to year 12 German International School meets local education requirements while also meeting many of the standards of the country it is linked to. Loading "All our classes satisfy the NSW curriculum but are also based on the German curriculum, which includes a lot more language work and sciences, and it all leads to the International Baccalaureate," principal Lorenz Metzger said. Students do up to nine periods of German a week and five periods of English in their early secondary years and are also required to learn either French or Spanish as a third language. As well as dedicated language classes, some subjects are taught only in German, some are taught only in English and students have the choice to learn the remainder in either language.

Additionally, teachers at the school who have German as their first language speak to students only in German, while those with English as their primary language speak only in English. Tanja Ritonnale, who teaches German and religion at the school, said it can be challenging but is a good way of increasing fluency. "[The English-speaking students] are surrounded by German, which means you pick up a language faster," Ms Ritonnale said. "We have German signs on the walls where things are explained, answers are written down in German. "As a teacher, you have to have patience. Sometimes you have to pantomime putting on a hat or when you're trying to put discipline on something, it's funny."

Ms Ritonnale, who previously taught Italian as a foreign language in Germany, said she has learnt a lot about teaching from the school's approach. "In Germany, I taught three Italian lessons a week and we did grammar things and got nowhere," she said. Year 7 student Felix Scholle, pictured with student Nadia Kuepper, says "learning maths in German is quite the same, biology is a bit harder". Credit:James Alcock "It's nice to see how Australian students who have no German at the beginning, after three months they start to understand us." Robyn Moloney, who is a senior lecturer in education at Macquarie University, said immersive language programs are an effective way of teaching a foreign language.

"It's exponentially faster because of the understanding that language is a vehicle, it's a whole different model in their head," Dr Moloney said. "They're motivated by needing to say things and do things in another language, they're several years ahead quantitatively and it's qualitatively different in terms of the level and type of language they're learning. "It also has a big cognitive benefit, it builds greater cognitive strength, kids show greater divergent thinking ability and problem solving ability in IQ tests." Dr Moloney said that in most instances, students involved in such programs are able to learn all the content they need to progress from year to year in different subjects, and that learning a second language can also support literacy in students' first language. There are four government schools in NSW – Rouse Hill, Scotts Head, Murray Farm and Campsie public schools – which follow a similar immersive language teaching model.