International German School Ho Chi Minh City

The International German School Ho Chi Minh City (IGS) is an inter-cultural place of learning and is open to children of all nationalities. The school belongs to the “Netzwerk der Deutschen Auslandsschulen“ (Network of German Schools Abroad). Apart from the various school grades, the IGS has its own under-6 section with nursery, kindergarten, and preschool. IGS’s German-English programme encourages pupils to think creatively and solution-focused, to act independently, actively and respectfully as well as to value and embrace cultural differences.

At the International German School (IGS) the children will travel with us into the world of books, they will learn why stars can be seen in the sky at night, why the Saigon River changes the direction it flows in every day or why in winter ice-flowers form on windows in other climatic regions. On this journey through the world of knowledge, languages, and natural wonders, we adults will also learn to see many things anew through our children and pause in amazement at the abilities of our children.

How colourful and interesting this world will be depends on the extent to which we succeed in stimulating our children’s imagination and sensitivity in a rich learning atmosphere. Each child explores their own path. This pedagogical conviction is reflected in a special way in the architecture of the campus. A multifunctional building with a concrete schoolyard and lovingly furnished villas, convey the physical rhythm of the learning experience. Surrounded by palm trees, colourful flowers and tropical greenery, we offer a natural learning environment with many opportunities to try out and discover new things. We believe that movement in a natural environment is an essential pre-requisite for the development of coordination, the ability to perceive, and the resulting development of cognitive skills.

In addition to the musical education of your children, specific artistic activities are intended to expand the imagination and the world of fantasy. Theatre, painting, photography, early science, also music and dance are just some of the ways in which your children can develop their sense of beauty. Musical-artistic education is therefore not only an end in itself: It offers the possibility to promote general mental, motor, and emotional skills at the same time.

The aim of our pedagogical work is not to learn facts and figures off by heart, but to link and apply learning content and to promote thinking, acting and feeling in a stimulating learning environment. Instead of working through prefabricated questions and tasks, our students learn by discovery.

In order to accompany the children’s mental development in the best way possible, we regularly assess their learning status. These assessments provide the starting point for learning plans which are individually tailored to our students in kindergarten and primary school.

For the children in preschool and primary school, it is very important to find out inclinations as well as test possibilities and limits. These are periods in life where constant change takes place, in which fundamental mental prerequisites for the children’s future development are laid. For children of this age, feeling safe and supported and having a regular schedule are the basis for processing the enormous flood of information at school.

In addition to German curricula, our school offers individual subjects in English and Vietnamese for native speakers and French as a foreign language. The bilingual learning situation (German/English) enables the children to quickly grasp cultural similarities and differences. This leads to a very intensive examination of one’s own identity. Numerous scientific studies have proven that these impulses in particular are the cause of a particular surge in intellectual development.

The International German School HCMC is a place of free spiritual development and openness to promote tolerance towards other people and cultures. It forms a space for cultural encounters: concerts, exhibitions, theatre performances, film screenings and book readings as well as expert discussions on science and current topics of our time are be an integral part of our school culture. Here, the pupils are to try out and discover their own world of experience and learn how to communicate successfully.