How can I help my child be successful in German if I do not speak German myself?
First of, do not force your child to speak German if they are a beginner and not ready for it. Speaking is not a indicator of how much they understand and the first and most important aspect of language learning is building comprehension, not speaking.
Attendance: Make sure your child is in class every day. There is no substitute for listening and reading German in class.
Review: There will be no homework in German. If you have your child review something from class, have them read one of our stories (beginners are encouraged to read the German silently) and then tell you - in your native language - what happened in the story.
Real life experience: Encourage your child to connect with their German neighbors, join a German sports team or other club that they are interested. They could switch the language settings for their cellphones, video games, Facebook, etc. to German. Let them find something that they enjoy doing, getting a tutor, especially for beginners, might actually be counterproductive if they don't enjoy it.
Online/ classroom resources: I have stories in class that are suitable for beginners and that the students can ask to take home and read. There are also readings on my website and I am working on creating some listening stories to be posted soon.
What should I do if my child says that they can't follow the class?
You and your child should contact me immediately. I encourage my students to make me aware in class when they don't understand. My goal is for every student to be able to follow what we talk about in class. It is therefore incredibly important that my students let me know when they don't understand, because that means that I am speaking or moving on too fast. Chances are, your child is not the only one that can't follow and him/her letting me know, will help the entire class.
What can I do when I was absent?
When a student is absent they miss the input for that day. I would encourage to do some reading in German at home or watch some of the stories. This is no substitute for being in class, but it helps to get some more input and repetitions.
How much work should my child be doing outside of class?
There will be no homework. I always encourage voluntary reading and watching stories. I am happy to supply reading material suitable for your child's reading level. Please be aware that even children's books in German are written for native speakers and are not easily understood. I have materials that are made for language learners that your child will likely enjoy reading much more.
Where can we look at the syllabus again if we misplaced it?
The syllabus can be found on the blog for each class in the sidebar.