"The cabin counselors were outstanding! My son can't stop talking about them, so playful and also caring. The counselors fostered a lot of camaraderie among the campers which was evident during the music performance on the last day when I saw my son and his cabin-mates singing together with their arms on each other’s shoulders. The counselors inspired my son to learn and speak German, of course, but they also modeled thoughtfulness and caring for others. I am very grateful to them for all the energy they put into their work at Waldsee."
“My daughter has been attending Waldsee German Camp for eight years, the past two summers in the high school credit program. She absolutely loves her experience every summer, and counts down the days at the beginning of every year. She once told me recently that “German camp is my favorite place in the world!” This comes from my cynical teen-ager! Her experience at German camp has nurtured an interest in languages, which she now plan to pursue as a careeer. The amount of German she learns and retains in the four-week high school course is amazing.”
| "The greatest benefit to my son was a chance to learn and grow in a community of outstanding people. I am very grateful for the hard work everyone does at Waldsee to make it a good educational and personal experience for all the campers. We look forward to coming back." |
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“My daughter scored a 5 on her AP German Exam and was accepted into PSEO German at the University of Minnesota. Of course, Waldsee is largely responsible for her ability in the language and high test score!”
"Staff was wonderful in explaining and understanding our limited experience with the language, this being our daughter's first camp experience."
"We wished we had known about Concordia Language Village earlier. Gotz now has two years of accredited German language, which is not a language offered at his high school school. As an added benefit, he can now hold basic conversations in German. We know families of similar aged students who have taken three or more years of German in high school and still do not have the mastery of the language that our son has acquired through just two summers at Waldsee.
"Oh do my kids love the food at Waldsee. I suspect this is a part of what keeps them coming back (this was their sixth summer). Keep up the good work."
"Confidence, language learning skills, songs that he hums to himself now and again, new friends, chance to play soccer and talk soccer....he loved it and will go to Waldsee as many times as he can in the future."
"The project-based learning in the STEM program as well as the curriculum offering was outstanding and staying in the BioHaus was a great environment. He appreciated being with the other STEM students and liked the modern architecture. Having bathrooms near their rooms and in the BioHaus was very nice."
"The sense of community is huge. I know my son felt that he had a 'posse' and that he was always included. The apprentice program is just right for kids who are a little older—it gives them some work experience and a little bit of responsibility. Some kids already have had a lot of this by the age of 17 but some haven't. My kid just needs a lot of hand-holding to manage a job and he got that at Waldsee. I would like to see more kids get the opportunity to do this. The other thing I want to comment on is the caliber of activities. As a teacher myself, I am totally floored by the kind of activities you've created to encourage active learning."
"Confidence—in his language skills, and also in his ability to manage extended time from family/friends/teenaged life. His time there was so much fun, so compelling, so interesting and exciting to him, that he is more than willing to forgo so many other teenager summer experiences. Waldsee trumps! He also is making some close friends that I suspect will be around for many years to come."
| "Belonging to a community of kids and counselors who are enjoying life as they share culture and language. It is the classic camp experience and then something more because of the intellectual challenge of learning a foreign language. She has never made friends this close." |
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“Liesel had reservations about attending Waldsee — first, because it was her parents’ idea, and second, because she wasn’t sure she knew enough German to be comfortable. Thirdly she wasn’t even sure she liked German! Also, being from Alaska she wouldn’t know anybody. However, she agreed to try Waldsee...When we came to pick her up…we saw our Liesel from a distance, surrounded by a gaggle of friends and laughing. And when she saw us her first words were “Hi Dad, I’m DEFINITELY coming back next year! It turns out she LOVED Waldsee, made many new friends, learned lots of German in Familie Gummibaerchen and in daily village life, loved all the Betreuer and staff, had a great time and made great friends being a part of Haus Heidelberg, liked the food, enjoyed singing the “Lieder” and dancing to “Deutschland” and “Anton aus Tirol” etc. etc. The list goes on and on. You all truly won her over.”
“Can’t wait to come back. Summer needs to hurry up! I love it so much!”
~ Emily, Waldsee villager
“Being at Waldsee this summer was a large part of making this summer one of the best summers I can remember…The full camp activities such as the Diskos or Neptuntag were awesome… The adventure program Maerchenwald was so much fun because we spent our time in the woods, and got to write stories, become knights, and put on a hilarious play that we wrote.”
~Isolde, Waldsee villager, 15
“I love being at the villages. The Waldsee atmosphere especially is amazing. I made so many new friends that I still keep in touch with and I reacquainted with some of my friends that I met my first year. I thought it was cool that my counselors from years past remembered me as well! I chose German because it is the language of Europe. This year I joined an adventure program. My choice was “Gruene Welle,” the nature program. We made two overnight trips; the first one was the most fun, when we canoed across the lake to the “Gruene Welle Platz.” When we got there we put up our tents, then changed into bathing suits and went swimming in the lake. It was “Pause” at the time and we could hear Waldsee Radio. When the “Fliegerlied” song came on, we started doing the dance to it — in the water! It was then that I realized the purpose of being immersed in the language.”
~Waldsee villager, 14
“It was great to be in an environment of total German immersion and it was helpful to be speaking German all day long. I still have the songs from Gesang in my head. I made great friendships. I was a part of the Gruene Welle Abenteuer program and it was fun to use German in nature.”
~Waldsee villager, 16
“Living in the BioHaus and studying more intense German with people who care for the language was a great experience. I have studied German for two years at the middle school which was probably equivalent to three days at Waldsee. Waldsee was a haven for me because so many people are there to push you harder so you learn more. Being around the supportive, interesting and caring staff only increased my interest in the language and the culture. Undoubtedly, my favorite part of Waldsee was the Abendprogramm. The variety of activities we did always kept me entertained and busy with my friends. The Boeser Baecker Spiel and Wilhelm Tell Spiel were my favorites. Now that I am back to school I can tell you that my 8th grade German teacher does not know where to place me. I will help her figure that out. I hope to return to Waldsee next summer.”
~Waldsee villager, 13
“Es war leichter mit einer Gruppe von Freunden, die deutsche Sprache zu lernen."
~Waldsee villager, 14
“My favorite part about staying at the village was Waldsee Radio. I learned about the work necessary to be a DJ at a real radio station. We made various recordings to go on the radio station. We made a word play, in which we learned how to edit recordings, dub music, and add sound effects.”
~Waldsee villager, 16
“My personal favorite part of the village was definitely the food. I especially loved breakfast because of Nutella. Nutella definitely made bread more delicious to eat! And dinner was really good too, because of the chicken (or whatever meat it was!) that was delicious. I savored every bite of the food I ate! And also, the campers were my other favorite part of the camp. I made so many friends while I was down there that I lost track of how many I made!”
~Matz, Waldsee villager, 13
“Ich finde es immer noch unglaublich, dass ich an diesem grossen Spiel im kleinen Deutschland teilnehmen durfte. Das Essen war köstlich, mein Haus gemütlich; sogar Grammatik (mit der Kollegstufe) hat nie zuvor so viel Spass gemacht. Obwohl ich seit einem ganzen Jahr nicht mehr in Waldsee war, und dort nur zwei kurze Wochen verbracht habe, ist Waldsee immer noch ein zweites Deutschland für mich!”
~Waldsee villager, 16
“I made a lot of friends at Waldsee and, of course, I learned a lot. I have to admit that I was skeptical at first at how one month at Concordia could account for a whole year of German class, but it definitely lived up to its promises. The classes and activities were all great. Honestly, in the month I was there, I felt like Waldsee was my home.”
~Waldsee villager, 15
“I had a great time at Waldsee, made many new friends, played many sports and games, sang songs, learn German grammar, enjoyed nature, wrote stories, watched plays, danced traditional German and ballroom, had disco parties, dressed up for special dinners, and ate scrumptious German foods. Ohh, the food! It was wonderful. Really. You must try Nutella on fresh baked buns for breakfast. You must, you must, you must (unless you are allergic to nuts, in which case you ought to write to the Nutella company requesting a nut-free alternative that you could enjoy instead!). My German proficiency sky-rocketed during my time at Waldsee. I dreamt, at least partly, in German for 17 days straight! I was only there for 13 nights.”
~Bjoern, Haus Salzburg, Waldsee villager, 13
Read testimonials more from Waldsee alumni Katja and the Haines family.