Café Klatsch

Mission and Vision of Café Klatsch

Bayswater South Primary School places much emphasis on engaging with its community. Opening Café Klatsch was in response to some of the needs that were identified in our school community. We are always looking for new ways to enhance connection between and with the broader community, to create an opportunity for our German-speaking community members to connect with each other and to offer a space for other community members who are interested in learning the German language, which in turn complements our weekly German beginner classes for adults. The café also provides a platform for short performances from clubs, authors, institutions and experts with ties to the German language. Besides its social value to our community the café also plays an important role in the promotion of our school’s bilingual program and the German language and culture in general.

The concept of the café

Café Klatsch provides a place for people to meet, socialize and learn by conversing and immersing themselves in the German language and culture whilst enjoying a beverage and a snack. The heart and centre of Café Klatsch is a big table called the Stammtisch. The Stammtisch allows beginners and advanced German speakers to practise and enjoy exchanging ideas in another language. Each Stammtisch is guided by at least one teacher or volunteer who helps initiate and maintain conversations. To make things easier, we offer German Language Menus, these are cards with conversation starters in the form of questions, prompts, provocations and snippets of German. Smaller tables are also set up, for people to have a more private chat with each other. Since a big part of our community consists of parents with children of and under school age we have made sure that our café is family friendly and provides activities for children. In the children’s corner, our younger guests can enjoy a German movie, read German books, play board games or make use of the art activities provided. The café is also an important promotional opportunity for our school to find new members for our German beginners course for adults (1 hour per week) and the Spielgruppe (1 hour per week) a German playgroup for our youngest community members.

Food for Thought

Café Klatsch offers tea, coffee and traditional German snacks like cakes, strudels and biscuits that can be purchased at a reasonable price. The profits from the café are reinvested into the further development of the café and will hopefully in future be able to help fund other German language projects at our school. Café Klatsch is for everyone! As well as the option to purchase drinks and food, we also provide free beverages and snacks like water, cordial, popcorn and other simple snacks.