Because of its proximity to France, Saarland attaches importance to the acquisition of the French language. In many crèches and kindergartens children receive bilingual education in German and French. In any case, continuation of bilingual education is possible in elementary school. French is comprehensively taught in grades 3 and 4. In some elementary schools French is taught from the first grade. There are also elementary schools with bilingual classes.
For students with immigrant background in Saarland lessons in the respective first language are offered by the corresponding Consulates. Native language teaching by teachers or a consulate is available in Turkish, Italian, Serbian and Croatian.