The paper offers a survey of the present system of teaching languages, focusing on English language, at German grammar schools (Gymnasien). In doing so, it addresses institutional structures, curriculum, teaching methods, the role of media, standards and assessment results, teacher education, and future perspectives. The aim is to clarify what makes such schools successful in language teaching and, without encouraging imitation, as all education systems are different, identify the key success factors in institutional language learning in the secondary sector.