diff --git a/spacy/tests/conftest.py b/spacy/tests/conftest.py
index 83a39a03a..cf7fd223a 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,17 +1,15 @@
-from spacy.en import English
-
 import pytest
 import os
 
+import spacy
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def EN():
-    if os.environ.get('SPACY_DATA'):
-        data_dir = os.environ.get('SPACY_DATA')
-    else:
-        data_dir = None
-    print("Load EN from %s" % data_dir)
-    return English(data_dir=data_dir)
+    return spacy.load("en")
+
+@pytest.fixture(score="session")
+def DE():
+    return spacy.load("de")
 
 
 def pytest_addoption(parser):
diff --git a/spacy/tests/integration/__init__.py b/spacy/tests/integration/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/spacy/tests/integration/test_model_sanity.py b/spacy/tests/integration/test_model_sanity.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0cddb85dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/tests/integration/test_model_sanity.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import pytest
+import numpy
+
+@pytest.mark.models
+class TestModelSanity:
+	"""
+	This is to make sure the model works as expected. The tests make sure that values are properly set.
+	Tests are not meant to evaluate the content of the output, only make sure the output is formally okay.
+	"""
+
+	@pytest.fixture(scope='class', params=['en','de'])
+	def example(self, request, EN, DE):
+		if request.param == 'en':
+			return EN(u'There was a stranger standing at the big street talking to herself.')
+		elif request.param == 'de':
+			return DE(u'An der großen Straße stand eine merkwürdige Gestalt und führte Selbstgespräche.')
+
+	def test_tokenization(self, example):
+		# tokenization should split the document into tokens
+		assert len(example) > 1
+
+	def test_tagging(self, example):
+		# if tagging was done properly, pos tags shouldn't be empty
+		assert example.is_tagged
+		assert all( t.pos != 0 for t in example )
+		assert all( t.tag != 0 for t in example )
+
+	def test_parsing(self, example):
+		# if parsing was done properly
+		# - dependency labels shouldn't be empty
+		# - the head of some tokens should not be root
+		assert example.is_parsed
+		assert all( t.dep != 0 for t in example )
+		assert any( t.dep != i for i,t in enumerate(example) )
+
+	def test_ner(self, example):
+		# if ner was done properly, ent_iob shouldn't be empty
+		assert all( t.ent_iob != 0 for t in example )
+
+	def test_vectors(self, example):
+		# if vectors are available, they should differ on different words
+		# this isn't a perfect test since this could in principle fail in a sane model as well,
+		# but that's very unlikely and a good indicator if something is wrong
+		vector0 = example[0].vector
+		vector1 = example[1].vector
+		vector2 = example[2].vector
+		assert not numpy.array_equal(vector0,vector1)
+		assert not numpy.array_equal(vector0,vector2)
+		assert not numpy.array_equal(vector1,vector2)
+
+	def test_probs(self, example):
+		# if frequencies/probabilities are okay, they should differ for different words
+		# this isn't a perfect test since this could in principle fail in a sane model as well,
+		# but that's very unlikely and a good indicator if something is wrong
+		prob0 = example[0].prob
+		prob1 = example[1].prob
+		prob2 = example[2].prob
+		assert not prob0 == prob1
+		assert not prob0 == prob2
+		assert not prob1 == prob2