During May half term we had the pleasure of being about to take some of our students to Berlin. This was a unique chance for the students to improve their German and to learn about the German way of life through a variety of activities alongside a group of German teenagers. The best way to learn a language is to be fully immersed in it and to make friends with native speakers. With this in mind, students taking part in this trip had the opportunity to have a German Pen-Pal from a high school in Berlin who we then visited during our trip.
Two of our Year 9 students gave their thoughts on the trip…
Joseph Aluckal (9Otter) “Going on the Berlin Trip was great! In our time in Germany, we learnt so much about the history of Germany; I found the history of the 3 Reichs fascinating! We had an amazing guided walking tour around Berlin with Maria our guide. We walked all over the city and, tiring as it was for our feet, it was more than worth it – there is so much history in this one city! What I enjoyed the most, was when we visited the German school and then had some free time in the Alexa Shopping Centre with our Pen-pals. We were able to freely chat with our pen-pals, and see what was in the centre. I also really enjoyed bowling with our Pen-pals, as it was a very fun and exciting environment. There was definitely competitiveness in the air (I was especially happy when I scored the most points in our lane, after being terrible at bowling). I would definitely recommend the German Immersion Trip for students in the future as it is already one of the best experiences in my time at Bishop Luffa!”
Ben Webster (9Sherborne) “I went to Berlin with the school, and we had a huge number of meaningful experiences, both of lan-guage and of culture, and loads of fun! We tried eating Currywurst (a German dish), we saw all the famous sights, including the Brandemburg Gate, and the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) and we even went up the Fernsehturm, a 365m tall skyscraper! A few of us went to the Espionage Museum, where we learnt about Germany's Cold War history, and used the interactive activities that were there. We also met our pen-pals, a group of students from a German school, who we spoke to in German and learnt about life in Berlin. Even the day-to-day interactions, in shops and on the street, helped us develop our understanding of the language and boost our confidence in speaking it. We fit all of this, and a guided tour, a camera challenge and more, into just five days. I would wholeheartedly recommend a trip such as this for any language, due to the effect it had on my confidence and understanding of the country - coupled with the fact I had lots of fun.”
Mrs D Williams, Teacher of German