Year 8 Christmas lessons 2014

O Tannenbaum saw a revamp at the end of term with Frau Allen's Year 8 classes writing their own verse to the song....Tis the season to be creative! Frohe Weihnachten🎄

Génération Goldman - Je te donne

Bonjour à tous et à toutes!



Earlier, I've been in a year 10 class and I understood that they liked this song! I thought it could be a great idea to share it with other students!

Enjoy it, try to sing (especially the French part of course!)










There is a version with the lyrics here !




Joyeux Noël et bonne année!

À l'année prochaine!



Mathilde

The Christmas truce 1914 - Joyeux Noël film

I'm sure most of you have seen this advert already, based on the (most probably) true story of a very inofficial truce during the first world war, when on Christmas eve 1914 German and British troops sang Stille Nacht/Silent Night together. The next day they played football and exchanged gifts ...forgetting about the war for a day and finding a moment of true humanity.

There is a wonderful film about this magic moment in history, called 'Joyeux Noël'. It is perfect for the multi-linguists amongst you, as there are bits in English, German and French. Here is a trailer:



Try this link for the first part whole film - at moment the entire film is available on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2RnQXpOZWM




Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année.

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein Glückliches Neues Jahr.

Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo.

Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan.

Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto.

Greetings from our assistants

Susanne Kastberger for German, Mathilde Mortecrette for French and Karen Melo for Spanish have been with us since October to help with speaking practice across the year groups and present cultural aspects of the various languages and the countries where they are spoken. 

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Bienvenida to them and watch this space their contributions and song recommendations....

German Song: Adel Tawil: Zu Hause

Listen to this song by Adel Tawil: 

http://youtu.be/LCUdJ2fEAJs

Video Competition win for Tomlinscote Sixth Formers!

Congratulations to Hanifah Hashim-Subhan, Jasmine Carter and Samantha Carter (all in year 12) who entered the Goethe-Institut video competition for 14-19 year old students, entitled 'Sport ist mein Leben' (sport is my life). 
They produced a 3 minute film in German explaining netball, a sport unknown in Germany (where handball is much more popular). 
We are delighted to announce that the girls have won the UK part of the contest and will soon  receive their first prize in the post, a pair of Beats headphones each! 

Well done to the girls and thank you to the Goethe Institut for this opportunity!

Follow the link below to see our video and the winning entries from Sweden and Denmark. You can vote which one you like best - the overall winners are sent on a weekend trip to Berlin!!

https://www.facebook.com/SportDeutsch?v=app_126231547426086&app_data=%7B%7D



http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WWLvbE0QWng. 


Unfortunately, the girls didn't win the trip to Berlin, but they were very happy to receive their early Christmas presents!

25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall

25 years ago, the wall which divided East and West Berlin was finally opened. Germany had been divided since the end of the second world war, and since 1961, a wall had cut Berlin in half, separating families and friends, keeping people from entering the free democratic Western parts. Anyone who tried was short at and over 300 East Germans died in Berlin alone when they tried to escape!

Imagine a wall suddenly appearing between Frimley and Camberley keeping you from seeing your friends and family

Knowing this, you can maybe understand the joy Berliners felt when the heavily guarded border check points were finally opened on the night of the 9th of November 1989. Masses were on the streets and soon people started climbing on the wall and picking at it, trying to tear it down.

Not long after, East and West Germany were unified again and today in Berlin, you can barely see were the wall once stood - apart from a line of bricks in the ground commemorating the cruel division.
As part of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall, there was a chain of lit balloons along the site of the wall. On the 9th of November, the balloons were released into the night sky, dismantling the line and making it disappear, like all those years ago.

Have a look at this lovely video of the moment the balloons were released:
http://www.br.de/nachrichten/berlin-mauerfall-mauer-102.html

As a private study idea for A-Level and year 11: have a look at the time line of events from the building of the wall until its fall:
http://www.br.de/nachrichten/mauerfall-berliner-mauer-100.html

German exchange - Dienstag

Home time! So the students met at school today, brought their suitcases to school and attended the first 3 lessons with their partners. We then had a brief farewell where there some tears were witnessed, no names mentioned! (This isactually a very good sign, which any teacher who has organised an exchange will understand). We then drove to the airport, checked in and had a very prompt departure back to London Heathrow. After a small amount of drama trying to find the coach, a large amount of Kinder chocolate products eaten and a huge amount of rain, we arrived back at Tomlinscote 5 minutes after our scheduled arrival time (gutes deutsches Timing!) All students left quickly in the rain, but a great time was had by all. We already look forward to Wendlingen 2015.

French Exchange - we're coming back

Back in Britain - arrival at Tomlinscote due at 4.00PM as planned.

Congratulations to all students involved for their commitment, enthusiasm and friendliness.

Miss Streeter and Mr Daniel

French Exchange - last day in Lille!

Today, whilst Year 9 and 10 pupils attended a few more lessons with their partners, Year 12 students spent more time with Primary School children. As well as acting as classroom assistants, they did some presentations on French people's favourite topics of interest: British food, the Royal Family, school uniforms, London transport and famous landmarks.

They absolutely loved the attention paid to them.

(Unfortunately, we did not manage to make it to every classroom where 6th Formers were helping - apologies to the students who do not feature on this blog).






In the afternoon, Miss Streeter organised a photography competition in the centre of Lille for Year 9 and 10 students.



She was absolutely overwhelmed with the quality of the entries submitted. Here are a few sample pictures taken by Aidan, Nathan, Ollie and Tim.

After the last evening with families, we will be saying goodbye to the French and to Lille before returning to Tomlinscote tomorrow.

We are all looking forward to March when the French party will be coming over and we will be able to share all different aspects of our home and school life with them.

A bientôt.

German exchange - Montag, Tübingen

After a brief meeting at school, all 29 students made their way to the train station with Herr Bystricky from the RBG. We boarded the train and arrived in Tübingen with plenty of time to meet our tour guide, Elizabeth. We walked up and down many hills, got some pictures of the view over Tübingen and were shown other points of historical interest in the town.

After the tour, the students had some free time to get their lunch and spend the last of their money, before we headed to the meeting point for the Stocherkahnfahrt (punting!). After climbing precariously on to the boat, the two boats set off, professionally punted by our two guides. 

There was some rocking but all stayed safe and dry, and even had time to chant at one guide who Jacob decided to nickname 'Günter' which he loved! 

We then had some free time in the park before heading back to the train station and the students were then met in Wendlingen to spend their final evening with their partners.

Will there be lots of tears tomorrow....we'll have to wait and see!