Second Day in School - German Exchange

Today, our students accompanied their partners to their lessons again, and some were allowed to join English classes, getting interviewed by year 7 pupils ("How old are you? What's your shoe size? Do you have a girl-friend?") and helping year 9s with their reading comprehension. 

German Exchange - Schwäbische Alb

We've been lucky with the weather again today: although we got rained on a little when we arrived by coach at castle Lichtenstein, by the time our very interesting guided tour finished the sun was melting away the fog to expose a spectacular view over the valley.

A short coach trip later we arrived at the Wilmsener Höhle, the only cave in Germany entered by boat and a tourist attraction since 1803. Even the smaller students had to duck to avoid the limestone rocks and we could smell the Stollen kept inside to mature in the high humidity. 

The sun was shining on us while we walked through beautiful woods and along a pretty creek to Zwiefalten, where we visited the huge catholic church of the former cloister.

After some Brezeln and Berliner from the bakery, we went to Bad Urach for a bit of shopping time - or football on the town square for the 'dudes'...("we don't do shopping, we're dudes, miss.").

We arrived back punctually for some more evening entertainment in the host families, before having our second school day tomorrow.

French Exchange

The French Exchange party left all smiling yesterday morning in order to meet their partners in Lille and fully embrace the French language and culture for a week.

After a short crossing on the Shuttle during which some students desperately tried to spot some fish through the windows (??!), we quickly reached the centre of Lille and the French school where Mr Daullet greeted us.

Once the ice was broken, everyone went home for the first evening home with the French families.

Today, Wednesday, after listening to many tales about the typical French food consumed by our students the previous night (spaghetti bolognese, Domino's pizza, Mc Donald's, kebabs!!!), we made our way to the very centre of Lille for the traditional photo in front of the column and fountain, followed by the treasure hunt in the pouring rain...

A nice hot chocolate was very welcome for some afterwards. We're really missing the English sunshine here!

This afternoon, Year 9 and 10 students followed their partners home for an early finish, followed by exciting activities such as shopping, handball and drama club amongst others.

As for our Year 12 students, they enjoyed the delights of a 2 and a half hour long practice examination paper which unfortunately had to be completed at some point this week...







Tomorrow, younger students will be sampling the French education system at its best whilst 6th Formers will start their Work Experience in the Primary School. Exciting times!

A bientôt.

German Exchange 2014 - Ulm

Today, we visited the town of Ulm, birth place of Albert Einstein and home to the tallest church tower in the world! Guess what we did to work up an appetite!?

(Looking a little worried at the prospect of climbing up there!!!)

The group was joined by some of the German exchange partners to travel by a very fancy double decker train to Ulm. It was grey and cloudy, but slowly clearing up. We had a guided tour through the very pretty town, admiring the beautifully restored half-timbered houses and modern galleries. One tour was in English, while the other was in German: a linguistic challenge for some brave souls and the Germans, who tested their interpreting skills. 

The Ulmer Münster was very impressive, and after the tour all students attempted the ascend - some returning suspiciously early to Frau Mahler who was kindly guarding the rucksacks...the fitter ones braved all 768 steps and enjoyed a fantastic view from 143 metres up (the top is another 20m). 

A short break later to bring shaking knees under control, the group enjoyed some lunch gathering and shopping time, before heading back to Wendlingen (narrowly avoiding a train driver strike). All youngsters seem very happy and are understanding more German every day. 

German Exchange 2014 - Monday

Today, we met our students again at the Robert-Bosch-Gymnasium in Wendlingen, the school their German partners attend. Although lessons started at 7.50, they managed to express some sentences in German about their weekend, telling us about their ice-skating, treeclimbing, handball watching, bowling, barbecuing and football matches. Most exciting was probably the Cannstädter Volksfest, a huge Oktoberfest-style fair with food stands and music tents, scary rides and lots of people in traditional costumes, which some of our youngsters attended with their German hosts.

This is what people wear to the Volksfest: Lederhosen and Dirndl...

Having confirmed that all are happy in their families and trying the local specialities like Maultaschen and Spätzle, we released them to join in their partners' various lessons, from English and maths to Spanish and PE.

 
 

helping to peer assess English essays titled 'Is it wrong to break up a relationship by SMS?'

Do you notice how bare German classrooms are compared with ours? And yes, those really are black boards in the background!!

Later we were welcomed by the headteacher and later in the town hall by the mayor of Wendlingen, who told us about his town and answered questions from our students (some even in German). We were treated to cheese twirls, drinks, caps and pens, and expressed our thanks in the town's visitors book.

the mayor of Wendlingen giving his talk in very good English

  As Jordan wanted to know the mayor's opinion on a new tunnel project to speed up the train connection between Ulm and Stuttgart, we were shown a model later.

At lunch, some went home with their hosts, while others enjoyed the nice food in the school canteen, before facing afternoon lessons.

Tomorrow we're off to Ulm for some sight-seeing....

Exchange in Germany 2014

Today, 29 students from year 9 and 10 left Tomlinscote by coach to arrive at Heathrow at 'Stupid time' (said Tom) and catch a flight to Stuttgart. After a short and pleasant flight, and a brief nervous wait in baggage reclaims, our students greeted happily by their partners and whisked away for the weekend. 

We are looking forward to hearing about what they got up to when we meet in school bright and early on Monday.