FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!
A German start to the festive season for our lucky Year 9 language pupils.
It's not a coincidence that our German exchange trip heads out to Germany in December – the famous markets and other Christmas traditions are a key part of German culture and for nine lucky MFL pupils it proved the perfect way to kick start their run up to Christmas.
Internat Solling in Holzminden is a small boarding school just 90 minutes from the city of Hannover, with approximately 150 boarders and 50 day pupils. For the last week of term our German language students from Year 9 were fortunate to fully immerse themselves in school life with 4 of our pupils looked after superbly by boarders and staff within the campus. Five of our pupils were able to stay locally with two of our pupils even enjoying the good fortune to stay in Castle Corvey for the week culminating in our two ‘princesses’, assisted by their host family, taking the whole group on a guided tour!
Even though there was plenty of free time for activities, not least invitations to their popular Christmas concert, dinner and disco, the pupils spent the majority of their week days in lessons. This is not always easy – a chemistry or Maths lesson carried out completely in German after only a couple of years of learning the language presents a challenge of a special kind for our pupils! It was so impressive to see how our pupils were fully engaged and trying their best at all times. The aim of our German exchange is not only for our pupils to speak the language for themselves over a prolonged period of time but also to hear the language spoken in context by native speakers. It is an experience for pupils that can never be truly replicated in the classroom at home and therefore invaluable in enabling our pupils to fully grasp the nuances of a language they are all keen to master.
We very much look forward to welcoming our German friends for a return visit here in Warminster in June 2020 and feel sure that our magnificent Georgian architecture will be every bit as impressive for our exchange friends.
Barbara Berrisford, Housemistress Stratton House, German Teacher