Duisburg Germany 28th November – 1st December 2019

At the end of November, we represented Presdales School and travelled to Germany to take part in a seminar with students and teachers from all over England and Germany. We worked together to understand our cultural differences and build up long lasting friendships in our respective countries.

The British Council organised 24 schools (12 English and 12 German) to work together for 4 days, staying together in a youth hostel in Duisburg. We took part in many icebreaker activities which helped us build our confidence and social skills. On the second day, we went to the ‘Gymnasium am Neandertal’ in the small town of Erkrath with Anne and Raik (the two students representing their school). All the children were excited to see us and we got asked lots of questions about our lives and life in England. We were shown a lot of hospitality by all the staff and students. We met with the headteacher, Herr Gruttmann and two of the teachers who teach English at the school to discuss what it would mean to partner with the school. After having a tour, we spent break time exchanging numbers, taking photos and chatting with the children. Once we had returned to the youth hostel for lunch, we played more icebreaker games with both German and English students. In the evening we played football in the sports hall. On the third day, we went on a trip to the Düsseldorf Christmas markets with Anne and Raik. Together we ate German food and bought souvenirs for ourselves and our families. We got back to the hostel and played more sports. Exhausted, we all went to bed. The next day we met with our partner schools to construct a presentation about our hopes for the future of an exchange. We used the last of our free time saying goodbye to the German students and spending what time we could with the English students.

This trip has been a huge success. We found an amazing partner school and we look forward to a full partnership, exchanging cards, letters and emails, doing projects together and reciprocal exchange visits with the school in the future.

#neandales

Adelaide Peart and Rhianna Venables (Year 9)