Edible news from the Russian Department

At the end of September, members of Years 10, 11, and 12 visited Harrow School one Saturday for a ‘Day at the Dacha’ event. Students of Russian at Harrow School delivered presentations on life at the ‘Dacha’ over the last 100 years, and our students were entertained by a balalaika-playing singer who taught them some simple folk songs and games. This drummed up quite an appetite for traditional Pirozhki (pies) of all shapes and fillings.

German Partnership Exchange – Return visit 1st to 5th June 2025

Earlier this term we were able to welcome 20 students to Presdales for the second time, from our German Partnership school ‘Gymnasium am Neandertal’ (Gymneander for short!). They were with us for 5 days experiencing life in an English school with a full programme of events both in and out of school. The visit began with a joint visit to London, when we showed our visitors the major attractions, picnicked in Green Park and spent some time in Covent Garden. They also experienced a normal school day with lessons at Presdales, a visit to Scott’s Grotto, and a Town trail in Ware. Our parents generously donated items for the traditional cream tea, including large numbers of scones, clotted cream and jam as well as home baked Victoria sponge cake. A highlight this year was when our German partners visited their partners in their homes for tea on one evening. We said our final Good Bye this year at a Pizza and pool party in our own pool. The weather was kind and we had lots of fun.

It was lovely to see our students taking good care of their partners, who they had already visited in Germany, and friendships developing with our students across the school. Thank you to parents and carers who have supported this partnership, which we hope will continue to develop and grow. The photos and the comments below from parents and students convey the real exchange of ideas and experiences.

‘We just wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for the wonderful exchange programme. It was a fantastic opportunity and our daughter has gained a lot from both the trip to Germany and the reciprocal visit here. The opportunity to connect with her partner beforehand was very beneficial.’

‘It was a delight to meet ……….who graciously answered all of our questions from ‘what was covid lockdown like for you in Germany’ to ‘has it hit the news in Germany that Peppa Pig has a new baby sister’?

‘I just want to say how nice and polite the boys are. They have just gone over to the park to play football with my little boy, who is 10 and is football mad like the boys.’

‘I tried to speak some German to my partner and learnt a few new words like Marienkäfer which means ladybird. The trip to Germany helped with my independance and confidence as I was in a new environment and had to use my German vocabulary skills.’

‘I really enjoyed every part of the trip, it was the best school trip I’ve ever been on, my favourite part about the trip was just having the partners as we became really good friends and we have kept contact with each other and are planning on visiting each other, I really liked the homestay as it showed us how they spent some of their time outside of school like going to the park or going to get ice cream, I also really loved going to the rowing club as it was one of the best things as we got to eat some German food with our partners and we got to try rowing at their local rowing club, another thing I really liked was Phantasialand as we got to spend most of the day there with just our friends and go on all the rides, eat lunch and just generally have the best time.’

‘We tried to practice German with our partners while they were in England and at the homestay we were teaching them English tongue twisters and they were teaching us German ones.’

‘I spoke some German and only heard the partners speaking it to each other. I liked how it helped the German partners learn more about England and what British people are like.’

‘I would definitely recommend the exchange to other students as you have a lot more independence on this one than you do in other trips. It was also very eye opening to speak to my partner and learn more about German culture and what it would be like to live there. It was definitely worth the money and I really enjoyed it and made memories that will last forever. One piece of advice I would give to someone would be to not worry about the language barrier as they do speak a lot of English and will not judge you if you test out your German on them.’

‘I liked going to my partners house as it was cool to learn more about her and what she likes to do for fun.’

Online workshop with the University of Bristol

On Tuesday 21st January Year 12 students of Italian were given an insight into one of the hottest Italian TV series of the moment during an interactive workshop with the University of Bristol. Professor Catherine O’Rawe, who has recently been writing a book about Italian youth television, told us all about Mare Fuori, a gritty teen drama set in a fictional juvenile prison in Naples.

During the session we considered different representations of the city, looking at the inviting clichés portrayed in two Dolce & Gabbana adverts and contrasting them with the dark and dangerous criminal underworld seen in the Mare Fuori trailer. Then Professor O’Rawe told us about Neapolitan melodrama and we saw examples of this while analysing the emotion and physicality in a very raw scene from the series. We then discussed music from the series and analysed the lyrics of a song. Professor O’Rawe was very impressed with the engagement of our students and the session provided a taste of what it’s like to study Italian at undergraduate level. In fact, Nyah and Polly, two of our former students, are currently in their third year studying Italian in Professor O’Rawe’s department! Mrs Evenden

What did the students say?

I enjoyed it because it was a nice wider application of our understanding. It helped consolidate and introduce knowledge on Italian culture. I also enjoyed having discussions with our class and listening to the professor’s insight. Sai

I enjoyed learning about Italian culture and the media industry. I was surprised that Naples is so heavily romanticised and the dangers of the place that is hidden from the public. Sophia

It was very interesting to learn about different media in Italy and I loved learning more about Naples. Lara

I found the themes very interesting. I liked how the adverts and the trailer presented Naples in very different lights. I was surprised by the fact that some of the actors in the show were not professional. Elizabeth

I was already aware that different cities in Italy had different dialects. However, hearing the Neapolitan dialect was shocking! Madelina I thought it was interesting to compare the representation of Naples in adverts compared to in Mare Fuori. I enjoyed analysing the lyrics and thinking about the use of different tenses. Jess