By Mrs Schindler-Smith, Head of MFL

As taking part in trips and exchanges to Germany still seem a long way off, we wanted to help our students maintain a sense of purpose and motivation in their language learning. With this in mind, the German department announced earlier this term the launch of an online exchange programme with the Helmholtz Gymnasium in Karlsruhe, a co-educational secondary school with an attached Sixth Form and specialisms in Music, Languages and Science (helmholtz-karlsruhe.de), which we have had contacts with in the past.

This connection will give students the opportunity to use their knowledge of German by writing and speaking to a real person of the same age. Students will be matched up by interest and will receive clear guidance of what topics are suitable for conversation. We encourage this online exchange to be conducted firstly by email or letter, followed by remote face-to-face contact via the school Google Meet platform, whilst adhering to the online acceptable use agreement.

We believe that this initiative will provide our students with the chance to have some bespoke language input from native German speaking pupils, which, in addition to having regular language lessons, will provide a platform to practise communication skills in German whilst also helping their partner in their language learning journey. We hope to eventually visit the school in Karlsruhe, so that students can meet their exchange partner in Germany and vice versa.

Here is how Chris V, Year 9, found the first meeting:

“On Monday, the 15th of March, the two schools from both England and Germany met up via Google Meet. First, each participating student would state their name and a sentence in either English or German. After that we played a Kahoot quiz together. I think the Kahoot had some great questions and I really enjoyed learning more about Germany. After the Kahoot we got a chance to talk to our exchange student in a breakout room, along with another pair. I enjoyed getting to know him and it was really fun. It was a bit challenging in the beginning, but we soon got the hang of it. I really enjoyed the event and I think the other students did too.  I would really enjoy doing it again and get another chance to talk to my exchange student.”