By Frau Schindler-Smith, Head of German & MFL

The German Department of NHEHS is very proud to announce that Mariia O, one of our Year 10 German students has been awarded the National Winner of the Year 10 and 11 Prize in the German Oxford Olympiad 2023. The Oxford German Olympiad is in its 11th year and is run by the Oxford German Network. The network is an initiative by the German department of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford, dedicated to productive cross-cultural cooperation involving schools, cultural organisations, businesses, and policy-makers.

The 2023 theme was Kochkunst – Backlust – Esskultur – the Art of Cooking, Joy of Baking and Culture of Eating. This year, all tasks were very well received as they all revolved around food and entries were of very high calibre. Mariia chose the following task:

Write a story about two children from different cultural backgrounds becoming friends through food.

Her writing is a testimony of being able to use another language to a degree that communicates and describes a beautiful moment where 2 young people, with different cultural backgrounds, meet and bond whilst sampling a Ukrainian dish at a food festival and develop a life-long friendship after that; all written in a simple but highly accurate sentence structure in German that is poignant and uplifting at the same time. You can read her story here. The winners were invited to receive their prizes on June 22nd in Oxford.

Wunderbar, we are so proud!

Herzlichen Glueckwunsch Marsha!