Modern Languages Trips
In February 2007 six girls from Lower Sixth, accompanied by Mrs Hoare and Mrs Wyeth, visited Berlin over half-term.
Travelling by underground, bus and tram we managed to visit most of the famous sites of the city. We had breakfast in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Television Tower, visited Checkpoint Charlie with its fascinating museum, walked around the dome of the Reichstag and strolled down Unter den Linden.
We even celebrated Catherine’s birthday with coffee and cake in the Café at the Opera House – and Germans do very good cake indeed!
Girls being girls, we managed to fit in some retail therapy between museum visits – the Kadewe is the biggest store on the continent.
For all the girls it was their first visit to Berlin, but not the last. As they say in German : Berlin ist immer eine Reise wert – always worth the journey.
In June a large group of 2nd and 3rd Form girls, who are learning German as their second foreign language, visited Boppard am Rhein in central Germany.
Although based in that pretty little town on the Rhine, we visited lots of interesting places during our stay. In Bonn we visited the Beethoven house and in Köln we were given a guided tour of both the town and the famous cathedral.
However all the girls agreed that the most exciting day was spent at the theme park Phantasialand. There were some seriously scary rides and some very brave girls! Thankfully all the girls made it back to school in one piece.
In November 5 girls from Upper Sixth were invited with a school in England to take part in a debate in Berlin organised by the UK/German Connection organisation. This aims to foster connections amongst young people in both countries and we were very honoured to be the first to take part.
We met with English speakers from the Schiller Grammar School and divided into two teams to prepare the topic: Has the European Union lost touch with its citizens? Alex White and Catherine Baillie formed a team with a young German man, to prepare for the first debate, while Bronagh Smyth acted as the summator for the two German students on her team. Sarah Beacom and Alison Fulford helped prepare the debate and also prepared questions from the floor.
The debate itself took place in the British Embassy and was introduced by the ambassador himself. All the teams performed well, despite the grandeur of the setting. We were also honoured to meet the MEP for Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth.
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Later that day we were all invited to a showcase event at the impressive Foreign Ministry, the Lichthof, and were able to establish firm friendships with both the German and English students. One of the great benefits of the trip, is that we are now setting up an E-pal connection with the German school and look forward to a continuing relationship with them.
BERLIN DEBATE
In November five girls from Upper Sixth were invited with a school in England to take part in a debate in Berlin organised by the UK/German Connection Organisation. This aims to foster connections amongst young people in both countries and we were very honoured to be the first to take part.
We met with English speakers from the Schiller Grammar School and divided into two teams to prepare the topic: Has the European Union lost touch with its citizens? Alex White and Catherine Baillie formed a team with a young German student, to prepare for the first debate, while Bronagh Smyth acted as the summator for the two German students on her team. Sarah Beacom and Alison Fulford helped prepare the debate and also prepared questions from the floor.
The debate itself took place in the British Embassy and was introduced by the ambassador himself. All the teams performed well, despite the grandeur of the setting. We were also honoured to meet the MEP for Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth.
Later that day we were all invited to a showcase event at the impressive Foreign Ministry, the Lichthof, and were able to establish firm friendships with both the German and English students. One of the great benefits of the trip is that we are now setting up an E-pal connection with the German school and look forward to a continuing relationship with them.
2008 Spanish A-level Trip to Alcalá de Henares, Madrid
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On the 15February 2008, a group of seven A-level Spanish students and two teachers, Miss Simpson and conversation teacher, Yasmary, left for Madrid for a fun educational long weekend. We stayed in a university town called Alcala de Henares, where Cervantes, the Spanish equivalent of Shakespeare, was born. We had a guided tour in Spanish on the Saturday morning, when we saw the University, Cervantes’ house, and other local attractions… then spent the rest of the day shopping! Some of us even attempted some salsa dancing!
On Sunday we got up early to get the train to busy Madrid. We visited the Reina Sofia Museum which was very inspiring then, led by Miss Simpson and her excellent navigation skills, headed to the Rastro Market which was very crowded and packed with cheap but typically Spanish memorabilia. After spending the rest of the afternoon sightseeing and shopping in Madrid, we split up and while six of us went back to Alcalá for a relaxing night in, Miss Simpson took two of us to the Atlético Madrid vs. Athletic Bilbao match at the Estadio Vicente Calderón, when we got a small taster of the rivalry between the two areas.
Unfortunately, Monday morning arrived and we packed up. Our last cultural experience was the visit to a local secondary school where we met Spanish students who were very welcoming and eager to practice their English. We all really enjoyed the experience of communicating with them.
The only blip of the weekend was the fact that the flight home was delayed by a few hours. But by then it didn’t matter because we had such a fun-filled, memorable weekend. As Miss Simpson would say, “¡Realmente lo pasamos BOMBA!”
Lydia Hunter, L6R.
January 2008 - A Level French Trip to Paris
Notre excursion à Paris
Que peut-on dire au sujet de Paris ? Elle est la capitale de la culture, de la cuisine, de la mode, et de l’amour. Alors, les élèves de français en première et en terminale y sont allées fin janvier pour améliorer leurs capacités linguistiques et pour se cultiver.
On a décollé jeudi soir, arrivant enfin à l’hôtel (TimHôtel Italie) vers 23 heures, après plusieurs ennuis avec les valises énormes dans le métro. On a approfondi notre expérience culturelle grâce à une visite au Musée d’Orsay où on a vu les peintures très célèbres par les impressionnistes comme Degas et Van Gogh.
Le bateau parisien sur la Seine nous a donné un goût des sites historiques comme la cathédrale de Notre Dame et le Pont Neuf.
Pour nous, les souvenirs spéciaux comprenaient la Tour Eiffel et notre assistance aux chanteurs dans les rues du Quartier Latin. Bien sûr, on a eu le temps pour faire un peu de shopping au Forum des Halles et dans la rue de Rivoli. Le pauvre M. Douglas était dans la minorité ce jour-là ! En plus, nous avons visité les grands magasins et nous sommes promenés aux célèbres Champs Elysées.
Comme nourriture, on a essayé les spécialités de la région, comme les crêpes et les croissants. Un soir, nous avons mangé chez McDo !
La raison principale pour notre visite à Paris était la conférence, « Focus on French » qui s’est déroulée au Palais des Congrès. Michael Portillo, Dan Germaine (fondateur de l’entreprise de smoothie Innocent), et Sir John Sergeant ont tous donné des discours intéressants.
En somme, nous avons passé des vacances fantastiques grâce aux profs, Mme Eakin et M. Douglas. Pour beaucoup d’entre nous, c’était même la première fois que nous avons parlée français avec de véritables francophones.
Rachel Gregg and Laura Payne
