A Day trip to the USA Students of Franz- Ludwig- Gymnasium visit Bamberg Barons High School

Transcription

1 A Day trip to the USA Students of Franz- Ludwig- Gymnasium visit Bamberg Barons High School On April 19 th 2005 my class together with our teachers Mr Chlistalla, Mrs Kocher and our student teacher Mr Borner went to the Warner Barracks in Bamberg. We were expected by the German class of Bamberg Barons High School and their teacher Mrs Geiger at Gate 5. Everybody was teamed up with a Buddy, a pupil who showed his partner around the school. It was really interesting to see the rooms, where the uniforms and weapons are or where young soldiers can practise shooting. In the halls and corridors it was very narrow because everywhere there are lockers and in the classrooms there is carpet and it was quite dark. For me, it was a strange atmosphere. In every classroom there were computers. This is advantageous, but there are not enough for all pupils. The desks and chairs are one piece of furniture, something which is different in my school After that we went with our Buddies to their next lesson. As in a comprehensive-school there are different classes for every subject. My buddy has only seven different subjects and was very surprised as they heard that we have thirteen. They also have only four lessons a day, but one lesson takes one hour and thirty minutes. My first lesson at this school was History. The pupils had to read a lot and sometimes the teacher asked somebody what a special term means. If he/she didn`t know it, somebody else said it (without raising the hand!). It was a totally new situation, that all people spoke English. I could believe being on an exchange-visit in America. After that it was lunchtime and you were allowed to go outside within the Barracks, which, in my opinion, is a great idea. But if you wanted to, you also could eat in school. Then I had Maths. The teacher gave a worksheet to the pupils, which they did the whole lesson. Another striking thing was that the classroom doors were opened all the time and pupils went in and out during the lessons. Some of the pupils were nice and talked to us, others didn`t even notice us. If I had to choose I think I wouldn`t go to this school, because I like it to be in my own classroom and the school building of FLG with its bright rooms. Hannah Schneider, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium, Bamberg

2 Wieviel Uhr ist es gerade zuhause? - Students from all over the world An unforgettable visit When my class, class 8d of the Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium in Bamberg visited the Warner Barracks High School on April the 19 th 2005, together with our English teachers Mr Chlistalla, Ms Kocher and our student teacher Mr Borner, I was so excited! I thought : What if they don t like me? This and many other questions ran through my head. As we got out off our bus, we saw the pupils from the other school. We walked towards them quite shyly and looked at each other. I was so surprised, because I ve imagined them to be all black, but there were many who were white. We went into a room and all sat down. Then everybody got a buddy who should walk around with us and show us their school. I got Amanda. She was a very nice girl and (fortunately (o: ))she was German and I didn t have to speak English with her. First Amanda showed me several rooms. And then we had a German lesson with Mrs Geiger. There the German pupils should introduce themselves in English and the Americans in German. Some Americans did this very well and others, although they had had German for two or three years, weren t very good. In this lesson I thought that there s less discipline than in my school, because the classroom doors were always open and it seemed that everybody could walk in or out anytime. After lunch time we had an English lesson. It really bored me, because first the pupils wrote something, then they read a book and did some role-play. And I didn t know what the book was about, because they started to read in the middle of it. But all in all, I was very impressed by the high school. It was a fantastic visit and I hope we re going to do this again, soon. Helena Breitenbach, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium, Bamberg Students Impressions I visited the history lesson with my buddy.the classroom was bright and there was a carpet on the floor. We were allowed to sit where we wanted to. I was very astonished that the door of the classroom was kept open all the time and the teacher didn`t mind a pupil`s coming or leaving the room during the lesson. The history teacher distributed papers to the pupils with texts about fascism. I also found it interesting that they read the texts for the whole lesson and only sometimes the teacher asked some questions on the text to see if they had understood everything. They made no Hefteintrag (which is the teacher s summary that the pupils should learn for the next lesson) about this case

3 and I think the pupils even have no exercise books. If the teacher asked a question, the pupils answered without raising their hands, but it worked to my astonishment without a disaster. I`m convinced that it wouldn`t work in our class. There would be a lot of noise. The lesson lasted 90 minutes and I found it very exhausting to have one subject for such a long time. But I think it was a really nice day and I`m looking forward to the visit of the American pupils to our school. Stephanie Scherer 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium Zuerst hatten die amerikanischen Schüler eine halbe Stunde Zeit uns ihre Schule, die Sporthalle (welche viel größer als unsere ist) und verschiedene Klassenräume zu zeigen. Die Wände der Klassenzimmer sind mit vielen Plakaten und Postern behängt und in jedem Klassenraum steht mindestens ein Computer. Auch im Unterricht ging es viel lockerer zu als bei uns, die Schüler liefen herum und unterhielten sich. Sehr überrascht waren wir alle über den Militärunterricht, in dem den Schülern auch der Umgang mit Waffen beigebracht wird. Das einzige Negative war, dass die Unterrichtstunden viel länger dauern, als bei uns (90 Minuten). Es war ein sehr lustiger (teils auch wegen der Sprachkenntnisse)und interessanter Tag, den man nicht so schnell vergessen wird! Katrina Raab, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium Stars at the entrance of the school show the best students Am Eingang zur Schule präsentiert: die besten Schülerinnen und Schüler

4 Star Students After arriving in the lobby of the high school, we recognized a strange poster, which showed the names of some pupils next to blue or golden stars. I asked my American buddy about this and found out that the stars are quite the same as a title or a kind of reward and that a golden star was worth more than a blue one. Pupils with stars enjoy special conditions in school life. For example, if they have a golden star they can jump the queue in the cafeteria and get their lunch first. If you want to get such a star you have to work for it in lessons. But teachers are also allowed to take your star away, if you don t do your job anymore. Kristina Graf / Alexander Renner, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium Beloved lockers After getting m y buddy, she showed m e the school. I n m y opinion their classroom s are m ore com fortable than ours. They re friendly and full of things. You should com pare that with our big em pty room s. After that, we went to a lesson (I had Germ an). At lunch tim e we took the bus to the shopping centre. There we could eat Am erican food (I had Pizza. It tasted great.). Then we went back to school and had another lesson. I liked the lockers very m uch. I think that they are the typical Am erican High School furniture in our Germ an idea of Am erican schools. I t would be great if we had them at our school, too. After our last lesson we went back to gate 5 in order to leave. I n m y opinion it was a very exciting day. We should do this again. Nathalie Madarász, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium Exciting lessons in a relaxed atmoshere I found it very exciting, because I have never been to the Barracks before and I didn t know that they are so big. It s like a small town with many sports grounds and supermarkets. My student buddy and the other students were very nice and we could communicate with each other easily. The lessons we saw were also very exciting. The teachers weren t as strict as in our school and the students often worked in groups and sat on their tables. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than at my school. Something I found a bit strange was that students can learn only two languages, German and Spanish. We can learn five languages at our school: Latin, English, French, Greek and Spanish. Sina Weber, class 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium We were very impressed by the guards who had lots of weapons with them. After our arrival each one of us got a buddy, (this means an American partner) for this day. My buddy s name was Nathalie. First of all Nathalie showed me the school building and then the whole area. There were the barracks with many tanks on the parade ground, many sports places, a big mega store, a movie theatre and even a normal theatre. In front of the headquarters I saw some soldiers, which were armed with modern machineguns. After the tour through the area I accompanied Nathalie to her history lessons. The lessons were quite different from ours : one lesson lasts 1 ½ hours and the (only) break is 40 minutes. The atmosphere at school is very relaxed, the pupils are allowed to stand up and walk around. The students help each other if they make mistakes e.g. at reading out a text, without the intervention of the teacher. The biggest difference to our school system is that each pupil can choose his own courses, so he can focus on his talents and preferences. It was a very interesting day with nice people and new experiences, but to me it seems a little bit strange, that the American people live there in a kind of ghetto in the middle of our town. By Julian Niehaus, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium

5 Strange mirrors When we were at the American High School we noticed that at some corners mirrors were put up on the walls, so that you can look around the corner. First we thought, this is against terrorists, because the school is an Army School. But then we asked our English teacher who said that maybe these mirrors are there for safety - to protect the pupils when they run around the corner. Victor Schaermann / Jakob Bötsch, 8 d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium The lockers are there But where are the football- players? In my opinion it was a great, new experience to see how it is at a real American High School : At first everybody got his buddy: My buddy Jasmin was very nice and showed me the school building, some classrooms and other interesting things. I understood her all the time because she`s half German and only talked German. This was on the one hand good, of course; but on the other hand I was a little bit disappointed because I couldn`t practise my English. There are many differences to a German School. The lessons, for example. In many lessons, we saw, the teacher didn`t teach the pupils the way my teachers usually do it. But pupils had to work silently or they could walk around and talk to each other. In a lesson on business everybody did something different: Some read, some worked and somebody even had to do a test. They also have subjects we don`t have, e.g. business (it s like Jura at university) and computer science. It seemed very strange to me that the pupils have military lessons and I don`t think it`s good to learn to shoot and fight at school. I liked that the pupils can leave the school grounds during the lunch break and can eat, e.g. at McDonald s. The classrooms and the pupils looked as I had expected. In typical High School films it is often shown that sport is very important and the football-players and cheerleaders are very popular and always wear their dresses. But I didn`t see any football-players or cheerleaders and I didn`t have the impression that sport is so important there. There were really many things I liked but I don t want to be a High School pupil because I don` t want to be in school till three o `clock every day. In addition (and even more important) I don` t like that you aren`t always together with the same pupils, like in my school. I prefer staying with my friends all morning. Mirjam Lohmaier, 8d, Franz-Ludwig-Gymnasium