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Secondary
German
Resources
How to Organise a Good
German Exchange
ZigZag Education
[email protected]
www.ZigZagEducation.co.uk
Suzanne McConaghy
POD986
This resource may only be copied by the purchasing institution on a single site and for their own use. If you
have any suggestions for this or new resources please contact us through the above website email.
© ZigZag Education, 2004
Contents
CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL EXCHANGE - INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 3
TEACHER’S NOTES - SECTION 1: PREPARATION............................................................................................... 4
GETTING THINGS GOING ................................................................................................................................................. 4
PEOPLE TO ACCOMPANY ................................................................................................................................................. 6
ADMINISTRATION............................................................................................................................................................ 7
ADVERTISING .................................................................................................................................................................. 8
MONEY ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11
TRAVEL ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11
INSURANCE ................................................................................................................................................................... 12
ENTERTAINMENT .......................................................................................................................................................... 12
RUBBISH ....................................................................................................................................................................... 12
COMFORT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12
RULES ........................................................................................................................................................................... 13
EUROSTAR OR FERRY? .................................................................................................................................................. 13
STAFF ............................................................................................................................................................................ 14
GENERAL ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14
COMMUNICATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
THE PROGRAMME ......................................................................................................................................................... 16
THE PARENTS’ MEETING............................................................................................................................................... 18
AGENDA ........................................................................................................................................................................ 18
PUPIL TRAINING SESSIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 21
TEACHER’S NOTES - SECTION 2: ON EXCHANGE ............................................................................................ 23
ARRIVAL ....................................................................................................................................................................... 23
ETIQUETTE .................................................................................................................................................................... 23
SOCIAL PROGRAMME .................................................................................................................................................... 23
PUPILS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 24
WHAT CAN YOU SAY IN YOUR DIARY?........................................................................................................................... 25
RULES FOR VISITS OUT ................................................................................................................................................. 26
DIARIES......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
IN THE NORMAL CLASSROOM ....................................................................................................................................... 27
THE RETURN HOME ...................................................................................................................................................... 28
TEACHER’S NOTES - SECTION 3: THE RETURN VISIT .................................................................................... 29
ORGANISING THE RETURN ............................................................................................................................................ 29
SOCIAL PROGRAMME FOR THE STAFF ........................................................................................................................... 30
THE PROGRAMME .......................................................................................................................................................... 30
LOOKING AFTER VISITORS IN SCHOOL.......................................................................................................................... 32
USING YOUR PARENTS TO THE GREATEST EFFECT ....................................................................................................... 32
YOUR GERMAN EXCHANGE: A STUDY GUIDE FOR PUPILS ......................................................................... 34
AIMS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 34
OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................................................. 34
ACTIVITIES .................................................................................................................................................................... 34
GERMAN EXCHANGE GRAMMAR BOOKLET .................................................................................................................. 41
APPENDIX...................................................................................................................................................................... 51
CONTENTS..................................................................................................................................................................... 51
SECTION 1 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 52
SECTION 2 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 58
SECTION 3 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 70
SECTION 4 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 76
SECTION 5 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 87
SECTION 6 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 91
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
How to Have a Successful Exchange - Introduction
This is a photocopiable resource aimed at smoothing the path for teachers who are organising an
exchange and for pupils about to do one – especially for the first time.
The resource is divided into three parts:
• The teacher’s resource.
• The pupil’s resource.
• The pupil’s notebook.
The teacher’s resource covers preparation for the exchange, being on exchange and receiving your
partners. It includes task sheets to do with your pupils and with your visitors. The appendix
contains useful letters, forms to fill in and other material, which may be of use.
This is to save time, since many teachers undertake organising an exchange in their own time.
The pupil’s resource, covering the same sections as above, comes in the form of a personal studyguide, which pupils may follow. Keen pupils can really get involved in the exchange early in the
process.
The pupil’s notebook is an extremely useful booklet, containing essential grammar and phrases –
indispensable, if you intend your pupils to write a diary in the target language – but useful even if
you do not. The booklet is a number of separate sheets, which can be photocopied and
assembled into an A4 or A5 booklet - one for each participant and one for any non-linguist staff
who may be accompanying! These have always been very much appreciated by staff.
Few schools will have the time to carry out all of the activities suggested. However, all have been
tried and found to be good. You must make your selection.
Bon Voyage!
Gute Reise!
Buen Viaje!
Languages resources from ZigZag Education are listed on our website at
www.zigzageducation.co.uk.
Teachers who are interested in having their resources published can register on the author support
website at www.PublishMeNow.co.uk.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Teacher’s Notes - Section 1: Preparation
There is no doubt that good organisation lies at the heart of any successful exchange. The
organisation does not confine itself merely to the pairing of the pupils and the arrangements for
the journey.
It starts with convincing your fellow members of staff of the idea that doing an exchange is not
only necessary, but also desirable for a school and that everyone can and should participate.
It means preparing pupils for what they will have to cope with and giving them the tools with
which to do so.
And it means giving your exchange partners an excellent experience when they pay a return visit.
They may, indeed, be the first to cross the Channel, in which case, your task is both easier and
more difficult – easier, because you can set the pace and will not be trying to live up to what may
have seemed an impossibly high standard; more difficult, because the pupils will not really know
each other and, particularly on a first exchange, you will not know what the expectations are.
Getting Things Going
A school that has a good success rate in languages will nearly always have one or more highprofile exchanges.
On deciding to organise an exchange, the first thing to recognise is that you cannot do it all
yourself. The second thing is that, however much your colleagues and Head Teacher approve of
what you are doing, you are always going to be a nuisance to everyone, so you need to make sure
your arrangements are impeccable, that everyone has plenty of advance warning and that you
don’t inadvertently arrange for things to happen, just when that year group is taking exams or
another department has set up a really important event they absolutely have to attend.
To avoid these pitfalls:
• Discuss the principle with the Head and your Curriculum area.
• Consult the person who runs the school calendar.
• Consult the year heads of the groups you wish to take.
• In each case, obtain a range of possible dates for outward and return visits.
• Discuss these with your partner school colleagues to fix on something convenient to both
sides.
The French and Germans, in particular, often have very fixed dates and French colleagues
will almost never agree to visits being during holidays – which, of course, rarely really
match our own.
Now that you have agreed dates, set about raising awareness in school, both with colleagues and
pupils. With regard to staff, try some of the following:
• Explain what you are doing at a full staff meeting (start with some simple facts: where the
exchange school is, the proposed dates, the year group(s) who will be involved and so on).
If you can get some video-ed material from the partner school or town, so much the better.
• Approach various members of staff individually, who, you think, may be interested in
accompanying the group, receiving a member of staff from the partner school or helping
with arrangements in school.
• Talk to your own language colleagues – you will need full support there, but if you have
more than one exchange, you need to spread the burden.
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You need staff who can do the following:
• Accompany the group.
• Receive colleagues from the partner school.
• Help with administration.
• Help with training students.
Administration is the nightmare. It looks a bit like this:
Training pupils
Advertising
Arranging parents’ meetings
Organising the journey
Compliance with LEA rules
Collecting deposits and the
remainder of money
Passports
Health
forms
Letters to
parents
Consent forms
Information in parents’ newsletter
Programme of visits
Staff contacts
Parent contacts
Reminders
etc., etc., etc.
And that’s just the outward journey! For the return:
Ensuring staff awareness
Booking the hall for social/
disco
Organising timetable for
German pupils in lessons
Organising staff
social visits
Programme of
visits
Letters and phone
calls to German staff
Placing pupils whose
partners have moved on
In the following sections, we deal with each of these matters. I make the assumption that you will
do the first visit and receive your guests afterwards. This is the best way round, as your pupils are
thrown in at the deep end – and they usually swim quite well! Imagine the problem of going to
stay with someone whom you know you do not like – whereas receiving someone you don’t like
as a guest is much easier! I must say that it is rare that students dislike each other in any serious
way, but it can happen. I have also assumed a group of 24–30 pupils.
You minimise the risk by ensuring that they have a great deal of contact by letter, well before that
first meeting. In this way, some wonderful and lasting friendships are formed. I have never had
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an exchange where at least a third (and usually practically all) of the students did not burst into
tears and hug each other desparately, as their teachers and coach drivers struggled to get them
on board in order to leave.
So, you have your exchange school and you have agreed dates. As the instigator, you need to go
on the first, possibly the first two exchanges, each time, taking with you another linguist who can
lead the exchange next time. There must be a leader: no such enterprise can go forward
successfully without a leader. There must be someone who lays down rules of conduct and
ensures they are observed. The school and the teachers concerned bear a large responsibility, so
make sure, it is possible to do this without it all proving too much.
People to Accompany
Ask at least one other linguist to accompany you. If you were ill, the other person could take
over. It has never been a problem to communicate in Germany, where so many people are just
waiting for the opportunity to practise their often-excellent English. The problem in Germany is
more often getting the opportunity to speak German! Nevertheless, it has always been useful to
have at least two speakers of the target language.
This proved particularly important when a child was seriously ill and one of us had to spend 48
hours at the hospital while the other continued with a partner - school colleague to make things
work for the rest of the group. This was a rare situation, but I was grateful to have with me
colleagues who could confidently handle the language.
Train a younger member of staff, taking him or her as deputy leader in Year 1 and as leader with
you as deputy in Year 2 – deferring, of course to him or her, except where you can see serious
problems will arise.
Approach colleagues in other subject areas. Gradually build a list of:
• Colleagues who will enjoy the opportunity to practise their French, German or Spanish.
• Colleagues who like a chance to sample the cuisine of other countries.
• Those younger colleagues who still identify with the pupils and can prove invaluable.
• Colleagues in sport, art or music who wouldn’t mind doing a joint project with a partner
school – this can be very simple, with each group producing, say, artwork or cassettes on a
theme and then performing in the other’s school – it gives a real focus and will encourage
some of the reluctant linguists to participate.
Think about including your language assistant as an adult accompanying. I have taken our
Japanese student teacher to Germany and our German assistant to both France and a part of
Germany she was not familiar with.
Consider 6th formers who are over eighteen as extra accompanying adults. This can be done with
A-Level linguists who cannot afford a stay in the country on their own resources.
Naturally, these younger people are never left in sole charge, but their help is usually much
appreciated. Don’t forget to check that you are complying with your LEA’s rules and rules
concerned with school journeys and the proper supervision of young people.
Finally, consider taking a retired teacher or a parent, particularly one who has been a teacher at
some stage. The only one, who may not appreciate this, is perhaps their own child.
To enable teachers with young families to participate, we have at times set up a mini-exchange
with another teacher in the partner school with children of the same age. They each agree to look
after the other’s child in the country, to free the accompanying teacher completely. Normally, in
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these circumstances, the child is completely integrated into the host family, attends school with
their children and does not accompany the parent during the day when his/her whole attention
must be on the group. This is a fantastic language boost for the child.
Administration
If you succeed in making an exchange be seen as a school thing rather than just something done
by the Languages people, you should be able to get help with some of the administrative things,
for example:
• Collection of money.
• Reprographics.
• Organising transport.
• Booking visits for your return.
You should also negotiate with your head teacher to have some time set aside for the organisation
of the exchange – the burden can otherwise be extreme.
It could be helpful at this stage to look at a timetable of events leading up to departure and to the
return visit. These will vary from school to school but should nevertheless give a good idea as to
what should be done and when:
For an exchange taking place in March:
When
What to do
Sept.
Check available dates in the calendar.
Sept.
Agree dates of outward and return visits with the partner school.
Sept./Oct.
Fix who will (probably) accompany the pupils.
Oct.
Inform parents through the school newsletter and letters home of
the forthcoming exchange.
Inform pupils in the correct year group(s). To keep the exchange
alive and well, I never restricted it to a single year group and always
allowed return visits – this sometimes meant pupils had a new
partner the second time around.
Make a preliminary booking of a coach. Once you have a driver
who clearly gets on with children and whose attitude to behaviour in
the coach reinforces your own discipline, request that driver on
future occasions. Organising air travel can be left a little later.
Hold a preliminary meeting of interested pupils.
Oct.
Oct.
Oct.
Oct./Nov.
Oct.
Nov.
Collect profile sheets and deposits from the pupils. The latter
should be up to a third of the total cost. On a first exchange, you
will have to have made some very early decisions about what you
will be doing, so that you have a reasonable idea of the total cost.
Agree with partner school colleagues who will do the pairing,
insisting on discussion of any ‘problem’ situations.
Organise collective passport or ensure all students get own
passports.
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Nov./Dec.
Jan.
Send off children’s letters (and profiles, if your partner school is
doing the pairing) in one large packet. Later, encourage pupils to
keep on writing individually.
Present your idea of a good programme to your partner school,
which you will finally agree together.
Hold a parents and pupils’ meeting (have an agenda and be
prepared for questions).
Check what is necessary for compliance.
Nov.-Feb.
Collect cheques from pupils – discourage cash.
Jan./Feb./Mar.
Start pupil training sessions.
Jan.
Set up contact parents and staff.
Nov.-Mar.
Keep the information flowing, informing parents of any changes in
plan.
Ensure all consent forms are signed, medical information in place,
etc.
Arrange insurance for the group – this can usually be done relatively
late and inexpensively through your local authority.
Print off pupil booklets and other information you want them to
have, including a copy of the programme.
Print off (or take with you the master copies of) any worksheets you
intend to use whilst away. Collect materials necessary for activities
you intend to send out.
Ensure agreed amount of money is paid into your account to cover
all entry prices, expenses, etc. You should not be placed in a
situation where you have to claim back afterwards. Make sure you
also have an amount in cash, divided into small amounts, if you will
be handing out money to children to buy breakfast on the ferry, for
example.
A last letter to parents with all the important information set out and
one or two important reminders. This will also contain a telephone
contact sheet.
Dec.
Late Jan.
Jan.-Mar.
Feb.
Mar.
Mar.
One week
before
2-3 days
before
departure
Naturally, this is not an inflexible timetable. I generally hold a parents and pupils’ meeting
approximately 5-6 weeks before departure, so that most of the information is to hand and I can
ask for any necessary, last minute items – or help.
Advertising
You have secured general agreement, you have more or less sorted out who will accompany and
you have the dates, so now, you need to advertise as vigorously as possible. You can do this
through:
• School newsletter/parents’ bulletin.
• Individual letters to parents.
• Talking about it in class.
• Posters put up around the school, giving the most important details.
Follow this up very quickly – within 10 days of the information coming out – by a lunchtime
meeting for all interested pupils, during which you can do a number of things:
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1.
2.
3.
Take name and form (you want to be able to get back to them really quickly).
Have a couple of the most enthusiastic of last year’s participants to talk to the assembled
pupils for a minute or two on their experiences
Answer questions; these will come in the following form:
• Do I get to choose my partner?
• Can I have a boy? (from a girl, or vice versa)
• What if I don’t like him/ her?
• Can I see my friends when I’m over there?
• Can two of us stay together in the same family?
• Do we have to do any work?
• Can we go shopping?
• We’re on income support – can we get help with the cost?
• What if I can’t make myself understood at all?
• I can only go on one school trip – is it better to do the ski trip or the exchange?
You need to have thought through what you will say in answer to these questions.
It is important that pupils understand that they are going to the country to learn about the
culture and to improve their listening skills and spoken language. However, it is also
important to stress that it is a life-changing experience, which they should not miss and that
they will indeed have a lot of fun. Do include a couple of shopping trips and ‘play’ time in the
programme – sometimes, they need to relax and just be with their friends; this is particularly
true of the 13-16 age group.
How you pitch the information is crucial. This is where those former participants come in.
They are particularly effective if they have arranged a second exchange with same person
privately in the holidays, or if they are keen to accompany the school group a second time.
This shows real enthusiasm and helps to convince others that it cannot be all that bad. Once
you are regularly doing an exchange, pupils awareness can be heightened right from the
beginning of Year 7, so that, by the time their turn comes, they are very keen to participate.
Younger pupils are much more ready to blend into the family and school and do not suffer
homesickness in the same way, whilst the over-16’s are generally very clear about why they
are doing the exchange.
Fears about making oneself understood are very real and should be dealt with sensitively.
Pupils will often say that what they learnt in lessons wasn’t all that helpful in managing to say
exactly what you want. Reassure the pupil that you will be running a class to help them
overcome problems like that, that during the day, their teachers are usually around and in the
evening are on the end of a telephone, so if there is a real problem, help is at hand.
4.
Be prepared to respond to statements like these:
• I don’t like German (French/Spanish) food.
• I’m a vegetarian, so I won’t be able to stay in anyone else’s family.
• I’m not eating black bread.
• It’s very expensive.
• My mum won’t have anyone else in the house.
• My dad hates the Germans.
• We don’t have enough room at home.
• I’m scared.
• I don’t like German/French/Spanish people.
• I’ll only go if my friend goes.
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There is usually a lot of concern about food, dissipated by talking it through, and you should
reassure the vegetarians that you’ll at least find them a family who will accommodate their
vegetarianism. This can go wrong, however, as I learnt when one child confessed on the way
home that she had eaten nothing but boiled eggs and potatoes for two weeks!
Problems about space in the home can sometimes be overcome by a child keen to go to the
country, but lacking sufficient space to receive a visitor, teaming up with another who would
like to dip a toe in the water but is too scared or feels too unprepared to go this time round.
The second one hosts when the visitors are over and the two families sort out any money
considerations between them. Both pupils usually then share in the entertainment.
Sometimes, it is just a matter of emphasising that it really is OK to share a room with the
foreign visitor, even if it means sleeping on a camp bed yourself.
Prejudice against a particular nation is the hardest to deal with. In the end, it is not worth
making a big issue of it (however angry you may feel). If the child has turned up to hear
more, there is some interest and therefore some hope.
If they need moral support, encourage them to get together a group of two or three who
enjoy being together; this sometimes swells numbers quite a lot.
On the subject of money, most exchanges are considerably less expensive than skiing trips
and the like, so be prepared to talk about what they get for their money.
5.
Finally, show video material, display pictures, show work done on previous exchanges, etc., so
that pupils can form an idea of the area. Every area has its attraction. When we were in
Idstein, at the time we were there, it was the easy access to Frankfurt and it's shopping on
the one hand and the newly opened East German states on the other. This was almost
manufactured as, in fact, it was a long drive to get there. Hannover gave us access to the
nearby Harz Mountains with their lovely villages, mountain railway and grass skiing. In
Toulouse, it was Space Camp, Concorde, high technology – and, of course, the wonderful
climate. In the Auvergne, the volcanoes and snow in April featured largely and the essentially
rural nature of the tiny villages in which our townies found themselves living. You do have to
find the positive points of your area and draw attention to their desirability in order to attract
interest. The best ambassadors for an exchange are often the visiting staff from the partner
school – if they are charming and enthusiastic, they can sell their school a hundred times
over. Weigh up early on in the relationship whether you can use them in this role.
Exchange work as much as anything, because staff believe in the idea of exchanges and
promote them whole-heartedly. At two schools, staff sent their own children to study a few
months in our school and vice versa. As a result of this confidence, friendships grew between
members of staff, even with those who never actually went to the country. This greatly
facilitated matters.
Leave the group with a positive, up-beat view and get the wavering ones to team up with a
friend (who may not even have been at the meeting). Use all those who turned up as your
representatives, encouraging them to feel that the more who participate, the more fun it will
be. Set deadlines for joining the exchange, making it clear they secure a place by bringing in
their completed profile and the deposit cheque. Build a reserve list if numbers are too high as
people do drop out (parent redundancy, leaving the school, clash of dates with important
performance, etc.). Finally, class teachers should be telling their pupils that they should be
participating in the exchange, if they really want to make progress with the language.
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Money
Now you have established who is interested, collect profile sheets and deposits. The profile
sheets, complete with photos, are essential, whoever is doing the pairing. As these and your
deposits come in, give pupils the date and time of the next meeting at which they will be given a
partner. Have this in the calendar already – be prepared. Don’t forget to provide receipts.
Be organised, list names and amounts paid in a notebook, as they are paid. Date each entry. Do
this immediately, so that there is no doubt about who is on the main list and who on the reserve.
If you are doing the money collecting, enter all amounts by the end of that day and pass the
cheques on to the finance clerk immediately. Always check cheques for correct date, amount and
signature. Remember to keep people on the reserve list informed about what is going on. If you
have to collect money yourself, you may find it simpler to designate a particular day, when you are
willing to accept the money. (However, I never actually refuse if someone hands me money at
other times – they are likely to lose it otherwise).
How did you arrive at your figure? It will probably be made up of the following:
• Coach (that will include the ferry).
• Driver’s accommodation (if he stays in the country with you)
or air travel + coaches to and from the airport.
• Transport while in the country.
• Insurance.
• Aspects of the programme (may include coach hire if your own coach does not stay with
you).
• Things provided for pupils, e.g., breakfast/dinner en route, planned treats (ice cream for
everyone after a museum visit, for example).
• A sum for expenses (include 2-3 sessions of coffee during travel for the accompanying staff
and breakfast on the ferry – but it is important not to overdo this), and emergencies.
• Costs of any joint outings your pupils will do when their visitors are in England.
• Costs of any entertainments you may arrange (party, supper, disco, etc. for your guests).
• Money for competition prizes.
• Money to buy present for partner school.
Anything left over should be returned to pupils, if over £10 per person. Otherwise, it can be
allowed to accumulate and may help fund a pupil who could not otherwise afford to take part in an
exchange. See if your school fund can contribute in such cases.
Organise a facility for obtaining money when abroad and ensure you have sufficient cash with you.
Keep receipts for absolutely everything and hand them in at the end with your exchange accounts.
Keep good accounts!
Travel
Either hire a company to arrange the travel for you (more expensive) or organise it yourself,
working with a reliable local coach company. Start early enough, try to work with people you
already know. If they like working with you [this usually means they like - a) your methods of
discipline and the hold you have over the children and b) the respect you and the children show
for them], you can usually book a slot a year in advance at preferential prices and be reasonably
sure of getting your favourite driver (this means he appears to like children and makes clear to
them that he expects a high standard of behaviour in his bus, without upsetting everyone and
spoiling the atmosphere).
If the two schools have airports nearby, you are in an advantageous position; life really could not
be simpler, and a great deal of the stress of the over-long coach journey is removed.
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Insurance
Insurance is essential. School can usually produce a copy of the policy for you to photocopy for
parents. It is essential that they have the chance to look at it and be allowed the opportunity to
arrange further insurance for their child if they wish. Make this information available at the
parents’ meeting.
Entertainment
If forced to travel by coach, prime your pupils in advance with some ideas as to how they might
while away the time. These might include:
• Walkman.
• Diskman/CD Walkman.
• Books.
• Puzzle books.
• Exchange and/or other diary.
• Notebook.
• Musical instrument.
• Songbook.
• Electronic games.
Stall as long as possible (for adult sanity) if you get requests to play someone’s favourite cassette
on the bus cassette machine – or let it mysteriously break down. Warn them at the meeting how
unreliable such things are and how much better it will be to bring their own personal players.
In addition, invite them to bring videos to watch on the coach video player, but warn them that
you will not play any 18’s.
They will automatically have vast quantities of sweets and junk food. Warn them about
dehydration and persuade them to bring plenty of bottled water (in plastic bottles, not glass) and
no crisps – increases dehydration and are horrible, if they get onto the floor.
Rubbish
Provide, or ask pupils to bring, several plastic carrier bags each, which can be hung on the seat
arms to collect rubbish. Staff must be prepared to check that these are being used and, if
necessary, to organise pupils to do a major collection of rubbish. Threaten terrible things if any
chewing gum is found stuck onto anything.
Comfort
Make sure every child has a small bag or rucksack, which they can have with them on the coach,
while large luggage is stowed away.
The bag should contain:
Money
Passport
E111
On board ‘entertainment’
Packed meal
Drinks
Tissues (wet or dry)
Camera and film
Waterproof
Warm sweater
Toothbrush
Underwear change for the fastidious
Diary, notebook or similar
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They should also bring a cushion or pillow, so that they get a little sleep.
Obviously, much of this only applies to travel by coach and, to a certain extent, by train.
Check every child has a valid passport with them (NOT in their main luggage), as they get on to
the coach. Tick them off on your list.
Rules
There are some basic ones, which everyone has to observe:
1. Seatbelts – these have to be worn whenever the coach is in motion. Children cannot be
allowed to kneel on seats, walk around to talk to friends, or sit three to a seat.
2. Control of food and litter, as suggested above.
3. Control of noise. If you allow times when they can make a noise, sing (if that’s really
necessary!) and provide enough breaks to stretch their legs, then they will usually fall in with
your routine.
4. With evening and overnight travel, it is useful to put a video on at around 8.30 p.m., so that
when it finishes, people will respond to requests for everyone to settle down to sleep. Study
your itinerary and try to arrange a settling-down period after a major disturbance, e.g.,
crossing the Channel.
5. Keep them informed with regular bulletins about where you are, how long before you get
there, of information which you may have received on telephoning.
6. Amuse them by organising a quiz or a competition for those who want to take part. (See
appendix for ideas)
7. Have a politeness code –always greet the driver, say ‘Thank you’ as they leave the coach,
always tidy their own area, etc.
8. Always have a clear meeting time at the end of a break
9. Never depart until you have counted your pupils and KNOW they are all there.
10. With younger pupils, it can be very helpful to have something by which they can easily be
recognised in a large crowd (bright yellow sweater, badge, etc.) and something by which you
can be recognised around which the group can gather – flag on a pole or something similar.
Eurostar or Ferry?
The former is simpler but rather boring and, personally, I was unimpressed by being sandwiched
between two other school buses in which the staff clearly thought that controlling their charges
was not one of their duties. This situation makes your task rather harder, even if you have very
co-operative pupils.
The ferry can be very much more relaxed, provides a good moment for a little exercise and relief
from the tedium of the journey and even a breakfast or dinner break. You can forbid your pupils
to go on deck, if you are concerned about this – particularly in bad weather or at night.
Again, you need an easily recognisable routine and a few rules:
• Have a designated meeting place (get one of the staff, with one or two of the pupils, to go
ahead of the main group, to secure a couple of dozen seats in one area, which will be your
territory – much easier on a night ferry, by the way, as it is generally much emptier).
• Arriving there, allow pupils to leave bags if they wish – at least 2 members of staff will be
there at any one time – this has to be the way it is done; other members of staff can go off
to amuse themselves.
• Rehearse with the pupils what they may and may not do:
‰ NOT return to the car-deck.
‰ NOT enter the shop in groups of more than two to four (on some ferries, a member of
staff may have to accompany pupils).
‰ In poor weather, NOT to go on deck (at your parents’ meeting, you will have made
clear what you intend to allow and exactly how much supervision there will be).
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Insist they report in person, every 45 minutes (or whatever time you feel is
appropriate). You will have a list and staff on duty will tick them off, giving any
further instructions at that point.
Insist they remain in groups of three or four people and do NOT go around on their
own.
Arrange a meeting back at that point at a particular time, just prior to docking.
Be prepared to punish those who arrive back late at any particular point. The most
effective punishment is being separated from friends and being obliged to sit with the
teachers for half an hour. You only have to do this a couple of times and everyone
starts to fall into line. It also works very well with people who insist on taking off their
seatbelts and walking around in the coach when it is on the move. By and large,
pupils do NOT want to sit with staff.
These rules are all the more important if your coach and driver(s) stay with you throughout. The
relationship with the driver is paramount and how good or bad it is will be largely due to your
attitude and organisation in these early stages. Do not leave things to chance.
Staff
Staff who are travelling with the pupils have a responsibility throughout the exchange.
However, whilst being vigilant, it is important for relations to be relaxed but firm. Little will be
gained with older pupils by distributing staff throughout the coach; better bag some good seats at
the front (pupils enjoy being at the back, anyway) and arrange a rota (formal or informal) for
strolling to the back from time to time.
Staff should be responsive to rising noise levels or to any boisterous behaviour – AND DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Be prepared to confiscate any inappropriately used objects and isolate
pupils who are behaving badly.
Keep an eye on anyone who complains of feeling sick (it is usually because they have eaten too
many sweets). If there are enough spaces, keep a seat at the front for such cases. Make sure
they have a ‘sick bag’ to hand. Cope quickly and efficiently with any ‘accident’. Come prepared
with the means.
Staff deserve some rest as well. Be very firm about the settling down part – insist on drawing
curtains, putting out lights as it gets darker, lowering sound levels of Walkman, etc. During the
day, a quiet period can be more difficult to achieve, but is also less necessary. If your journey is
17-20 hours (or more) long, you will find that pupils are almost all asleep or in silence towards the
end of the journey.
General
Every member of staff needs a few name lists (alphabetical order) to tick people off as they
reassemble. It is a good idea to arrange groups also for certain activities and have lists made up
for those, too, in advance.
NEVER allow your coach to leave a place until you have ticked your list. The driver does not mind
(even if you are a little late) – he would rather not have to turn around and go back.
Respect the time limits you put on your pupils. At least, the leader must be there to receive them
back and ensure all is well – but, frankly, no members of staff should allow themselves to be late.
What message does this give to the pupils?
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What this says to you, an accompanying member of staff, is that however good the exchange is –
and I have been on some extraordinary ones – it is never really a holiday for the staff concerned.
The member of staff who has too much of his or her own agenda cannot be accommodated. The
agenda is that of the exchange. This does not mean that staff cannot see friends, accept
invitations and generally enjoy their stay in the country – all this is possible with a little cooperation from all concerned.
Communication
When pupils bring in profile sheets and consent forms with their deposits, send them away to
write a first letter to their pen friends. They won’t, at the moment, know the name, but can either
write a ‘Dear Pen friend’ letter or simply do a rough version for the moment and then write to the
particular person when they have a name.
They must always write the letter in the target language, although in subsequent letters (if it gets
that far), they should include English sections: this gives practice in writing the language and
practice in reading for the pen friend. You should persuade your colleagues in the partner school
to adopt the same policy.
Don’t wait too long to send off the first batch of letters – pairing can begin quite early on – the
sooner they can contact one another, the better. Insist that they all get the other person’s e-mail
address – subsequent letters can be just by e-mail, although a lot of girls may not wish to do this,
as many enjoy writing beautiful letters full of drawings and photographs. Boys are often much
happier sending a 2-line e-mail and the 2 lines will generally be about music they have been
listening to and sport. This does not matter: the important thing is to build a relationship.
A model of first letters of varying degrees of difficulty has been included. Pupils just use the parts
that they want. Before you indignantly state that your pupils do not need this kind of support,
please bear this in mind:
• In a good comprehensive school, all pupils studying a language in the target year group
should be eligible to participate in the exchange. Some will have very poor language skills
and a supportive guide will be essential.
• Some very good pupils like support with the initial contact, as they want to get it right.
They will be conscientious and will otherwise take a great deal of your time ensuring they
have made no mistakes. You do not have enough time to do more than give a quick,
reassuring read-through.
• A third, lazy group will not get round to writing at all, if you do not make the task quick and
easy. This reflects badly on you in your partner school.
This is not to say that the German, French or Spanish pupils will be perfect – that is unlikely.
With a very weak class, where a number of pupils want to go on exchange, devote a lesson to
writing a letter and then get them to do a good-looking copy for homework.
Many course books devote a chapter to exchange. While some of the exercises are excellent
(diaries, lists of things to take, shopping dialogues), I have never found following the chapter
particularly useful for getting the exchange going or inspiring enthusiasm. You do need to
personalise things; activities should be tailor-made for your exchange.
Encourage pupils to communicate by other means than letters. Only the bravest will risk the
telephone, but they can do a number of other things:
• Send a card on the girl’s/boy’s birthday.
• Record some of their favourite tracks on a CD or cassette and send it.
• Send photos of recent activities/holiday/family.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Send local post cards and leaflets from the tourist office (cheap and easy to do).
Telephone on a special occasion.
Send photos of self with a group of friends.
Send a post card every time they go anywhere outside their own town – even if it is only a
school trip. You can write just one sentence, e.g., ‘Hier bin ich in Edinburgh mit meiner
Klasse’.
Collect and send things the partner collects, e.g., coins, stamps, cards, info about a
particular singer/actor/football team.
Send English magazine on the hobby of the partner.
The list is endless and these activities do not involve a great deal of time.
Make sure that you check the progress of the communication – ask your colleague from time to
time if there is anyone who has not yet recently received a letter, etc. and FOLLOW IT UP with
your pupils in both negative (no communication) and very positive (lots of letters and information
exchanged) cases.
The Programme
Your chosen programme will have a great influence on the success of the exchange and will
depend on:
• Your philosophy regarding exchanges.
• Restrictions placed on you by money, your school and the attitude of the partner school.
• The age of your pupils.
• The mix of the pupils.
• Anything specific in the curriculum, which is to be done via the vehicle of the exchange.
With all this to bear in mind, creating a programme can be quite difficult and time-consuming.
However, you will be well repaid by devoting a little time to it. You might try the following:
1. Research the area.
•
•
Go to the tourist office website of the area and see what there is available. Then
e-mail or write, asking for leaflets and suggestions. Leave yourself a good deal of time
to get this done and a response received.
Consult you colleague in the area and ask for anything they would recommend.
2. What do you want them to get out of it?
•
•
•
It can be a very good idea to talk to another department in your school to see if you
can set up a mini-project.
A visit to Hanover, allowed the whole group to see an outdoor production of Romeo
and Juliet performed one evening in the Königlichen Gärten. As they were studying this
play in school at the time, seeing it performed in German was a very interesting
experience and led to a number of pieces of work.
During the time we exchanged with a school in Arras, the history department was
delighted to have included a visit to the war graves and the trenches – we could hardly
have avoided that! They did help us set up a project and there was always a least one
member of the history department who would come along as well. They were usually
amazed at the quality of experience when done through the vehicle of the exchange.
The ideal exchange is a balance between work and play. As well as the ‘serious’ visits, you
need the fun - the city tour along with two hours in an enormous shopping centre; the day
spent at Bergen Belsen followed by a day at the Safari Park; the day spent doing research in
Santander followed by a day on a Spanish beach. Without this, your pupils will feel that they
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are not getting a fair deal and they (and you) do need to relax occasionally, as you get
progressively more tired during your stay.
3. Build in some time spent with you, their teacher.
This is important from several points of view:
• At the beginning, so that they can express all their worries, surprise, indignation,
pleasure and test their reactions on you.
• It is also a chance for you to pick up on any problems in the family or with the
correspondent and do something about it early in the stay.
• To capitalise on being in the country to do some language work.
• To help them organise their experiences into a coherent whole.
Usually, the programme does not cover weekends – you expect the family to be totally
responsible for them at the weekend. Inform your parents at the meeting that this will
happen, but that you will be contactable in the event of an emergency. Parents must accept
that families will organise their own progammes at the weekend and that you will not be there
to supervise. However, do discuss with your colleagues from the partner school which
activities are acceptable. Sky-diving may sound brilliant, but unless this has been privately
agreed by both families in advance – and appropriate insurance obtained AND it is clear that
your school has no responsibility, then it cannot go ahead.
Make sure your pupils have busy days, but that every second or third one finishes early, or
they will get too tired. This is particularly true of a long exchange, anything of two weeks or
more. The partner school and various parents will arrange after-school events; actively
encourage groups of parents to work together in this way. It lessens the strain of hosting and
usually means that the social life ends up being rather good. It is also good for the child who
finds himself in an isolated village whilst everyone else is in the town as he or she will be
included. This may not be the type of exchange you envisage, but you have to work within
the realms of the possible and take into account the background of your students and their
ability to adapt.
4. Ensure there are some ‘getting to know you’ activities in the early days of
the exchange.
You are really lucky if there is a good leisure pool nearby, at which all the pupils spend an
afternoon. Most schools will agree to an afternoon off, even if they will not normally release
their pupils. These are usually VERY successful activities and do facilitate good relations from
early on.
Usually, partner schools are very anxious to meet your requirements regarding the programme
and are keen not to have your pupils in school in an unstructured way. Beware, however, of
insufficient classroom space being available for your activities.
The earlier you present this programme to your colleague in Germany, Spain or France, the better.
This is particularly important because:
a. They will need to price all the activities for you.
b. They may have to order transport, if your coach does not stay with you.
c. They will need to fix on members of staff to accompany you in certain circumstances.
d. They will have to arrange a lesson and classroom timetable.
Money (or lack of it) may cut down your ambitions. I have found consistently that French and
German schools, in particular, were well subsidised by the local authority or some educational
group, with pupils often paying half the amount of our own pupils, whilst our schools were always
struggling to balance a good programme with an acceptable amount to charge. Because of this
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imbalance, it is better to work a system where each school is responsible for paying for its own
activities.
I do not subscribe to the idea, with younger pupils, that they should simply spend time in school.
Even my bi-lingual son, understanding everything that went on in the classroom, found three days
of school as much as he could bear – at secondary level. However, two weeks as a pupil in a
primary school at the age of eight was very enjoyable and he was quite willing to repeat the
process the following year.
For the 16+ age group, the school week in school with the partner can work very well, but it
needs an awareness on the part of German school staff that this is going on, so that the visitors
are not ignored or excluded. Our experience of German schools is that they organise this very
well.
Don’t be too wedded to your programme. A little flexibility will not come amiss when your Spanish
colleagues tell you at the last minute that they couldn’t get the coach after all and you’ll have to
swap Tuesday with Friday. Just be grateful they are taking the responsibility, not you. (This has
never actually happened to me in Germany, where arrangements have always been impeccable.)
It does not matter, of course, provided that you are not left high and dry with nothing to do at all.
This occurred once in France. I just organised an impromtu visit into town (a two-mile walk with
35 13-year olds), with a promise of shopping if they could first find me the answers to 25
questions (fortunately compiled on a previous visit). I then bought a huge bag of sweets and
distributed them afterwards as prizes. We finished our day with a drawing/photography
competition (according to certain very specific categories, to be judged on our return to Britain)
and ice cream for all at the only place selling ice cream, which looked large enough to cope with
us. An extravagance perhaps, but, after all, I had the money to pay for it, since I did not have to
pay for the coach and entrance fees. This was a one-off. What it illustrates, however, is the need
to be flexible and prepared for all eventualities.
The Parents’ Meeting
At least 6 weeks before you leave, hold a meeting to which all participants plus parents/carers are
invited.
You need at least one other member of staff there to help with getting information across and
sorting out the administration.
Give plenty of warning to parents and in your letter, ask them to bring anything which you may
still require from them – passport photos (not for a passport, which should have been organised
by now, but for your own records), outstanding cheques, etc.
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Take a register as people enter.
Greeting and a brief introduction.
Show short video of area and former group (of smilling participants doing enjoyable things).
Explain what you need from parents that evening.
Talk about pupil behaviour:
• On the journey.
• In the area.
Say what your expectations for behaviour are and how you and your colleagues will deal with
any infringements.
Make it clear that you have high standards of politeness – give examples, e.g.:
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•
How NOT to treat your host’s house as a hotel (make own bed, offer to help set the
table, do the washing up, etc.).
Make it clear that there are certain things that will not be tolerated under any circumstances:
• Use of alcohol without permission (a lot of families do like to give their guest local wine
and help them experience something which is often part of their way of life – fine in the
family circle).
•
•
6.
7.
8.
Smoking on any premises (however, you certainly cannot prevent them doing it when
you or the parents are not around, if they already smoke).
An absolute ban on any other drugs.
Hand out the programme (see appendix) and talk through it, trying also to give an idea of
what a typical day would be like.
Hand out a ‘What to take with you list’ (see appendix) and go through it, pointing out why
certain items are really essential [comfortable shoes for walking – so much easier now that
everyone wears trainers most of the time: a waterproof (obvious – but do not forget that
noone under twenty-five knows what these are for until they are caught in a downpour, wet
and miserable; you have to educate them); a warm jumper (many of the pupils will have a
mental picture of all other countries as being hot, whatever time of year it is, particularly if
they’ve been to somewhere like Spain)].
Money. Refuse to hold any money for pupils (unless still of primary school age). They will
simply have to learn to look after it themselves. Make suggestions about how they should
carry it and how, once in the country, they should only take a little with them each day, to
avoid loss, pickpockets, etc. being too devastating.
Suggest they take enough Euros in small change (including some English money) to cope with
stops on the journey. Discourage traveller’s cheques completely; these are wasteful and
shameful amounts of commission are charged on cashing them in.
Prior to the meeting, set up an agreement with a local travel agent to provide pupils from your
school with no-commission money during a given period of time. You can distribute a form
with the school logo, which the pupils can present at the counter and thus speed up the
process.
How much should they take?
This is difficult. I have recently suggested around £60, as being more than adequate to buy
stamps, post cards, ice creams, small presents for both host mother (usually flowers or a plant
at the end of the stay) and their own family. Many have brought 2-3 times as much –
sometimes, money they have earned and saved for the event – with which they buy clothes,
skateboards, etc. There is not much you can do about this, with a teen-aged group.
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9. Taking presents
People often find it difficult to decide on a present. Here are some suggestions:
For the small children in the family
For older children – but younger than
the visitor
For pen friend
For parents
Soft toy.
Sweets.
Lego or similar toy car.
Sweets.
Magazines.
Mug.
Notepad or exercise book with something
English written on it.
Pen.
Magazines.
Stationery.
T-shirt.
Pens/pencils/pencil case.
CD.
Box of English biscuits/Scottish shortbread.
Tea (perhaps Twinings in a nice caddy).
Framed picture of your town.
Book about the town or region (I have found
County Books to be a wonderful source of such
books at a tenth of the price you pay elsewhere).
Pottery/china.
The local tourist office can be a good source of presents, providing things like mugs and bowls,
table mats, tea-towels, aprons, books, chocolates, things with a historical reference and
sometimes a local product like china or glass.
Do take the time to make a list of suggestions for parents (see Appendix); it will be very much
appreciated.
Check on all the essentials
- Passport
- E111 - there is still time to do something about these two.
Consent forms
Medical forms, giving permission for treatment whilst away. If any child has a particular problem,
this needs to be on the form and do interview the parent, if it is of a worrying nature.
Embarrassing though this may seem, you need to find out about the occasional bed-wetter (not
the sole preserve of the under-sixes) and the like. Ask parents to come and talk to you privately if
there is a particular problem.
Remind them that children who use inhalers must have them with them – and make sure someone
on the staff can deal with an asthma attack – often brought on by nerves and stress - and some of
your pupils will undoubtedly be suffering from stress before meeting their new family.
You took a register. The next day, post a letter with all this information and a reply slip to any
parents and carers who were unable to turn up. The reply slip should have a
return date on it, so that you know that everyone has had the information.
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Pupil Training Sessions
The aim of these is to help pupils to know what to expect and how to deal with it. These are
usually spread over about 6 x 40 minute sessions (lunch times, if you want most to attend). It will
depend on your type of school and how good pupils are at turning up for such things in their free
time. You may have to programme them into lessons. They need to be in the few weeks before
the departure. You could create a programme similar to this:
Session 1:
Discussion of what to expect and a chance to ask one or two questions, typically:
• What do I do and say when I first meet them?
• What if I am so tired that I just want to go to bed?
• What if I can’t make the shower (etc.) work?
• What should we wear in school?
These will peter out after a few minutes.
Introduce a ‘meet the family’ sketch (see Appendix for a suggestions on role plays) for groups of 3
or 4 pupils. In this session, all pupils can be working on the same thing – and if there is time, try
to perform it at the end of, say, twenty minutes, without the script.
The sketches or role plays
These are in the appendix. They can be copied onto card (A5 size) with English on one side and
German on the other, keeping the instructions on the English side. These cards could be
laminated, so that they can be used many times by different groups. All groups can be doing
different cards at different times. You will need the same number of copies of a sketch, as there
are characters in it.
The whole sheets could also be photocopied for pupils to work further on and to keep in their
exchange files. This means that they are able to refer to them when situations occur.
Pupils
•
•
•
work in pairs (or more):
Reading the English.
Using the target language side and reading it together as in a play.
Learning by heart, then doing the role play, using the English side only as a prompt or
with no prompt at all.
Very little of it will be really new, but pupils always believe that they are not learning what is really
necessary in class. It is more a case of putting together in the right context things they have
already learnt. They are always amazed at how quickly they can learn a conversation; this is
because they already know the material.
Session 2:
Check on the communication process – who has not written recently to their correspondent?
Whose correspondent has not written? Follow up later.
Then do the first role-play (some suggested role-plays are included in the Appendix and can be
photocopied onto cards).
Send pupils away to think about personal projects during the coming week. You might give them
the list of suggestions to choose from if you are not involved in a formal project for your own
school or with your foreign counterparts.
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Session 3:
Pupils can form groups for working on projects. The enthusiastic ones will have worked this out in
advance. You can form further groups with the others. Allow some discussion time and a
commitment to a particular project – but I would always allow a change if, on arrival, they were
inspired by something they encountered and wanted to try something different.
Work on another role-play for 20 minutes.
Tell them to think during the coming week of what they will say to introduce themselves on video.
They can speak in English or in the target language – either would be of interest to the audience.
Tell them you will be filming during the next session
Session 4:
Well before the session, start your video, with a few shots of the school (background commentary
is very useful) and one or two teachers, the caretaker, etc. who can be asked to say a few words.
Depending on your type of school and your relationship with your colleagues (you would only
choose those who are willing participants, this goes without saying), this can be great fun and very
instructive for the foreign students, who will have to decipher the English of a number of different
voices and with different ways of speaking. Naturally, you will coach your colleagues to speak
simply and clearly.
In this session, get each pupil, either alone or with a friend, to introduce himself or herself. They
should say a little about themselves and what they study in school.
Follow with a group photograph or several smaller group photographs.
Send it off to your colleague in the partner school immediately, so that this may be shown before
your arrival.
Session 5:
Do further role-plays. Always be willing to answer questions.
Session 6:
Last minute items of importance - final letters to parents - more role-play, if time.
Hand out the booklets, demonstrate how to use them and insist they are placed in their exchange
folders and brought in their hand luggage on the journey. Pupils do not think they want them
until they are about two hours away from their destination, then they start to work on the
introduction part. Take quite a few extra copies for those who will, inevitably, have lost or
forgotten them.
Purpose of the sessions
•
•
•
•
•
To give pupils confidence.
To allow the free flow of information, so important just before departure.
To permit you to get to know all your charges, a number of whom will have come from
other classes and may not be known to you.
To permit them to get to know each other and the teachers who will be looking after them.
To encourage the group feeling.
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Teacher’s Notes - Section 2: On Exchange
Arrival
The most difficult part is the arrival. Some pupils are very worried and if you have had a long
journey, all are very tired. When they have met up with their allocated family, you and your
colleagues must say good-bye to them briskly, meet as many parents as you can in the process (it
is worth going up to introduce yourself) and make a particular point of talking to any, where there
is a medical or similar problem to cope with.
Staff, too, will then be gathered up and taken off with German colleagues.
It is best if your arrival is Friday or Saturday, as then you get a good, long sleep – your pupils,
tooand the pupils have to be independent straightaway. You will be on tenterhooks during the
first evening, waiting for a telephone call from one of the parents to say something is wrong. You
cannot help feeling like this, but if your preparation of your pupils has been thorough, then any
problem is likely to be small.
Etiquette
Etiquette demands that you bring presents for the family and something interesting for the school
(a book for the library, a framed photograph, maybe of their last year’s exchange group in school
or something similar, etc. and this will be a present from the whole group, from your school). In
some schools, head teachers will send gifts to their opposite number and – real success – head
teachers may visit one another, thus cementing the partnership in a way that cannot be
underestimated.
If you repeat the exchange, you soon develop a good relationship with particular people. For
members of staff new to exchange, the ideal is to be as undemanding a guest as possible, to fit
around their family life and to be prepared to act independently, especially if they have young
children and are working full time. There is, however, a fine line between being independent and
simply treating their home as a hotel. You have to be sensitive also to the fact that families need
a little privacy. At the same time, many people and countries pride themselves on their hospitality
and people would be hurt if you never wanted to do anything with them.
However well travelled one is, most people have not had the experience of spending 10-14 days
with a strange family they have never met before. For this reason, as exchange organiser, I have
always tried to get the details of the staff host families well in advance and encouraged colleagues
to write or get in touch by e-mail or telephone. Inevitably, this does not always work, as people
will drop out of hosting and be replaced by someone else. Foreign colleagues have also not
always appreciated that staff as much as pupils need to try to get to know their hosts a little in
advance.
Social Programme
Usually, there will be a social programme set up for staff, ranging from a semi-formal dinner in a
restaurant, with 20–30 staff present (watch out – you may have to make a speech) to little soirées
in the homes of anglophile staff. What with evening events at school, concerts, theatre and trips
to interesting places over a weekend, you are usually totally exhausted by half way through. The
experiences offered to staff on exchange can be very rich indeed.
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Amongst my own experiences on exchange, but outside the official programme, I number:
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Visiting a mediaeval craft fair with the whole German village involved in a weekend of
mediaeval activities.
Staying overnight at a country mansion, where, at dinner, we witnessed a bottle of
champagne being ‘sabrée’ – that is, having its top taken off with one stroke of a sword,
rather than the more normal method. This was incredibly impressive in the candlelight).
Dinner in a Spanish Basque restaurant to which I was taken by my ardently separatist host.
Cooking an ‘English’ dinner for six, for my hosts and friends.
Being entertained to tea in an Auvergnat farm.
House-sitting (and cat-sitting) for a weekend when my hosts were suddenly called away,
but with a car I could use, if an emergency came up.
And, most bizarre of all, attending a Chinese lesson with one of my hosts.
I must stress that, at all times, I was always contactable in the places I stayed, should something
occur, and never more than an hour or two’s drive away. In addition, we always ensured that at
least one member of staff was in the town and on hand to cope immediately.
Mobile phones have made life much easier in this respect.
It is also true that I turned down a number of invitations, which would have taken me too far
away or for too long. You have responsibilities.
By the time you are half way through your stay, your digestive system may be having a serious
struggle with what is probably much richer food and a lot more alcohol than usual. However, this
is all part of the experience. Enjoy it.
Pupils
Your pupils will be in the same state as you (not the alcohol, hopefully), but much more
bewildered. This is why that first meeting in school after your arrival is so important, especially if
you arrived at the beginning of a weekend and have not seen them since Friday night or Saturday
morning. It gives them a chance to unburden themselves and even the most distant will seem
quite glad to see you. Usually, the meeting is a lively buzz, with everyone excitedly exchanging
views and making comparisons.
You will have arranged to have a classroom for this.
Do a brainstorming session to find out what they think:
• What have you noticed that is really different?
- in the streets?
- in their homes?
- in the way they do things (like eating)?
- in the way that children and parents treat each other? etc.
• What has been your best/most interesting/worst experience so far?
• Where have your been?
• What interesting words or phrases have you collected – write some of them
up on the board and then discuss them.
This will easily take up an hour. Remind students about writing a diary – IN THE TARGET
LANGUAGE – every day. Help them get started in this session, if they have not already done so.
Most of the first day’s programme is about getting to know the school and the town, being
welcomed, and the day will probably end early. Fit in another hour with your pupils at the end of
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the first day or the beginning of the second day, so that you can get the diary - writing started in
earnest. Help them to use the exchange booklet and insist that they use it, so that practically all
their work is correct. Offer a series of prizes for the best diary. Most frequently, you need 1st, 2nd,
and a prize (large bar of chocolate, for instance) for everyone else who has made a reasonable
effort. For some, it is a very hard thing to do, whilst others will produce pages of virtually flawless
target language plus pictures, photographs and personal mementoes attached.
Encourage those with not very much inspiration (or inclination) to collect everything that they can
lay their hands on, which may help illustrate what they have done:
Bus tickets
Menus
Entrance tickets
Maps and plans
Brochures
Sweet, toffee and sugar papers (especially with jokes)
Post cards
etc.
Give the uninspired a list of things that they could consider for each day’s entry, not necessarily
using the same ones every day, although repeating the same correct sentence frequently is no bad
thing, particularly when some of the most difficult grammar can occur in talking about daily
routine: only consider, in German:
Ich bin um sechs Uhr aufgestanden …
… ich habe mich geduscht …
… ich habe das Haus verlassen und dann, …
French and Spanish are hardly easier.
What can you say in your diary?
You can say:
When you
What you
woke up.
got up.
had breakfast.
left the house.
returned home.
- ate.
- drank for various meals.
Where you went at different times.
What you did at different times of day.
Whom you met.
What other people said or did.
What you saw, bought, sent home, etc.
Any events – birthday, celebration, party, outing, etc.
What you thought/felt about things.
Check the diaries to ensure the pupils are using the booklet correctly. Do this while they are
writing. Set the correct atmosphere in which to work and they will be quite prepared to settle
down to an hour or so of this. More reluctant pupils can be grouped around a teacher who works
with them. She or he will be there all the time to guide, discuss and suggest during the session.
Such a group should not be more than three or four pupils.
If you are doing a project, you will need rather more hours in the classroom. It is wise to ensure
that you have worksheets/pupils’ guides prepared in advance, as for many projects, data will need
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to be collected during various outings and then worked on in a classroom session. I have always
been surprised at how unstructured many exchanges are. However, do not overdo the
worksheets.
Use the time travelling to and from various places that you visit to talk with pupils and try to spot
any problems. Notice who is looking bleak or red-eyed and talk to them. It can be helpful to talk
to the friends as well, as they will almost always have more information – and be willing to impart
it!
You cannot cure homesickness, but you can certainly reassure them that it will pass – usually, by
the third day. Try not to allow too much contact with parents. At the parents’ meeting, make
clear that parents can expect a phone call on arrival and then nothing more – encourage them to
communicate by post card or letter, if they desperately want to do so. This is better for all
concerned. And everyone loves to get post.
If anyone is unwell, particularly in France, they will have been taken to the doctor before you are
even aware of it. Unfortunately, this sometimes frightens the English children as, at home, they
would probably just be sent to bed with a painkiller and expected to get up the next morning. I
have always found that host families look after our pupils rather well. Most illness is caused by
exhaustion and rich food – or not eating properly – and is usually over within 24 hours.
Discourage too much sweet-eating. A vast amount is consumed, particularly when travelling.
Rules for Visits Out
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Carry the school name and a contact telephone number with you at all times.
Be at the initial meeting point in school on time.
Greet the coach driver (in the target language, if he is a local driver) – and your teachers, of
course.
Keep the coach quiet and clean.
Sit on your seat at all times that the coach is moving.
When tickets, etc., are being collected at a venue, stay together in a group.
Respect other tourists’ desire to hear what a guide is saying, so don’t chatter.
Use a foreign guide as a chance to practise your listening skills.
Say ‘thank you’ when appropriate.
When allowed to go off together (e.g., for shopping), stay together in your designated
groups of at least 3 people – never go off on your own.
Don’t eat and drink too much junk food – it will make you ill.
Carefully memorise the time and place of meeting and DON’T BE LATE. One member of the
group should have a watch.
Remember your teachers get tired too, as they are on duty all of the time, so keep things
calm on the way back
Have fun!
(See Appendix for pupil’s copy).
I would give out these rules, along with the language booklet, in your last session before leaving
England and make pupils read them with you, straightaway – and even discuss them, if you feel
that it is appropriate.
Diaries
Set deadlines for these – no more than three weeks after the exchange is over. Everyone has to
contribute, even if it is a rather meagre effort. If you have been working hard and guiding your
pupils in the classroom sessions, everyone will have something to give in.
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Ask a colleague or the head teacher in your school to judge them and to award prizes in an
assembly. If your return visit happens fairly soon, you will be holding another parents’ meeting
and should mention the winners at that meeting. One year, we held a celebratory evening and
awarded prizes at that meeting before discussing the return visit.
In the Normal Classroom
Some teachers are wonderful at welcoming these foreign children into their classroom and others
will simply ignore them. They should not, if your colleague has done his or her work well.
However, prepare your pupils for this eventuality as well.
1. Being used by the teacher as a teaching tool
This is nice if your pupils can rise to the occasion, so tell them that they may be asked:
a. - to talk about their school or home town (in English, of course).
b. - to read a passage from a book (practise this with some if you think it necessary, in
your preparatory sessions, making them read slowly and clearly, taking due note of the
punctuation).
c. - to help the teacher with certain aspects of pronunciation.
d. - to take a role in a sketch.
e. - to answer questions from the class.
2. Being treated as a normal member of the class
This will usually happen when the class is not English. If the class is, for example, maths or
art, that’s fine, pupils usually understand. However, something like geography or history may
well prove a complete mystery.
Ensure that your pupils are prepared. Provide them with a series of worksheets they can do
for occasions when they are not included, when there are tests going on, etc. Insist they
have their diary with them at all times when in school. With these activities, they should be
able to occupy themselves and not become too bored.
Useful worksheets (included in the Appendix) are:
• Describe the teacher and what he/she does during the lesson.
• Describe the class and the classroom.
There are many others.
3. Excluded from class
I have occasionally found children excluded from class for no apparent reason, especially in
France, where a class may be sent home if a teacher is absent. Make sure that your students
know where to find you and have a few tasks ready for those who ‘have nothing to do’.
Possibilities include:
• Do a drawn survey of the school – draw up a plan and label, list the differences
between their school and your school. This can form part of display material for your
return.
• Set up an interview with a teacher or a pupil.
• Have arranged in advance a gathering point where pupils can come and write their
diaries, with you there to support their efforts.
• Have a session with the few unoccupied pupils, discussing things, encouraging them to
talk.
• Work on the ‘grand project’ you are doing; one set of pupils produced a giant collage of
‘life in Germany’ – by the end of the stay, it adorned the walls of the school entrance
hall and was then rolled up and taken back to Britain and newly-developed photos
added to it.
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•
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Work on individual projects they may have chosen/been given.
The secret of success is always to be prepared for the eventuality that arrangements
are not perfect.
The Return Home
The morning or evening of departure will be an emotional one. Be prepared for pupils who said
that they did not really like each other to embrace one another and break into tears. Do not be
surprised if you have to prise them apart. Don’t even be surprised if you have to prise the parents
off them either. Make a point of speaking to as many parents as you can before you leave – many
will insist on speaking to you, to tell you of the good relationship they have formed. The pupils
will be laden with food, illicit bottles of wine and more chocolate and sweets than they can cope
with.
Discourage pupils from bringing back any wine (and parents from giving any, though you will not
succeed) and do not offer to make it part of your allowance – not if you want to bring some back
yourself! The desire is always for the parents to send wine as a present to the other set of
parents, be they German, Spanish or French.
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Teacher’s Notes - Section 3: The Return Visit
Immediately on your return, you will need a debriefing session with the pupils:
• Answer any questions.
• Remind about getting the diaries in.
• Get help with mounting displays of project work, photographs, information about the area
you have visited – start to target the next year’s group immediately. You could even have
next year’s letters ready before you leave, so that you can get them out straightaway. Have
you chosen the pupils who will really help you to raise awareness?
• Hand out letters to this year’s group containing
1. Praise for good behaviour, etc.
2. Reminder about parents’ meeting for return visit.
Organise the judging of the photo competition and any other competition you organised. It is best
that you get this done quickly – very difficult, when you are plunged immediately back into school
life.
When diaries come in, mount a display, award prizes. The best diaries will be works of art and
treasured possessions. One of the best diaries I had handed in was written in the form of a series
of postcards and illustrated. Many, written German well above average for the age group,
occupied 20+ close-written pages of A4 (although some were little more than a couple of dozen
sentences with a large number of tickets, leaflets and so on). Diaries are great for giving good
ideas to the next generation of exchange participants, but many pupils will want to reclaim them
quite quickly.
Organising the Return
If you do your exchanges back-to-back, all that follows will have to be organised before your own
departure abroad. For most people, however, there will be more time to organise the next stage.
The following list gives an idea of what is necessary:
• Accommodation for any new students joining the exchange (unfortunately, this happens).
• Accommodation for visiting staff (already arranged, of course!).
• Classroom space at appropriate times.
• A timetable in school.
• The programme, as suggested by your foreign colleagues (see appendix for an example).
• Arrangements, such as bookings (this often needs to be at least three months in advance).
In the case of a local theatre tour, we needed to book nine months before.
• Organisation of certain activities, e.g., the interviewing of local shopkeepers, which needed
their acquiescence to the scheme, a timetable and a ‘Thank You’ note for each participant to say nothing about a sheltered gathering point on the morning it poured with rain for four
hours. You always have to have thought about these possibilities.
• And do not underestimate parents’ ability to blame you for the most extraordinary things:
On one exchange, we took all the students (German and English) to walk across a six-mile stretch
of rolling hills near our school. One hour into the walk, the heavens broke open and it poured with
rain for the next three hours. All pupils had been told exactly what sort of footwear they needed
for the event and that they absolutely needed a waterproof – which, it goes without saying, they
mysteriously did not have with them when the rain began.
On our return, certainly very bedraggled, pupils were bundled off into waiting cars. The following
day, we received three separate complaints about the absurdity of doing such a walk. I would add
that this had been in the programme (which every parent had seen) for many weeks and that we
had already done an activity swap with another day when bad weather threatened. At no time
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was there any danger to pupils and the walk was accompanied by a number of enthusiastic
mountain-walking staff, including two with mountaineering qualifications, hardly necessary on our
little hills – none of whom saw any problems with continuing.
The complaints seemed to be about the difficulty of drying a larger than normal number of very
wet garments and the fact that the pupils were rather tired – often true of visitors at that school,
as we, a semi-rural school, were linked to an inner-city schools for both our German and French
exchanges. The idea was to offer our visitors an activity outside their normal experience.
I use this story to illustrate aspects of the exchange that you may come across. There is no doubt
that you must never risk the safety of your charges, but parents have different views of things and
you must also be prepared for criticism on occasion – or do nothing interesting!
• A social programme for the staff who will be arriving.
• Some of your staff to accompany various trips out.
In individual circumstances, there will be other considerations. Do not forget that you will have to
order transport for any joint trips out - unless you can fit them all into the one bus.
Social Programme for the Staff
A social programme for the staff sounds like much more hard work than it is. It is always pleasant
to arrange a dinner out – if you can encourage enough other staff to participate, so much the
better. The cost of the meal for the visitors should be borne by a fund, school contribution, etc.
Usually, most members of the languages department and all staff who actually went abroad can
arrange to entertain staff at least once during the exchange – a tea party, a supper, a trip out at
the weekend, etc.
Encourage your German colleagues to tell you if any problems emerge between partners and keep
in touch with your own pupils and their parents. The simplest way is to have a single meeting
point for the beginning and the end of the day, which can also serve as a departure point for
excursions and a pick-up point if the visitors arrive back late. It also means that you can meet up
with them, whenever necessary.
The programme
You need to organise this well in advance. Ask your colleague for anything he wishes the group
particularly to do. Many schools have a project, which will need a visit to a particular attraction –
Big Pit in South Wales is always a necessary stop-off point for our French group and a mediaeval
castle is a must for the Germans, though mediaeval castles feature for all groups, especially
castles with a well-organised tour with headphones in different languages.
If you keep exchanging with the same school, you will start to be able to refine your programme,
changing part of it each year, introducing new items and responding to pupil reaction, but hanging
on to the good things. A good programme will be judicious mixture of time in school, activities
and visits. The right balance will be very much a matter of what colleagues want their pupils to
get out of the experience. In the appendix is a copy of one year’s programme aimed at 14-year
olds. Some of the items are explained below:
Interviews of Shopkeepers
Pupils were placed in groups of 2-3 and had a series of things to find out, which they had to ask in
English. Shopkeepers had been primed. Afterwards, a profile of the shopkeeper and a description
of the shop and photo or drawing were put together in a classroom session. A very successful
venture, because we liaised with the shopkeepers in advance.
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Treasure Hunt
Our questionnaire is given. Pupils worked in groups of 2 or 3. The hunt was actually based in
central Bristol (but a similar one could be made in any town or city). The correct answers to
questions led them to staff marshalling points and ultimately to a certain market stall where, once
again, the stall holder had been primed (and paid) to hand out a bag of sweets to anyone having
finished. Groups started at five-minute intervals and staff were usually located in accessible cafés.
Some English staff and one or two sixth-formers joined in the arrangements.
The purpose of these activities was to get a feel for the place right at the beginning of their stay
and to begin to understand how it works.
Leisure Pool
This was a joint activity early in the programme to help with the ‘getting to know each other’
process. The school was unable to release pupils during the morning, but a long afternoon at the
pool was quite enough to establish new groups and friendships.
Longleat
Another joint activity which included two large buses and about 85 pupils: extra places were
offered to friends and others interested in participating the following year in the exchange.
The worst-case scenario: it rains all day. It did, on one of our visits to Longleat, but it still
provided plenty of interest, starting with a bus tour of the Safari Park, incorporating a tour of the
house and allowing plenty of time for river boat rides and other activities – all included in one
bumper ticket.
Disco
Often the final joint activity and something to finish things off - music by competent 6th formers or
someone used to dealing with very mixed groups. Admission by ticket only, everyone paying and
English pupils paying for their guest at £2 per person. Parents roped in for door duty and crowd
control in a rota, about an hour for each stint, the heavyweights reserved for the end. No exit
from the disco unless they do not intend to return. Approved friends invited, but admission
refused if no ticket and not desirable (some did buy tickets at the door, but most were turned
away if they had no ticket).
A group of pupils decorated the venue in advance and helped the caretaker to move furniture. On
each occasion, 80-120 pupils attended – and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Other activities on the programme were educational visits or time spent in school.
In school:
1. The group will need to pursue a programme of work with their teacher. Your colleague
needs to have told you well in advance how much time he would like for this purpose and,
ideally, how it should be distributed throughout the stay.
2.
The pupils will wish to spend time in lessons. First, talk to staff about this. Some staff
have limits on numbers: I found, for instance, that it was almost always impossible to use
technology lessons, except, however, cooking, which we could do by arrangement with
particular teachers and one was even willing to take a whole group and teach them to
make an English dish – supported, of course, by some of their own teachers.
3.
Sport can be excellent, but pupils need to know in advance exactly which lessons they will
be in, so that they can come properly equipped.
4.
If a member of the staff says no, accept it - there may be a very good reason. Try not to
use a poorly-behaved or difficult group – or very ‘slow’ groups. The member of staff may
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find that having people in the class worsens behaviour and may not wish for this. Equally,
very slow groups can give a lasting – and incorrect – impression of English schools.
5.
The easiest way is to obtain year group timetables for Years 7-11 (use them all, but Year
11 only with very bright and well-behaved visitors). Don’t put more than two in any one
classroom at any time.
6.
Make a varied timetable for the pupils with subject, year group, classroom, time and even
teacher’s name all clearly visible. Cut that into strips for each pair and give a full copy to
all members of staff. Give a clearly labelled plan of the school to all concerned. Staff to
round up any stragglers. Most pupils, amazingly, find their own way to the right place at
the right time.
7.
The majority of pupils love going into younger classes, especially in German and other
foreign languages, mainly, I think, because they understand so much more of what is going
on. If you can include them in any arranged activity, so much the better:
(i) Visiting musicians.
(ii) Drama workshop.
(iii) Play rehearsal.
(iv) Athletics display, etc.
8.
Create a worksheet for pupils to do in class – it could be just a translation of the one your
pupils did in class when abroad.
9.
Finally, don’t forget, after they leave, to thank the staff at the next meeting – or if that is a
long way off, put up a big ‘Thank You’ note on the staff notice board. People like to have
their efforts noticed.
Looking After Visitors in School
When visitors are in school, keep an eye open for bullying in the playground. There are, of
course, some schools where this could never happen, but you may find one or two pupils who are
not participating in the exchange, exhibiting intolerant and xenophobic qualities. It only takes one
or two to ruin the experience for everyone. Most commonly, I found only a desperate desire to be
part of this élite group, with a lot of showing-off being done by pupils who lacked some of the
more obvious social skills. A number of those pupils would then say they thought that they would
do the exchange the next year. Few of them did, of course, but it was clear that having foreign
pupils in school was having a positive effect on everyone.
Using Your Parents to the Greatest Effect
I mentioned before, using your parents to the greatest effect by getting them to band together to
provide entertainment. This can make an exchange! We would have a positive debate about this
at our pre-arrival parents’ meeting and before they left that meeting, parents would have
approached one another with things they might arrange.
You are lucky if you are receiving in the summer or early autumn months because there is so
much you can do. Here are some of the activities our parents offered:
Visits to
- bowling alley.
- hands-on science museum.
- cinema.
- show.
- pizza restaurant or similar skate park.
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-
swimming pool.
lazer quest.
football or rugby match.
riding session.
London.
Alton Towers and other theme parks.
They also offered to
- provide a venue in the home of one family for a party with children making the
arrangements but parents in the background to supervise.
- do a barbecue.
- arrange other activities like boat trip, shopping expedition, etc.
Always encourage parents to avoid anything already in the official programme.
Occasionally, parents may take their guest away for the weekend to visit relatives. Guide and
scout camps feature quite regularly.
Working in this way takes the pressure off parents for a while. The most popular activity is,
inevitably, for 2-3 people to go round to one person’s house where they are fed and allowed to get
on with any activity they like, such as computer games playing, watching a video or listening
to/making music.
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Your German Exchange: A Study Guide for Pupils
Aims
Included
on Disk
Your aim is to understand what a German exchange is about and to get the best out of your
exchange.
Objectives
•
•
•
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
To collect information about the area you will visit.
To identify situations where you will have to speak the language and to learn how to cope
in those situations.
To know how to welcome your German guest into your home and school.
To understand the position of the host family.
To produce a report based on your experience.
Resources
The exchange organiser.
Your language teacher and other language teachers in the school.
The library.
The Internet.
Your correspondent.
The tourist office nearest to where you will be staying.
Your usual course book.
Your dictionary.
Friends.
Parents.
Activities
Activity 1
Get a ring-file to keep your information in.
Over the next few weeks, collect information about the town or area you will be staying in.
Find out about:
• Its geography (and draw a map).
• Its history (and do a chronological table/time-line).
• Its industry (check for any famous names, like Volkswagen, for instance).
You do not need to write much; you can collect pieces of information and file them.
Resources: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 10
Activity 2
Write to the nearest tourist office. Address your letter to the Verkehrsamt. Find the address on
the Internet. It should contain:
• Post Code
• Name of town or village
• GERMANY
Be brief but polite.
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Start your letter ‘Sehr geerhrte Damen und Herren’ – you do not know whether you are writing to
a man or a woman.
• Say that you are going to visit the town or area and when.
• Ask if they can send you some information.
• Ask what there is for young people to do.
• Ask for lists of hotels, restaurants and tourist sites.
• Say ‘Thank You’ in advance.
• Finish the letter: ‘Mit freundlichen Grüßen’.
• Don’t forget to date the letter and to write your own address on it.
Some useful expressions:
Have you?
Haben Sie?
Could you send me?
Können Sie mir bitte schicken?
I’m going to
Ich werde + infinitive
I’m particularly interested in
Ich interessiere mich viel für
What is there?
Was gibt es?
In May
Im Mai
In a few weeks
In einigen Wochen
Soon
Bald
Thank you (in advance)
Danke im Voraus
Please
Bitte
The town
Die Stadt
The area
Die Gegend
Information
Die Auskunft
A leaflet, leaflets
Eine Broschüre, Broschüre/ einen Prospekt
A list, lists
Eine Liste, Listen
Resources: 2, 7 & 8
Activity 3
Write your first letter to your correspondent.
Start with ‘Lieber’ for a boy or ‘Liebe’ for a girl.
Use the foreign language to:
• Introduce yourself.
• Talk about your family.
• Talk about your home town/village/area.
• Talk about your interests.
To make your letter more interesting and to give you more information for your file, ask questions:
• Kannst du mir etwas über deine Stadt sagen …
• Wieviele Einwohner gibt es in …?
• Ist das eine touristische Stadt …?
Ask him/her to send you things:
• Bitte, schick mir ein Foto/ eine Postkarte/ eine Zeitschrift …
(Don’t forget to include something with your letter.)
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Ask about possible activities:
• Was gibt es für junge Leute in deiner Stadt …?
• Was für Sport can man machen? Etc
Finish:
• Ich hoffe, es geht Euch allen gut,
• Herliche Grüße,
Caroline
Do not forget to say thank you in the next letter:
• Herzlichen Dank für ….
Try to say something you have done:
• Ich bin nach + place + gefahren … eg Ich bin (mit meiner Familie) nach London gefahren.
• Gestern habe ich + item + gekauft … etc. …e.g., Gestern habe ich eine neue Hose gekauft.
You should exchange several letters before you go to the area. If your correspondent does not
reply, send postcards at frequent intervals. These will not cost much in effort and no more than
the price of a stamp. Let your excha nge leader know if this happens.
Resources: 1, 2, 7 & 8
Activity 4
Get your parents to write, in English or in German to your correspondent’s parents. They will feel
much happier once this contact has been made – on both sides.
Activity 5
With a friend or a small group of friends, make a list of at least 30 things you feel you really MUST
be able to say while in Germany, e.g.,
• Where’s the toilet, please (to be obvious)?
• Thank you. That was delicious.
Together, work out the correct German sentence or phrase. Some, you will be able to do
instantly. Others will involve a little more effort.
Check your list with your teacher, type it up on the computer to put in your file and then learn it.
Resources: 2, 7 & 8
Activity 6
Imagine the time when you will be receiving your German correspondent. Discuss with your
parents and with your friends how you would cope with the following:
• Says no to every activity or entertainment suggested.
• Wants to ring up other German people on the exchange instead of spending time with you.
• Eats almost nothing – does not like the food and makes no effort to try anything.
• Does not seem to wash (!!)
• Cries a lot on the first day or even the first few days.
• Wants to telephone parents all the time and spends hours on the phone.
• Is rude and/or says everything German is better.
• Never says thank you.
• Refuses to do even the most basic household task like making the bed or helping set the
table.
• Abandons you in school to spend the whole time with the other German pupils.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Talking to lots of people about how to cope with this will be helpful, because some of these things
can happen – usually not all of them! Often, rudeness is either caused by a feeling of panic,
because they are very homesick, or not understanding what is considered polite in the country.
Work out what you and your parents and friends could do which would improve the situation – so
don’t include being rude back, making her pay for the phone calls or going off with your friends
and ignoring her!
Resources: 2, 9 & 10
Activity 7
Now – very important – turn this on its head and decide how YOU are going to behave in
Germany. Will you avoid all these pitfalls? Will it mean some real changes of attitude if you are to
be made welcome? Consider each idea.
Activity 8
EITHER
Design a poster or a cartoon strip based on the idea of the good and the bad exchange student.
Try to make it amusing, but your aim is to draw attention to the important points about doing an
exchange.
AND/OR
Design an information sheet (amusing or not) to be given to other students about to go on
exchange:
• Say what to do, what not to do, what to expect.
• Include some illustrations.
Resources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8
Activity 9
Work on the following both before you go to Germany and while you are there.
An exchange is not just a holiday; you take part to absorb the culture to understand the people
and their way of life and, finally, to speak the language.
Study the following list; you must take it seriously, if you are to get the best out of your exchange.
Do
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learn in advance some useful phrases so that you can speak politely and ask questions.
Smile pleasantly when meeting people.
Be careful about personal hygiene.
Tidy your room, make your bed.
Offer to help with things like clearing the table, washing up, etc.
Show some enthusiasm when an outing is suggested.
TRY all food you are offered – you don’t have to like it or continue eating it.
Make conversation at table – tell the family where you went, what you saw,
what you liked, etc.
ASK, if there is something you would particularly like to do, e.g., go shopping,
visit the cinema, etc.
Repeat carefully any new phrases you are taught: REPEAT, RECORD, LEARN.
Be prepared to share your knowledge of English, particularly in school – a
teacher who accepts you into his/her class may well wish to use you as a
resource.
Show appreciation frequently – learn phrases which enable you to say a
meal was great, a visit interesting - and don’t wait to be asked.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
•
•
•
•
Do make a list of at least 15 new words or phrases every day, with the
meanings, and learn them straight away; ask your family how to pronounce
them properly; keep them at the back of your exchange folder.
Arrange that your parents will ring you once or twice during your stay –
not the other way round.
Listen very carefully to pronunciation and intonation; copy like a parrot – it
soon becomes natural.
Take inexpensive presents for your host family.
Don’t
• Forget to say please and thank you – ALWAYS.
• Refuse food, especially when told that it is a speciality of the region.
• Laugh when told how to say things in German – simply repeat carefully.
• Disappear off to your room without explanation; if you are tired, say you
are tired and wish to go to bed.
• Wait for your correspondent to make all the effort; with other young people,
introduce yourself, start conversations or respond to their efforts.
• Behave badly in lessons or at school generally. Rowdy behaviour is
NEVER acceptable.
• Make adverse comments about the Germans and their ways.
• Buy rubbishy sweets in the shops; some German families disapprove of
poor eating habits. If your MUST buy such things, save them for your
return to England or when your are not with your German hosts.
• Settle for the nearest MacDonald’s, if left to your own resources, or asked your opinion on
where to eat; it’s not very German.
• Just go off with other English people AT ALL – it’s rather rude.
• Drink too much alcohol, if offered it by your family (which may well
happen); drunkenness is considered very poor behaviour.
• Use the telephone except in an emergency.
• Start eating before your hostess, unless she tells you to; keep an eye on
the behaviour of the family and copy those who are obviously well-behaved.
• Take too much money with you, and when you are there, don’t take all
your money out with you every day.
What to expect
• Kiss and or shake hands on meeting (less kissing than in France).
• Take showers rather than baths.
• Not to eat between meals – so eat well at mealtimes!
• Eat the largest meal at lunch-time – hot at midday and cold at the evening meal.
• Eat the evening meal rather late – probably not before 7.30 p.m. and often rather later.
• Early rising on a school day – around 6 a.m.
• A relatively short school day (8 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1.30 p.m.).
• Afternoons free for other activities – you should try to go to any activies your partner is
involved in.
• To speak to people who call at the house – be prepared to be asked about yourself.
• To speak German at all times; the most frequent criticism of English people is that they
simply don’t try; however, you will have to work hard at it – German people are delighted to
use you for English language practice.
• Problems in communication; arrangements are not always fully understood; always make
sure you know WHERE you are meeting and exactly WHEN; if nothing else, be perfectly
sure you can ask the questions WHERE and WHEN.
Resources: 1, 2, 5 & 7
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Activity 10
Write your diary. This is likely to begin once you arrive in Germany or for some, on the journey.
Write only in German and write it each day.
You will be given a booklet, which has been designed to help you do this with the minimum of
mistakes. Always have it with you. You may find it easier to have a reporter’s spiral notebook in
which to write your first version of your diary. It has the advantage of having sheets that you can
tear out – and also is useful for other purposes.
When you have to ask your correspondent, the family or your teacher for a word or phrase, note it
in your list of words and phrases along with the meaning and attempt to learn it that same day.
Aim to return from the exchange having really improved your German.
Make a collection of items, which will help enliven your diary and serve as a reminder of your stay
in Germany – below are some ideas:
- bus, tram and train tickets (ask your teacher, if he is buying for the whole group).
- recipes picked up in food shops (usually on the counter, with suggestions for serving).
- leaflets from supermarkets.
- supermarket check-out lists.
- menus and bills from restaurants.
- sugar-wrappers.
- biscuit packets.
- maps.
- postcards.
- copies of school timetables.
- newspaper cuttings for the time you are actually in the country.
- television listings for that time.
- wrappers from shops.
- tourist office leaflets.
- concert and theatre programmes/tickets.
- cinema tickets.
- cotton bag with eco message – good small present for people at home (about £1).
- any eco information sheets, particularly those aimed at children; the Germans are very
keen on recycling.
Many of these things can be stuck into your diary on your return, or even during your stay.
What about other souvenirs, especially small things you can bring back as presents? At the
expensive end of the scale, you could consider a T-shirt with something written in German; but
there are many other items, often with German writing or design, such as pens, stationery
generally (German exercise books are different from the English variety but quite expensive),
pencil cases, bags, etc.
Ask your family if they will take you to a market or supermarket near their home. Everyone has to
shop some time.
Older and more serious students of languages might like to consider purchasing one or two copies
of books they have already read in English. Knowing the story means you have a fair chance of
understanding most of it without having to use a dictionary all the time – and it is fantastic for
improving your German.
German music is not usually so interesting to British students, as much of it sounds like rather oldfashioned English pop music but not all, so CD’s are always a possibility. Or record your German
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
friends speaking to you and to one another; do a mini-interview to get as many different voices
onto your cassette as possible.
Austausch
Stell hier dein Foto
in Deutschland
Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Alter: _________________________________________________________________________
Meine Familie heißt: _____________________________________________________________
Meine Adresse in Deutschland ist: __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Unsere Telefonnummer ist: _______________________________________________________
Der Austausch beginnt am: _______________________________________________________
Und endet am: _________________________________________________________________
Ankunft der Deutschen in England: _________________________________________________
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
German Exchange Grammar Booklet
Am Anfang
Die Familie kann:
Familie (auf Englisch)
Familie (auf Deutsch)
Ich (Antwort)
- Ask how I am.
- Ask about my journey.
- Wie geht’s (dir)?
- Wie war die Reise?
- Ask if I am tired.
- Say we are going home.
- Bist du müde?
- Wir gehen nach Hause
- Tell me to take my case.
- Point out their house
- Nimm’ deinen Koffer
- Hier ist unser Haus
- Introduce a member of the
family.
- Point out the toilet.
- Show me my room.
- Hier ist mein Großvater
- Sehr gut, danke
- Sie war ein wenig lang/ sie
war sehr gut, danke
- Ja, ein wenig
- Ja, darf ich bitte mit meinem
Lehrer/meiner Lehrerin
sprechen?
- Ja, ich habe ihn hier
- Es ist schön/ groß/
interessant
- Guten Tag/ Guten Abend
- Hier ist das Klo
- Hier ist dein Schlafzimmer
- Ask if I am hungry.
- Hast du Hunger?
- Ask if I am thirsty.
- Hast du Durst?
- Ask if I want to unpack.
- Willst du alles auspacken?
- Ask if I want to telephone
home.
- Ask if I want to go to bed.
- Ask what time I usually get
up.
- Willst du nach Hause
anrufen?
- Willst du ins Bett gehen?
- Wann stehst du
normalerweise auf?
- Danke
- Oh, est ist schön. Welches
Bett ist für mich?
- Ja, ein wenig/ Nein, ich habe
schon gegessen
- Ja, ich möchte bitte etwas
trinken
- Ja, wo stelle ich meine
Kleider?
- Ja, bitte. Wie ist der Vorwahl
für England?
- Ja, ich bin sehr müde
- Normalerweise um Viertel vor
sieben
Asking where things are
Wo ist ….?
WO IST …. ?
Das Badezimmer?
Mein Schlafzimmer?
Mein Koffer?
Mein Portmonnaie?
Meine Jacke?
Mein Heft?
Mein Kuli?
Meine Handtasche?
Mein Geld?
Meine Klasse?
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
Wo sind….?
WO SIND ….?
Meine Freunde?
Die Enlgänder?
Meine Lehrerin(nen)?
Mein Lehrer? Meine Lehrer
Die Toiletten?
Meine Handschuhe
Meine Schuhe?
Mein Rucksack?
Mein Freund?/ Meine Freundin?
Das Lehrerzimmer?
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Asking if you can do things
Um zu fragen, ob du etwas machen kannst
Darf ich, bitte ….?
Auspacken?
Etwas essen?
An meine Eltern telefonieren?
Mein Geld wechseln?
Meine Freundin/ meinen Freund besuchen?
In die Matheklasse gehen?
Den Tisch decken/ abräumen?
Spülen?
Fernsehen?
Einen Film sehen?
Can I …? May I …?
Unpack.
Eat something?
Telephone my parents.
Change my money.
Visit my friend.
Go to the Maths class.
Set/clear the table.
Wash the dishes.
Watch TV.
See a film.
Making negatives (saying ‘not’)
Use ‘nicht’ and place it after the verb, eg:
Ich weiß es nicht
Er kann nicht mitkommen
Sie will nicht ausgehen
Du arbeitest gar nicht gern
Ich fahre nicht nach Frankfurt
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
I don’t know.
He can’t come with us.
She doesn’t want to go out
You don’t like working.
I’m not going to Frankfurt at all.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
????????? Asking Questions?????????
MUSS ICH ….?
DARF ICH ….?
WILLST DU ….?
Wann …?
Wo …?
Um Wieviel Uhr …?
Welcher/ welche/ welches/ welche …?
Warum …?
Mit wem …?
Wieviel(e) …?
Wie …?
Wer …?
Was …?
Must I …?
May I …?
Do you want to …?
When …?
Where …?
At what time …?
Which …?
Why …?
With whom …?
How much?/How many?
How …?
Who …?
What …?
How to tell people things
Wie ich meine Ideen übermitteln
I’m going to
I can, I may
I could
I have to
I hope to
I know how to
I like (to) do
I must
I mustn’t
I prefer (to) do
I want (to) do
I would like (to) do
Ich werde
Ich kann, ich darf
ich könnte
ich muß
ich hoffe … zu
ich weiß
ich (mache) gern
ich muß
ich muß nicht
ich (mache) lieber
ich will
ich möchte
it is
it was
there is/there are
there was/there were
they are + noun/adj
they were + noun/adj
my
your
his
her
our
your
their
es ist
es war
es gibt
es gab
sie sind
sie waren
mein (e)
dein (e)
sein (e)
ihr (e)
unser (e)
euer (e)
ihr (e)
Those on the left hand side can all be followed by an infinitive like those below
Ask
Fragen
like
Ask for
Begin
Borrow (from)
Buy
Choose
Cycle
Drink
Eat
Explain
Fetch/pick up
Finish
Get dressed
bitten … um
beginnen, an/fangen
borgen (bei/ von)
kaufen
wählen
rad/fahren
trinken
essen
erklären
ab/holen
enden
sich kleiden
listen (to)
look at
notice
play
prepare
read
receive
say
say thank you (for)
see
send
show (you)
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mögen,gefallen, gern
haben
hören, zu/hören
sehen, gucken
bemerken
spielen
vorbereiten
lesen
bekommen
sagen
danken (für)
sehen
schicken
(dich) zeigen
© ZigZag Education 2004
Get up
Give
Go
Go out
Have to
Have breakfast
Have dinner
Have lunch
Help
Know how/that
Know person/place
Lend
auf/stehen
geben
gehen
aus/gehen
müssen
frühstücken
zu Abend essen
zu Mittag essen
helfen (+ dat)
wissen
kennen
leihen
skateboard
swim
talk (to)
try (to)
visit
visit someone
wait (for)
walk
want
wash (themselves)
watch
write
Skateboard fahren
schwimmen
sprechen (mit)
versuchen (zu)
besichtigen/ besuchen
besuchen
warten (auf + acc)
zu Fuß gehen
wollen
(sich) waschen
sehen, an/sehen
schreiben
Writing My Diary
Um Mein Tagebuch zu schreiben
Saying when I do or did something
After eating
After arriving
Before eating, etc.
At the weekend
Each morning
Early
Every day
From time to time
Immediately
In 10 minutes’ time
In the evenings
Last Friday
Late
Next Tuesday
Next year
Next week
Now
Often
On Sunday
On Sundays
I had no time to …
Nachdem ich gegessen habe, …
Nachdem wir gegessen haben, …
Nachdem ich angekommen bin, …
Nachdem wir angekommen sind, …
Bevor ich gegessen habe, …
am Wochenende
sometimes
jeden Morgen
soon
Früh
the day after tomorrow
jeden Tag
the day before
yesterday
ab und zu
the next day
Sofort
this afternoon
in zehn Minuten
this evening
Abends
this morning
letzten Freitag
today
Spat
tomorrow
nächsten Dienstag
until
nächstes Jahr
yesterday
nächste Woche
at lunchtime
Jetzt
at midday
Oft
at midnight
am Sonntag
at one o’clock
Sonntags
at three o’clock
Ich hatte keine Zeit, um …. when (with past tense)
zu + verb
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manchmal
bald
übermorgen
vorgestern
den nächsten Tag
heute Nachmittag
heute Abend
heute Morgen
heute
morgen
bis + noun, bis zu
gestern
an der Mittagszeit
am Mittag
an der Mitternacht
um ein Uhr
um drei Uhr
als
© ZigZag Education 2004
Saying where things happen
Um zu sagen, wo es geschehen ist
At the border
At the cinema
At the club
At the customs
At home
At the park
At Peter’s house
At the pool
At school
By the river
In the country
Behind
In front of
Beside
Under, below
On
Below
Over
an der Grenze
im Kino
im Klub
am Zoll
zu Hause
in dem Park
bei Peter
am Schwimmbad
an der Schule
neben dem Fluß
auf dem Lande
Hinter
Vor
Neben
Unter
Auf
Darunter
Über
in my bag
in my house
in my room
in Berlin/ Germany
in the classroom
in the kitchen
in the mountains
in the shops
in town
on the way
in meiner Tasche
in meinem Haus
in meinem Schlafzimmer
in Berlin/in Deutschland
im Klassenzimmer
in der Küche
in den Bergen
in den Läden
in der Stadt
unterwegs
in
across
before
after
as far as
inside
outside
in
darüber
vor, bevor
nach, nachdem
bis
drinnen
draußen
Saying what you are going to do
Um zu sagen, was du machen wirst.
Hier kannst du das Verb ‘werden’ mit einem Infinitiv benutzen.
Es gibt eine Liste von Infinitiven auf der Seite 3.
I’m going to
You’re going to
He’s going to
She’s going to
ich werde
du wirst
er wird
sie wird
we’re going to
your’re going to
they’re going to
wir werden
ihr werdet
sie werden
I’m not going to: ich werde nicht… Remember to put your infinitive right at the end of the
sentence.
Beispiel: This afternoon, we’re going to see a film.
Heute Nachmittag werden wir einen Film sehen
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Saying what you did
Um zu sagen, was du gemacht hast.
A number of common verbs make their past tense using the verb ‘sein’ with a past
participle:
Ich bin
Du bist
Er ist
Sie ist
Wir sind
Ihr seid
Sie sind
Die Katze ist
Meine Freunde sind
Alle sind
Das Buch ist
gekommen
Gegangen
Aufgestanden
Geschwommen
Gelaufen
Geflogen
Angekommen
Gestorben
Abgefahren
Gefahren
gefallen
I came.
You went.
He got up.
She swam.
We ran.
You (plural) flew.
They arrived.
The cat died.
My friends left.
Everyone travelled.
The book fell.
Negativ
Er ist nicht nach
Miami geflogen.
Der Hund ist
nicht gestorben.
The rest of the sentence goes here. e.g., Du bist in die Stadt gegangen
Sie sind um zehn Uhr am Bahnhof angekommen
Notice what happened to the separable verbs: auf/stehen, an/kommen, ab/fahren
Reflexive verbs use ‘haben’ to make the past tense
Sich waschen
Sich kleiden
Sich die Zähne
putzen
Sich verletzen
Sich setzen
Sich treffen
Sich trockenen
Ich habe mich vor dem Frühück gewaschen
Du hast dich sehr elegant gekleidet
Er hat sich die Zähne geputzt
I washed before breakfast.
You’ve dressed very elegantly.
He’s brushed his teeth.
Sie hat sich im Garten verletzt
Wir haben uns in der Küche gesessen
Ihr habt euch gestern getroffen
Sie haben sich nach dem Sturm getrocknet
She hurt herself in the garden.
We sat down in the kitchen.
You met yesterday.
They dried themselves after
the storm.
Moritz broke his finger.
He didn’t wash himself.
Moritz hat sich den Finger gebrochen
Negativ: Er hat sich nicht gewaschen
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© ZigZag Education 2004
All other verbs use ‘haben’ and the past participle
ich habe gefragt
du hast gegessen
er hat begonnen
sie hat geborgen
sie hat gekauft
wir haben gewählt
ihr habt zu Abend
gegessen
sie haben getrunken
ich habe nicht erklärt
du hast nicht
geendet
er hat nicht gegeben
sie hat nicht zu
Mittag gegessen
wir haben nicht
gehabt
ihr habt nicht
geholfen
sie haben nicht
geleihen
Adam hat nicht
gehört
meine Freunde
haben nicht geguckt
I asked
you ate
he began
she borrowed
she bought
we chose
you ate dinner
ich habe bezahlt
du hast gespielt
er hat vorbereitet
sie hat gelesen
er hat bekommen
wir haben gesagt
ihr habt gesehen
I paid
you played
he prepared
she read
he received
we said
you saw
they drank
I didn’t explain
you didn’t finish
sie haben geschickt
ich habe nicht gezeigt
du hast nicht
geschlafen
er hat nicht genommen
sie hat nicht gedacht
they sent
I didn’t show
you didn’t sleep
we didn’t try
you didn’t help
wir haben nicht
versucht
ihr habt nicht besucht
they didn’t lend
sie haben nicht gespült
they didn’t wash up
Adam didn’t hear
sein Vater hat nicht
geschrieben
his dad didn’t write
he didn’t give
she didn’t eat lunch
we didn’t have
he didn’t take
she didn’t think
you didn’t visit
my friends didn’t look
In alphabetischer Reihenfolge
Saying what you thought
Um zu sagen, was du gedacht hast
es ist
ganz (quite)
es war
sehr (very)
er ist/ er war
zu (too)
sie ist/ sie war
ein wenig (a little)
es scheint, daß es …. ist
ziemlich (rather)
ich habe das …. gefunden so (so)
ich denke, es ist …
gar nicht (not at all)
meiner Meinung nach ist
besonders
es …
seiner Meinung nach ist es (particularly)
…
ihrer Meinung nach ist es
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
ärgerlich
schön
groß
langweilig
billig
teuer
schwer
schrecklich/furchtbar
annoying
beautiful
big
boring
cheap
dear
difficult
dreadful
einfach
easy
genau, exakt
aufregend
anstrengend
fantastisch
gut
großartig
exact, fair
exciting
exhausting
fantastic
good
great
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© ZigZag Education 2004
historisch
interessant
modern
neu
nett
alt
langsam
klein
streng
fürchterlich
ermüdend
touristisch
häßlich
unfair
sehr gut
gut organisiert
jung
historic
interesting
modern
new
nice
old
slow
small
strict
terrible
tiring
tourist(y)
ugly
unfair
very good
well organised
young
Talking about Relationships
Um von Verhältnißen zu sprechen
I get on well with his mother/father.
I don’t understand his brother/sister.
I like him/her.
I like them.
He annoys me.
He doesn’t do anything interesting.
He’s not interested in anything.
He never wants to go out/listen to music…
He’s only interested in sport.
She makes fun of me.
She’s really nice/sensitive/difficult.
She can’t be bothered with me.
She helps me to do my diary.
She never leaves me alone.
They’re so nice to me.
They make me repeat new words every
evening.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
Ich komme gut mit seiner Mutter/ seinem Vater
aus
Ich verstehe nicht seinen Bruder/ seine Schwester
Er/ sie gefällt mir
Sie gefallen mir
Er ärgert mich
Er macht nichts Interessantes
Er interessiert sich für nichts
Er will nie ausgehen/ Musik hören ….
Er interessiert sich nur für Sport
Sie macht sich lustig über mich
Sie ist wirklich nett/ sensibel/ schwierig
Sie hat keine Zeit für mich
Sie hilft mir mein Tagebuch zu machen
Sie läßt mich nie allein
Sie sind so nett mit mir
Jeden Abend machen sie mir neue Wörter
wiederholen
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Using a Relative Pronoun: der, die, das, usw.
These words are used to join two closely-linked ideas together. They mean who, whom, which
and that.
e.g.: Her brother, who arrived last night, is called John.
Ihr Bruder, der gestern Abend angekommen ist, heißt Johann.
My friend, who is staying in the next street, telephoned me.
Meine Freundin, die in der nächste Straße wohnt, hat mir angerufen.
The book called __________ is very interesting.
Das Buch, das ___________ heißt, ist sehr interessant.
The same happens when the noun is the object of the sentence, with a slight change when it is
masculine singular:
Meine Freundin, die ich vorgestern gesehen habe, war …
BUT Mein Freund, den (instead of ‘der’) ich vorgestern gesehen habe, war … This is the
accusative form.
Versuch diese Sätze zu übersetzen
Use all parts of the book to help you translate the following sentences:
1. May I telephone my parents?
21. Where is my coat?
2. Every day, I go to school by bus.
22. Next year, I am going to visit again.
3. The next day, we went to the cinema.
23. I want to eat in a real German
restaurant.
24. Which one (pen – masc.) is mine?
4. In half an hour, I’m going to have
breakfast.
5. How much money is it?/How much does it
cost?
6. My friend got up at 11.30.
25. I bought some clothes and presents.
26. We went out in the evening.
7. She played computer and I watched
television.
8. I found it (the town – fem.) very
interesting.
9. Last Friday, I saw my friend from school.
27. We’re going to the mountains at the
weekend.
28. What time are we leaving?
10. She went to a Maths class.
30. We arrived at school at a quarter to
eight.
31. I had to speak English to the class.
11. I was in the English class.
12. We had lunch in the canteen.
13. It was really big – there were three
courses.
14. His mum came to fetch us in the evening
at 6.45.
15. We didn’t eat until nearly eight-thirty.
16. I went to bed at ten o’clock.
17. They live on the coast so we swam in the
sea.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
29. We got on the same bus.
32. I ate everything but I didn’t really like
the sauce.
33. School finished really late yesterday.
34. Then I watched TV.
35. It’s quite early for me but I was quite
tired.
36. We went to his grandma’s house at the
weekend.
37. I met all his cousins and their friends.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
18. Everybody was really friendly.
38. We left after ten o’clock so I’m very tired
today.
39. His little sister is so sweet.
19. I enjoyed the visit at the weekend.
20. I ate so much – the food was fantastic.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
40. She likes me to read her a story in
English.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Appendix
Contents
Preparation
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Sample letters
Application form
Pupil’s first letter
What to pack
Role Plays 1-8
Personal Projects
Programme in Germany
Guide to taking presents
Rules for visits out
Letter to parents – departure
Letter to parents – air travel
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
52
53-55
56
56-57
58-67
68-69
70-71
72
73
74
75
Quiz sheet for use on coach
Deutschland – worksheet
Wörterspiele – worksheet
Teacher interviews – worksheet
Pupil interviews – worksheet
Aktivität – suggestion sheet
Aktivität im Klassenzimmer – worksheet
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
76-77
78
79-80
81
82
83
83-86
Letter – hosting
Letter – return visit
Programme in England
Sample timetable
Shopkeeper interviews – worksheet
Sample treasure hunt
Thank you letter
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
87
88
89
90
91
92-94
95
In France
Section 4
The Return Visit
Section 5
Section 6
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Section 1
Sample Letters
October, 200____
Dear Parents,
German Exchange, 200___.
Students in Years 8, 9 and 10 are invited to take part in the next
exchange with the Beethovenschule in _____________, in North Germany. It
is hoped to visit the town between Sunday, 15th and Saturday 28th April,
200_ with a return visit to England by the German pupils during
September. The exchange is open to all pupils who study German in Years
8, 9 and 10. Travel will be by coach from school and by ferry. The cost
is expected to remain in the region of £_____________, which includes a
deposit of £50, required in order to secure a place.
During the exchange, pupils will stay in a family, and live as a member
of that family. They will, however, have the opportunity to meet with
other members of the group during the school week and, besides spending
some time in school, will take part in excursions and visits; the
programme followed during last year’s visit will be completely changed.
In return, you will be asked to receive a German child for about 12-14
days in similar circumstances. Your visitor does not need a room apart;
in fact, for many, it is easier if they can share, as this makes
integration into the family much simpler.
There are sound educational reasons for participating in an exchange, and
it certainly gives a boost to language learning; we hope you will allow
your child to take part. If you would like him/her to do so, please fill
in the attached form and return it to school with a deposit of £50 (nonreturnable, unless we are unable to find a suitable partner) to Mrs.
_____________ in C4, by Friday, November 3rd. All cheques should be made
payable to _____________School, and should have your child’s name and
form printed clearly on the back. The information form, given out on
receipt of this, should then be filled in carefully and returned
immediately, to enable us to begin the process of matching as soon as
possible and to allow students to begin writing to one another. You will
need to obtain 2 passport-sized photographs for our records and
preferably return them with this information form, or soon afterwards.
A meeting for parents will be held at school during the Spring Term, the
purpose of which will be to give you all the necessary information and
allow you to ask any questions. However, should you wish to discuss any
issues before this date, please contact me by letter or by telephone at
school, between 3.30 and 4.30 p.m. Please note that all pupils will be
expected to have their own passports, and that arrangements to obtain one
should be made well in advance of the visit once you know your child has
a place on the exchange. It is also essential to obtain a form E111
(from the post office). If the family already has one, with the child’s
name on it, then this will suffice.
I hope that your son/daughter will be able to take part in this exciting
venture. Many schools are unable to run exchanges; we are fortunate in
being able to offer this opportunity. We value our relations with our
partner school and hope you will give your support to this activity. I
look forward to receiving your application as early as possible.
Yours sincerely
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Application Form
_____________ SCHOOL
GERMAN EXCHANGE 200__.
I should like my son/daughter __________________________________________ (capital letters)
Tutor Group ________________ to take part in the 200_ exchange with the Beethovenschule in
___________________________ and I enclose a deposit of £50 (non-returnable) in order to
secure a place.
Name: __________________________Tel. No. (+ code) ________________ d.o.b. ___________
Address: ________________________________________________________________________
Signed:
__________________________________________________________
(Parent/Guardian)
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
Page 53 of 95
Date: _____________
© ZigZag Education 2004
Exchange Application Form –
Included
on Disk
Language: _______________________
School: _________________________
Date of Exchange: _________________
Language teacher: ________________
Surname:
_________________________
Photo(s) attached here
First names:
_________________________
(Passport-style not necessary on
this form. It is quite interesting for
the partner to receive photographs
which show your house or other
members of the family, the dog,
etc!). Staple two or three together,
if you like. This form will be sent to
the partner school.
Date of Birth: _________________________
Address: _____________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Post code:
_________________________
Telephone:
____________________ (including STD code)
Class/Form: _____________________
Have you a passport of your own? _____
Brothers/Sisters (names and ages):
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Animals: ________________________________________________________________________
Other languages spoken at home: ____________________________________________________
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Please mark the following 1 – 5, where 5 is high:
My child is:
Interests:
Adaptable _________
football _________
tennis _________
Easy to feed _________
badminton _________
swimming _________
Mature for his/her age _________
art _________
music _________
Independent _________
drama _________
cycling _________
Out-going _________
judo/karate _________
dance _________
Is anyone in the
family a heavy smoker? _________
chess _________
TV _________
Is your child
a vegetarian? _________
reading _________
computer _________
other interests: _____________________________
Does your child have any allergies? _______________________
Which ones? _____________________________________________________________________
Medication necessary? _____________________________________________________________
Do you live in a house? ____ /flat? ____ / ____ km. from the school.
Has your child been away from home without the family before? In Britain _____ /Abroad _____?
Will your guest have his/her own room ______________________________________ /share with
partner _______________________________?
If you wish to provide other information (particularly medical), which you feel the receiving family
ought to have, please add it on the back of this form, or contact the organising teacher by letter or
telephone.
Signed: ___________________________________________ (Parent/Carer)
Date: ___________________
Name in block (capitals): _______________________________________________________
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Pupil’s First Letter
Writing to a new penfriend
The following will help you to write your first letter, if you are a little unsure.
Hopefully, you will also have lots of ideas of your own. Check your letter with your
teacher before handing it in. The first letter will be sent with others by us. After that,
you will be responsible for continuing to write to your correspondent.
Date (top right – Germans write address on the back of the envelope)
Beginning: Lieber Paul, / Liebe Julia
Ich heiße _______________ . Ich habe ___Brüder/ Schwestern.
Meine Schwester/ mein Bruder heißt __________; meine Brüder/ meine Schwestern heißen
_______(plural). Er/ sie ist _______ Jahre alt. Sie sind ______ Jahre alt.
Ich wohne mit meiner Familie/ meiner Mutter/ meinem Vater/ bei meiner Tante/ in einem Haus/
in einer Wohnung.
Ganz in der Nähe von meinem Hause gibt es Läden, ein Kino, das Sportzentrum/ meine
Schule, usw.
NAME OF TOWN ist eine große/ interessante/lebhafte/ langweilige/ historische Stadt mit
einem…Ich mag Sport/ Musik/ Tiere/ die Sendung ‘Eastenders’!/ Tanz, usw.
In der Schule mache ich am liebsten Deutsch/ Englisch/ Mathe/ Musik/ Naturwissenshaft …
Meine Freunde heißen …. Mein Lieblingslehrer ist Herr _________. Ich find ihn gut, weil er eg.
sehr lustig ist.
Here are some questions that you can ask:
A. Was magst du?
B. Wohnst du in einem Haus oder in einer Worhnung?
C. Warst du schon in England?
D. Hast du Tiere zu Hause?
E. Treibst du gern Sport/ magst du das Kino usw?
Don’t put all the questions together. Put them where they occur naturally.
Ending: Ich schicke dir ein Foto, eine Postkarte/ eine Zeitschrift. (It’s nice to send something).
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
What to Pack
In main luggage:
• Jeans/trousers.
• Shorts suitable for a sports lesson.
• Skirt or dress for girls if liked.
• Several T-shirts/tops.
• Several changes of underwear/socks (most families will put your clothes in the washing
machine if you ask them.
• A warm pullover (several if it is winter).
• Pyjamas, even if you don’t wear them usually – means you probably won’t have to take a
dressing gown.
• Something nice to wear if you go out in the evening or to a party.
• Swimming gear and large swimming towel (family will probably provide you with towels for
daily use – ask).
• Washbag with all necessary washing gear.
• Girls, don’t forget sanitary protection.
• Good comfortable trainers/shoes for everyday wear (you will do a lot of walking).
• Walking shoes or strong trainers for walks out in the country.
• Waterproof jacket with hood.
• Umbrella if you have one.
• Sun-tan lotion/sunglasses/sun hat/at least one shirt with collar and long sleeves to wear if
there is too much sun. Please be aware of the dangers of not preparing for sun, especially
in the mountains.
• Dictionary.
• Presents for the family.
In hand luggage:
• For a long coach journey, include some washing gear, toothbrush and toothpaste and even
a change of underwear.
• Camera and film.
• Passport.
• E111.
• Money (Euros and a small amount of English money).
• Your A4 exchange file with grammar booklet and spare paper.
• Travel sickness tablets (if you need these, take one at least an hour before the journey
begins.
• Any other medication you have to take at regular intervals.
• Pencil case (include glue and small scissors – except in the case of air travel where you
would need to leave the scissors in your main luggage).
• Reporter’s notebook.
• Various things for whiling away time on the journey: Personal cassette/CD player, Book(s),
Puzzle books, Hand-held electronic game.
• Food (not crisps or excessively sweet or salty foods, which will dehydrate you).
• Fruit like apples are excellent but avoid bananas, which go black if they are bruised and
pears, which disintegrate.
• Packed sandwiches, as long as they will be eaten relatively early on.
• Food is probably only necessary for a long coach journey.
• Drinks. Stick to cartons and plastic bottles.
• Water is much more effective than any other drink.
Items you have been told to add to this list: _______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Section 2
Role Play Card 1 (auf Englisch)
Just after you get off the bus.
Corres
- Hello, how are you?
She shakes your hand.
You
- Hello, I’m very well, thank you.
Corres
- This is my mum and my brother, Johann.
Two people come up and shake hands.
You
- Hello, Madame. Hello, Johann.
Jean
- Bonjour.
Frau Fischer - Hello, how was your journey?
You
- Good, but it was very long. I’m very tired.
Frau Fischer - Let’s get your case and then we can go home.
You suddenly see your case being taken out of the bus by the coach driver.
You
- There it is, the black one.
Frau Fischer - Come on then, my car is across the road.
You
- I’ll just say good-bye to my teacher.
You look around for your teacher and then go up to him/her.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 1 (auf Deutsch)
Du steigst aus dem Bus
Brieffreund(in) - Wie geht’s dir?
Sie gibt dir die Hand.
Du
- Guten Tag, Es geht mir sehr gut danke..
Brieffreund(in) - This is my mum and my brother, Johann.
Zwei Personen nähen sich, um dir die Hand zu geben.
Du
- Guten Tag, Frau Fischer. Guten Tag, Johann.
Johann
- Guten Tag.
Frau Fischer - Guten Tag. Wie war die Reise?
Du
- Gut aber sie war sehr lang. Ich bin müde.
Frau Fischer - Wir suchen deinen Koffer und dann gehen wir nach Hause.
Plötzlich siehst du deinen Koffer, den der Busfahrer aus dem Bus nimmt.
Du
- Das ist mein Koffer! Der Schwarze.
Frau Fischer - Komm. Mein Wagen ist dort an der anderen Seite der Strasse.
Du
- Ich werde nur meinem Lehrer auf Wiedersehen sagen.
Du suchst deinem Lehrer und dann nähst dich.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Role Play Card 2 (auf Englisch)
The car is coming to a halt.
Corres
- There’s our house.
You
- Oh, it’s really big!
A large dog comes rushing out of the house. You walk into the house together and
then go up the stairs.
Corres
- That’s my dog Bill. Don’t worry – he’s really gentle.
You
- That’s OK. I get on well with dogs. Bill? Is he English?
Corres
- No, he’s Irish. He’s an Irish setter. (Stopping at a door) Here’s your room,
next to mine.
You
- Thanks, where shall I put my things?
Corres
- There’s some room in the wardrobe and in these three drawers.
You
- Where’s the bathroom, please?
Corres
- Here, opposite your room. I’ll let you take a shower. Then come
downstairs – we’ll be eating soon.
You
- Thanks. In ten minutes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 2 (auf Deutsch)
Der Wagen hielt an
Brieffreund(in) - Das ist unser Haus.
Du
- Oh, es ist sehr groß!
Ein großer Hund kommt sehr schnell aus dem Haus. Ihr geht ins Haus zusammen ein
und dann geht nach oben.
Brieffreund(in) - Das ist mein Hund Bill. Mach dir keine Sorgen um ihn – er ist sehr freundlich.
Du
- Das ist OK. Ich komme sehr gut mit Hünde aus. Bill? Is he Engländer?
Brieffreund(in) - No, er ist Irre. Er ist ein Setter aus Irland. (Sie/ er hielt vor einer Tür an)
Hier ist dein Zimmer, neben mein Zimmer.
Du
- Danke, wo stelle ich meine Sachen?
Brieffreund(in) - Es gibt Platz im Kleiderschrank und in diesen drei Schubladen.
Du
- Bitte, wo ist das Badezimmer?
Brieffreund(in) - Hier, gegenüber deinem Zimmer. Ich lasse dich eine Dusche nehmen. Dann
komm nach unten – wir essen bald.
Du
- Danke. In zehn Minuten.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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Role play Card 3 (auf Englisch)
Everyone is sitting at the table and the meal is nearly finished.
You
- No thanks, I’m not very hungry.
Corres
- Would you like something to drink?
You
- Yes, please. Could I have some fruit juice?
Herr Fischer
- You must have some Spanish wine. Pass me your glass.
You
- No, thank you. I’m very thirsty. I’d prefer juice or water.
Herr Fischer
- Of course, but tomorrow – I insist.
You
- I have some presents from my family.
You get up and go to a pile of packages you brought downstairs.
You
- This is for you señora y el señor.
She opens the package
Frau Fischer
- Thank you, I love English tea and we will soon eat the biscuits.
You hand a package to your correspondent and to Johann. They both begin to open
them. Johann takes out a large pack of chocolate sweets.
Johann
- Oh, cool. I love chocolate. Thank you.
You
- You’re like my brother – he’s always eating chocolate.
Corres
- Oh, you remembered! (Taking out a CD) Thank you. It’s my favourite
group. Thanks.
You
- May I go to bed now? I’m very tired.
Frau Fischer
- Of course. Have you a clock?
You
- Yes. What time shall I get up?
Frau Fischer
- You can have a lie-in – tomorrow is Sunday.
You
- Cool. Good night.
Everyone
- Good night
You leave the room and your correspondent follows.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role play Card 3 (auf Deutsch)
Alle sind am Tisch.
Du
Brieffreund(in)
Du
Herr Fischer
Du
Herr Fischer
Du
Das Abendessen ist fast zu Ende.
- Nein, danke, ich habe keinen Hunger.
- Willst du etwas trinken?
- Ja, bitte. Darf ich bitte einen Fruchtsaft haben?
- Du musst deutscher Wein trinken. Gib mir dein Glas.
- Nein, danke. Ich habe Durst. Ich trinke lieber Saft oder Wasser.
- Gewiss, aber morgen – ich bestehe darauf.
- Ich habe einige Geschenke von meiner Familie.
Du stehst auf und gehst zu einem Stoss von Paketen, die du nach unten mitgebracht
hattest.
Du
- Dies ist für Sie, Frau Fischer, und für Herr Fischer.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Sie öffnet das Paket
Frau Fischer
- Danke sehr, ich liebe den englischen Tee und wir werden bald diesen
Kuchen essen.
Du gibst ein Paket an deinem/ deiner Brieffreund(in) und zu Johann. Sie beginnen
beide die Pakete zu öffnen.
Johann nimmt eine große Schachtel Schokolade heraus.
Johann
- Oh, geil. Ich liebe Schokolade. Danke schön.
Du
- Du bist wie mein Bruder – er ißt immer Schokolade.
Brieffreund(in)
- Oh, du hast dich errinnert! (sie nimmt einen CD heraus) Danke. Das ist
meine Lieblingsgruppe. Thanks.
Du
- Darf ich bitte jetzt ins Bett gehen? Ich bin sehr müde.
Frau Fischer
- Natürlich. Hast du eine Uhr?
Du
- Ja. Um wieviel Uhr muß ich aufstehen?
Frau Fischer
- Du kannst dich ausschlafen – morgen ist Sonntag.
Du
- Super. Gute Nacht.
Everyone
- Gute Nacht!
Du gehst aus dem Zimmer und dein Brieffreund(in) folgt dich.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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Role Play Card 4 (auf Englisch)
You come into the kitchen where some members of the family are laying the table.
You
- Good morning.
Frau Fischer - Good morning. Did you sleep well?
You
- Yes, very well.
Frau Fischer - Well, I hope you are hungry now. What do you like to eat for breakfast?
You
- Oh, cereal or toast and jam.
Frau Fischer - Do you like croissants? It’s Sunday, so we have fresh rolls from the
bakery in the village.
You
- I love fresh rolls, especially if they are still warm.
Corres
- Let’s go and get them now from the baker’s.
You
- OK.
You both go out into the street.
You
- What are we doing today?
Corres
- We’ll go to see my grandparents.
You
- Where do they live?
Corres
- On the coast.
You
- Can we go swimming?
Corres
- Yes. You need to take your swimming things.
You stop outside a shop
Corres
- Here’s the bakery. You ask for them.
You
- No, I’m too scared.
Corres
- I’ll help. Ask for 8 rolls and a big Black Forest Cake.
You
- A cake?
Corres
- Yes, we always buy a large cake on a Sunday morning.
You both go in.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 4 (auf Deutsch)
Du kommst in die Küche hinein, wo einige Familienmitglieder den Tisch decken.
Du
- Guten Morgen.
Frau Fischer - Guten Morgen. Hast du gut geschlafen?
Du
- Ja, sehr gut, danke.
Frau Fischer - Hofffentlich hast du jetzt Hunger. Was ißt du gern zu Frühstück?
Du
- Oh, Getreideflocken oder Toast mit Marmelade.
Frau Fischer - Ißt du gern heiße Brötchen? Heute ist Sonntag, deshalb haben wir heiße
Brötchen.
Du
- Ich liebe heiße Brötchen!
Brieffreund(in) - Gehen wir jetzt zur Bäckerei, um sie zu suchen.
Du
- OK.
Ihr geht beide auf der Straße
Du
- Wohin gehen wir heute?
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Brieffreund(in) Du
Brieffreund(in) You
Brieffreund(in) -
Wir sehen heute unsere Großeltern.
Wo wohnen sie?
An der Küste.
Können wir schwimmen gehen?
Ja. Du mußt deinen Badeanzug mitnehmen.
Ihr hielt vor einem Laden an
Hier ist die Bäckerei. Du kannst sie kaufen.
Du
- Nein, ich habe zu viel Angst.
Brieffreund(in) - Ich helfe dir. Du sagst ‘Acht Brötchen und eine Schwarzwälderkirschtorte’.
Du
- Eine Torte?
Brieffreund(in) - Ja, wir kaufen immer eine Torte am Sonntag.
Ihr geht hinein
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Role Play Card 5 (auf Englisch)
You are helping to clear the table in the evening
You
- What time do we get up tomorrow?
Corres
- At six. The school bus goes by at a quarter to seven.
You
- At six!! (You are shocked) It’s so early.
Corres
- I’ll knock on your door when I get up.
You
- Thanks. What will we be doing in school tomorrow?
Corres
- Here’s the programme. (She hands you it) You begin with a tour of the town.
You’ll need sandwiches. Do you want to watch TV now?
You
- No thanks. It’s late and I have to get up at six! I’m going to bed.
You walk towards the door
Corres
- Good night. Sleep well.
You
- Good night.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 5 (auf Deutsch)
Du hilfst am Abend den Tisch abzuräumen
Du
- Um wieviel Uhr müssen wir morgen aufstehen?
Brieffreund(in) - Um sechs Uhr. Der Schulbus kommt um Viertel vor sieben.
Du
- Um sechs Uhr!! (Du bist schockiert) Das ist so früh.
Brieffreund(in) - Ich klopfe an deine Tür, wenn ich aufstehe.
Du
- Danke. Was machen wir morgen in der Schule?
Brieffreund(in) - Hier ist das Programm. (Sie/ er gibt dir es) Ihr beginnt mit einer Stadtrundfahrt.
Du mußt ein Lunchpaket mitnehmen. Willst du jetzt fernsehen?
Du
- Nein, danke. Es ist spät und ich muss um sechs Uhr aufstehen! Ich gehe ins
Bett.
Du gehst zur Tür
Brieffreund(in) - Gute Nacht. Schlaf gut!.
Du
- Gute Nacht.
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Role Play Card 6 (auf Englisch)
You walk up to a teacher looking worried
You
- Excuse me, where is the English group, please?
Teacher
- They are in the entrance hall – down those stairs and through the doors.
You
- What time does the lesson start, please?
Teacher
- In five minutes. Which class are you going to?
You
- A Maths class with Frau Hasse.
Teacher
- I’ll show you the way. She’s in A5, next to me.
You start to walk together.
Teacher
- Is this your first visit to Germany?
You
- No, I was on holiday in Heidelberg last year.
Teacher
- Who are you staying with?
You
- With Anke Palm.
Teacher
- Ah, Anke. She’s really sweet. You are lucky. And here is your class.
You
- Thank you. Good-bye.
Teacher
- Good-bye.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 6 (auf Deutsch)
Du nähst dich an eine Lehrerin, du bist besorgt
Du
- Entschuldigung, bitte wo ist die Englischgruppe?
Lehrerin
- Sie sind in der Eingangshalle – geh nach unten und dann durch die Türe.
Du
- Bitte, wann beginnt die Stunde?
Lehrerin
- In fünf Minuten. In welche Stunde bist du jetzt?
Du
- In einer Mathestunde mit Frau Hasse.
Lehrerin
- Ich zeige dir den Weg. Sie ist in Zimmer A5, neben mir.
Ihr beginnen zusammen zu gehen
Ist das der erste Besuch nach Deutschland?
Du
- Nein, ich war letztes Jahr in den Ferien in Heidelberg.
Lehrerin
- Bei wem bist du?
Du
- Bei Anke Palm im Zentrum.
Lehrerin
- Ah, Anke. Sie ist süss. Du hast Glück. Und hier ist deine Klasse.
Du
- Danke. Auf Wiedersehen.
Lehrerin
- Auf Wiedersehen.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Role Play Card 7 (auf Englisch)
You’re going to the history class
Sylvie
- What’s your name?
You
- Claire Smith.
Sylvie
- Where do you come from?
You
- I live in Cambridge but I come from Bath.
Sylvie
- How old are you?
You
- Fourteen. How old are you?
Sylvie
- I’m fourteen as well. What class are you going to?
You
- History in D20.
Sylvie
- Oh, that’s my class. Come with me. Are you in school all day today?
You
- No, this afternoon, we are going to play handball at the sports centre.
Sylvie
- Lucky you! I have Latin.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 7 (auf Deutsch)
Du gehst zur Geschichteklasse
Sylvia
- Wie heißt du?
Du
- Claire Smith
Sylvia
- Wohin kommst du?
Du
- Ich wohne in Cambridge aber ich komme aus Bath.
Sylvia
- Wie alt bist du?
Du
- Vierzehn. Wie alt bist du?
Sylvia
- Auch vierzehn. Zu welcher Klasse gehst du?
Du
- Geschichte in D20.
Sylvia
- Oh, das ist meine Klasse. Komm mit. Bist du heute den ganzen Tag in der
Schule?
Du
- Nein, dieser Nachmittag spielen wir Handball im Sportzentrum.
Sylvia
- Du hast Glück!! Ich habe Latein.
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Role Play Card 8 (auf Englisch)
You are lying in bed and you feel really ill.
Corres
- Aren’t you getting up? It’s six-fifteen.
You
- Oh, I feel so ill.
Corres
- What’s wrong?
You
- I have a head-ache and I feel sick.
Corres
- I’ll get my mum.
Mme Renard - What’s wrong with you this morning?
You
- I have a head-ache and I feel sick.
Mme Renard - Stay in bed and I’ll call the doctor.
You
- No, I don’t want the doctor. I just want to stay here.
Mme Renard - Can you stay in the house on your own? I have to go to work.
You
- Yes, I just want to sleep.
Corres
- I’ll be back at one o’ clock today.
You
- OK, I’ll sleep. Can you explain to my teachers, please?
Corres
- Yes, of course.
She/he goes to school
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Instructions
Read the English version to make sure you know what you are going to be saying.
Read the German out loud together, taking the different parts.
Do this two or three times, until you feel you know the German quite well.
Now try to enact the play, using only the English for guidance.
Practise until you can do this without mistakes.
Act.
Role Play Card 8 (auf Deutsch)
Du liegst im Bett und fühlst dich sehr krank.
Brieffreund(in) - Du stehst nicht auf? Es ist Viertel nach sechs.
Du
- Oh, ich fühle mich so krank.
Brieffreund(in) - Was ist los?
Du
- Ich habe Kopfschmerzen und will mich erbrechen.
Brieffreund(in) - Ich suche Mutti.
Frau Fischer - Was ist heute morgen mit dir los?
Du
- Ich habe Kopfschmerzen und will mich erbrechen.
Frau Fischer - Bleib im Bett und ich rufe den Arzt.
Du
- Nein, ich will keinen Arzt. Ich will nur hier im Bett bleiben.
Frau Fischer - Kannst du alleine hier zu Hause bleiben? Ich muß arbeiten.
Du
- Ja, ich möchte nur schlafen.
Brieffreund(in) - Ich komme heute um ein Uhr zurück..
Du
- Stimmt. Ich schlafe. Kannst du bitte mit meinen Lehrern sprechen, um zu
erklären?
Brieffreund(in) - Ja, sicher.
Sie/ er geht zur Schule
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Personal Projects – Some Suggestions
1.
Interview five people. Try to make the ones you choose as different from each other as
possible. To prepare for this, write a series of at least 10 questions, which you can use in the
interview. Leave sufficient space between each question (2-3 lines) to write down the
answers.
Using your interviews, write a short article on each one, in German if possible, and accompany
each with photograph.
2.
Inform yourself in advance of what is particular about the area you are going to (site of a
battle/interesting rock formations/spooky stories/stone-age caves/very important industry in
the past or the present/birthplace of a famous writer or scientist or musican, etc. Do research
while you are in the area. Write yourself a questionnaire, to remind you of the things you
wish to find out. You can use this to ask people directly about it.
Using your data, write an article about it for your school magazine – in English or in German
but always try to work in German, if you can.
3.
Discover the history of the school. Find as many facts as you can (date of foundation, name
of first head teacher, whether it was different in the past, whether it ever occupied a different
site, how many pupils, how many teachers, whether it has any specialisms, dates of particular
events in the school year, any famous old boys or girls and why they are famous, any school
rules, etc).
Use this information to write
a. a history of the school to the present day.
b. an illustrated poster with written sections.
c. an illustrated time-line.
This project would lend itself to your working with another person, particularly if one had
artistic talent and the other could write well.
4.
Similar to the above, but set out to present the school as it is at the moment. You could have
sections on
• Pupils.
• Teachers.
• A typical classroom.
• The buildings and grounds (with maps drawn by you).
• A timetable for a particular year group.
• A lunchtime menu.
• Any school rules.
Use photographs and drawings to enliven this.
5.
If you are keen on using your camera, set out to do photo-journalism. You could choose to
cover just one day of the exchange or to cover the whole exchange (but the latter obviously in
less depth).
Things you might photograph are:
• All the participants, German and English.
• A couple of shots of each place you visit.
• The school.
• The bus and driver(s).
• The teachers involved.
• People doing amusing things (get friends to set these up deliberately for you).
• People doing ordinary things like eating (which if photographed well can be amusing
anyway).
• Interesting artefacts.
• Anything which is particularly German – like a piece of German sausage.
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© ZigZag Education 2004
There will be many more ideas. You must then organise your pictures and write captions (in
German, of course). Work with a friend.
6.
7.
Do as outlined above, but take it less seriously. Take a few good photographs and use them
to illustrate a story your have made up.
Make an illustrated alphabetical booklet about your area. This works rather like a dictionary
and you must try to find something pertaining to the area you are staying in for every letter of
the alphabet (you can, of course, have more than one entry for each letter). Design a good
front cover and ask your teacher to staple it into a book form.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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Included
on Disk
Section 3
Austausch in Deutschland – das Programm
Samstag
16
Sonntag
17
Montag
18
Dienstag
19
Mittwoch
20
Donnerstag
21
Freitag
22
Samstag
23
Sonntag
24
Montag
25
Ankunft um 15.00 vor der Schule.
Mit den Familien
Mit den Familien
8.00 – 8.45 im Klassenzimmer mit den englischen Lehrern
8.45 – 12.00 Stadtrundfahrt mit Führer
Lunchpaket
13.00 Besuch des Marienturms
14.00 – 15.00 im Klassenzimmer mit den englischen Lehrern
15.30 Treffen mit deutschen Schülern in der Eingangshalle
Torte und Limo. Willkommen von dem Schuldirektor.
8.00 – 8.45 im Klassenzimmer mit den englischen Lehrern
9.00 Abfahrt mit dem Bus nach Schloß C_________
Lunchpaket vor dem Schloß (große, schöne Gärten)
Tour mit Kassetten auf Englisch, Deutsch und Französich
15.00 Sportzentrum - Sportkleider nötig.
Sportnachmittag mit den deutschen Schülern
Ankunft an der Schule um 17.30
8.00 Abfahrt mit den deutschen Schülern mit dem Bus nach Bergen-Belsen
Museum und Film
Lunchpaket
Ankunft um 14.00 an der Schule
18.30 Beethovenschule Theater – Variétéprogramm von Schülern und Lehrern
Vier Stunden mit den Deutschen in der Schule
Mittagessen für alle um 12.00 zu Hause
14.00 Abfahrt mit dem Bus nach dem Schwimmbad
Ankunft um 18.30
Reise nach Harzgebirge
6.15 Abfahrt mit dem Bus. Halt in Celle – Haus von dem Baron
Münchenhausen
Bergbahn/ Sommerrodelbahn (wenn es regnet, Besuch der Höhlen)/
Spaziergang/ Eise essen
Lunchpaket
Retour pour 19h30
Das ist Klasse!
Mit den Familien
19.00 Party organisiert von den Eltern. Kein Lehrer eingeladen!
Mit den Familien
8.00 – 8.45 im Klassenzimmer mit den englischen Lehrern
8.50 – 13.30 mit den deutschen Schülern
Lunchpaket im Schulgarten
14.30 zu Fuß nach der Hauptbrücke
15.15 Schifffahrt von einer Stunde
Ankunft an der Schule um 17.00
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Dienstag
26
Mitwoch
27
Donnerstag
28
Freitag
29
7.15 Abfahrt von dem Hauptbahnhof mit den deutschen Schülern nach Berlin
Stadtrundfahrt, Reichstag, Fernsehturm,usw.
Lunchpaket
Nachmittag, 2 Stunden für Einkaufen – kleine Gruppen
Treffpunkt: U-Bahn Station um 17.30
Ankunft an der Schule um 19.30/ 20.00
Den ganzen Tag – Stunden mit den Deutschen Mittagessen zu Hause
8.00 an der Schule. Morgen in der Stadt Besuch des Museums, Stadtralleye
mit großen Preisen – süß und köstlich!
Lunchpaket
14.00 frei – Treffen mit den Deutschen vor dem Bahnhof, um einkaufen
(ohne Lehrer) zu gehen
8.00 – 13.30 im Klassezimmer mit den Deutschen oder mit den englischen
Lehrern, um mit dem Tagebuch zu arbeiten (oder andere Arbeit zu machen).
Jeder muss wählen, was er machen will.
Mittagessen zu Hause
Abfahrt nach England.
Auf Wiedersehen!
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Taking presents
People often find it difficult to decide on a present. Here are some suggestions:
For the small children in the family
For older children – but younger than
the visitor
For pen friend
For parents
Included
on Disk
Soft toy
Sweets
Lego or similar
Toy car
Sweets
Magazines
Mug
Notepad or exercise book with something
English written on it
Pen
Magazines
Stationery
T-shirt
Pens/pencils/pencil case
CD
Box of English biscuits/Scottish shortbread
Tea (perhaps Twinings in a nice caddy)
Framed picture of your town
Book about the town or region (I have found
County Books to be a wonderful source of
such books at a tenth of the price you pay
elsewhere)
Pottery/china
The local tourist office can be a good source of presents, providing things like mugs and bowls,
table mats, tea-towels, aprons, books, chocolates, things with a historical reference and
sometimes a local product like china or glass.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Rules for visits out
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Carry the school name and a contact telephone number with you at all times.
Be at the initial meeting point in school on time.
Greet the coach driver (in the target language, if he is a local driver) – and your teachers, of
course.
Keep the coach quiet and clean.
Sit on your seat at all times that the coach is moving.
When tickets, etc., are being collected at a venue, stay together in a group.
Respect other tourists’ desire to hear what a guide is saying, so don’t chatter.
Use a foreign guide as a chance to practise your listening skills.
Say thank you when appropriate.
When allowed to go off together (e.g. for shopping), stay together in your designated
groups of at least 3 people – never go off on your own.
Don’t eat and drink too much junk food – it will make you ill.
Carefully memorise the time and place of meeting and DON’T BE LATE. One member of the
group should have a watch.
Remember your teachers get tired too, as they are on duty all of the time, so keep things
calm on the way back.
Have fun!
If in doubt, overdo the information rather than assume people know things. As will be obvious,
this letter was written at the height of the ‘foot and mouth’ outbreak. Make sure you get a
communication out to parents very close to departure date.
The telephone chain is a list of parents with their telephone numbers. They are divided into four
columns with the person at the top underlined. Those underlined parents are telephoned by the
teacher in charge about 2 hours before arrival back home, when the arrival time is fairly certain –
or, if there is an unavoidable delay - and they then contact the next person down the line, who
contacts the next and so on. This has become less and less necessary as children possessing
mobile phones have become more numerous but is still a very useful idea.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Letter to Parents - Departure
Thursday, 5th April, 200_
Dear Parents/Carers,
German Exchange 200_ – Final details
I wish to confirm the following arrangements for the German Exchange:
Departure from school (tennis courts) at 6.00 p.m. on Sunday evening,
15th April.
I suggest arriving at 5.45 p.m. on Sunday to give time to put the luggage
on board.
Return to school around mid-day on Saturday, 28th April.
Students may carry food for the journey as far as Dover; any remaining at
that point will have to be left in Dover. This makes possession of a few
Euros a good idea, to buy something at one of the motorway service
stations on the way through Germany. Drinks are permitted for the whole
journey – still water is really the best. Please do not carry any fresh
food presents (they are likely to be confiscated at the port and may
cause us great problems). Wrapped presents of items, such as tea and so
on in sealed packets should be acceptable.
Do not forget how tedious a long coach journey can be, so bring enough to
occupy you – and a Walkman if you like listening to music. We can show
videos on the coach, but they need to be suitable for everyone, so if you
would like to provide one, make sure its rating is no more than 15.
Ensure you have your passport and E111 in your hand luggage and show
these to me when you sign in.
I attach a telephone chain. Please let me know if there is any
difficulty with this. I can be contacted on _________, should the need
arise after the end of this school week.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday evening.
Yours sincerely,
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Included
on Disk
Letter to Parents – Air Travel
16th May, 200_.
Dear Parents/Carers,
German Exchange, 200_.
I write to confirm the final arrangements for the visit to Germany.
Sunday, 26th May, 200_: Depart central bus station.
a.m., at the latest, at the bus station.
Please meet at 8.30
Flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt, flight No. ______ leaving at 14.50 and
arriving in Frankfurt at 17.20.
Thursday, 6th June, 200_: Flight Frankfurt to Heathrow, No.______ leaving
at 10.20 and arriving at 11.05 (morning).
Bus from Heathrow to Bristol, arriving at 15.05.
Students have been issued with a packing list
care not to take a large amount of luggage or
pocket money on excess weight. This will not
should be space in the suitcase for items you
you.
and baggage tickets. Take
you will be spending the
be paid by us. There
may wish to bring back with
It is sensible to have hand luggage (a small rucksack, preferably),
containing:
•
Passport.
•
E111.
•
Book, cassettes, etc. for bus journey and flight.
•
Money.
•
Medicines (if necessary) and medical information.
A card contained in a purse or wallet on which is written in capital
letters: the name, address and telephone number of your correspondent AND
name of the school (___________), its telephone number: ________________
and the name of the organising teacher, Herr ____________.
Information for parents:
Should you need to telephone, Germany’s code is 0049. There is one-hour
difference in time between Germany and England, Germany being one hour
ahead. You can telephone me in Germany on ____________ and my host is
Herr _______________.
Identity cards (of our own making) will be issued to students on arrival
in Germany.
I hope this answers any questions, which may have arisen. Please do
telephone me at school if there is anything else you wish to know. I
look forward to seeing you on Sunday, 26th May at the bus station.
Yours sincerely,
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Section 4
Quiz Sheet for on the Coach – Use a microphone
Allow pupils to work alone or in pairs. Warn them that some of the questions are very
easy, but they need to be observant.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
How do you say ‘departure’ in German?
Spell ‘aussergewöhnlich’.
What is the main difference between German and British roads?
What is the unit of currency in Germany?
Which ferry crossing did we use?
Which ferry boat company did we use?
Name any 3 German cities.
Name one German river.
What is the name of the bus company, printed on the outside of the coach?
What is/are the name(s) of the driver(s)? (warn them not to answer questions).
Name the mountains in the south of Germany.
Which country lies on the other side of those mountains?
Name two other countries, which have common borders with Germany.
How would a German person say ‘How are you?’?
Write the name of a German supermarket.
What subject would you be going to study if your next class was Erdkunde?
If computer is ‘Computer’, what is software?
Who is Michael Schumacher?
Name the currrent German President.
What does the sign ‘Geradeaus’ mean to a German person?
What is a Verkehrsamt?
Complete this sentence: ‘Bach is a German _____’.
Which food product is particularly associated with the Rhein Valley?
What is the ‘Reichstag’?
Write the name of a German bank.
Who or what is an ‘U-Bahn’?
Give the opposite of ‘schnell’.
What is the symbol used by German Railways?
What does ‘bei ihm’ mean?
Under which circumstances might you use the expression ‘bis Donnerstag’?
Which non-food product is associated with Wolfsburg?
There is a city called München– what is the English name for it?
What is the difference between a Hallenbad and a Freibad?
Name 2 German states.
What would you expect to buy in a Konditorei?
What happens on Sylvesterabend?
When did the division between East and West Germany cease to exist officially?
What is the English name for the Schwarzwald?
What is the German name for Cologne?
What kind of people work for a Rathaus?
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Quiz on Coach – Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
die Abfahrt.
AUSSERGEWÖHNLICH.
THEY drive on the right.
Euros.
e.g., Dover-Calais.
e.g., Sealink/P&O.
e.g., Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Nürnberg, München, Stuttgart, Bonn, Hannover, etc. …
e.g., Main, Weser, Rhein, Donau, etc.
____________
____________
Bavarian Alps.
Austria.
e.g., Poland/Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg/France/Switzerland, etc.
Wie geht’s dir?/Wie geht’s Ihnen?
e.g., Aldi.
Geography.
Software.
Racing driver.
___________ (whoever it is at the time).
Straight ahead.
Tourist office.
Composer.
Wine.
German parliament.
eg
Underground system.
Langsam.
The letters DB in a square.
At his house.
When taking your leave of someone intending to see them again on Thursday.
Cars.
Munich.
Hallenbad is indoor swimming pool; the other is open-air.
e.g., Baden-Württemberg/ Bayern/ Berlin/ Bremen/ Hamburg/ Jessenm/ Niedersachsen/ 35.
Nordrhein-Westfalen/ Rheinland-Pfalz/ Saarland/ Schleswig-Holstein.
Cakes.
You celebrate New Year.
1989.
The Black Forest.
Köln.
Council workers.
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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© ZigZag Education 2004
Deutschland ist anders – ja oder nein?
In Deutschland
In England
1. Wann beginnt die Schule?
2. Mit vierzehn Jahren, wieviele Stunden mußt
du studieren pro Woche?
3. Wieviele Minuten dauert eine Stunde?
4. Jede Schüler studiert Englisch?
5. Muss jedermann eine Fremdsprache
studieren?
6. Was geschieht, wenn du Latein oder Musik
studieren willst? Ist das kompliziert?
7. Kann man ein heißes Mittagessen in der
Schule essen?
8. Was kann man in der Schule essen?
9. Gibt es Schüler, die ein Lunchpaket bringen?
10. Wieviele Zeit dauert die Mittagspause?
11. Wohnen die meisten Schüler in der Nähe
von der Schule?
12. Wie kommen sie zur Schule?
13. Gibt es Schulbüße?
14. Mit wieviele Jahren beginnen die Kinder
Kindergarten?
Grundschule?
Hochschule/ Realschule oder Gymnasium?
15. Gehen alle Kinder zum Kindergarten?
16. Darf man in der Schule rauchen?
17. Muß man eine Schuluniform tragen?
18. Was geschieht mit der Klasse, wenn ein
Lehrer krank ist?
19. Hat man freie Stunden während des Tages?
20 Kann man die Schule zwischen Stunden
verlassen?
21.Wann beginnt das Schuljahr?
Und endet?
22. Hat man eine Versammlung - jeden Tag?
- einmal der Woche?
23. Treffen sich Schüler und Lehrer jeden Tag,
um Probleme zu lösen, usw.?
24. Gibt es eine große Halle in der Schule für
Konzerte, usw.?
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Wörterspiele
Such diese Wörter auf Englisch – sie sind wichtig in der Schule
Das Klassenzimmer
Die Klasse
Der Schuldirektor
Die Hausaufgaben
Die Tasche
Der Bleistift
Der Stundenplan
Der Schulhof
Der Kuli
Die Stunde
Das Lehrerzimmer
Das Labor
Die Turnhalle
Der Lehrer/ die Lehrerin
Der Schüler/ die Schülerin
Der Student/ die Studentin
Das Nachsitzen
Das Heft
Das Buch
Der Spitzer
Der Ordner
Das Papier
Das Blatt Papier
Der Eingang
Der Ausgang
Die Pause
Der Feiertag
Geschichte
Naturwissenschaft
Kunst
Die Verbesserung
Richtig/ falsch
Streng
Lebhaft
Fleißig
Faul
Dumm
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Erfolg haben
Die Prüfung
Schreiben
Lesen
Hören
Arbeiten
Spielen
Singen
Schlafen
Sprechen
Auf/passen
Spät kommen
Entschuldigung
Verzeihung!
Das Fach
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Teacher Interviews
Ich heiße ________________ . Ich bin mit der englischen Schulgruppe. Können Sie bitte zu
einige Fragen antworten? Das ist für ein Projekt, das ich machen muß.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Wie heißen Sie?
Wie schreibt man das?
Was unterrichten Sie?
Seit wann arbeiten Sie in dieser Schule?
Wieviele Schüler gibt es in dieser Schule?
Wieviele Schüler gibt es gewöhnlich in einer Klasse?
Welche Klasse haben Sie am liebsten und warum?
Wie oft sehen Sie eine Klasse pro Woche?
Wie oft geben Sie Hausaufgaben an eine Klasse?
Wohnen Sie in der Nähe von der Schule?
Wie fahren Sie zur Schule?
Arbeiten Sie ganztags oder als Teilzeitlehrer?
Arbeiten Sie auch in einer anderen Schule ?
Wenn du etwas in diesem Schulsystem verändern könntest, dann was würdest du verändern??
Seit wann sind Sie Lehrer?
Gefällt es Ihnen, Lehrer zu sein? Warum (nicht)?
A more simple version
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Wie heißen Sie?
Welche Fächer unterrichten Sie?
Wo wohnen Sie?
Haben Sie eine Familie? Nein ___ verheiratet ___ Jungen ___ Mädchen ___
Um wieviel Uhr fangen Sie am Morgen an?
Wann ist die Schule aus?’
Gefällt es Ihnen Lehrer zu sein? Ja ___ Nein ___
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Pupil Interviews
Ich heiße __________ . Ich bin mit der englischen Schulgruppe. Könntest du bitte zu einige
Fragen antworten? Das ist für ein Projekt, das ich machen muß.
1. Wie heißt du?
2. Wo wohnst du?
3. Wieviele Kilometer entfernt ist das?
4. Wie alt bist du?
5. In welcher Klasse bist du?
6. Welche Fächer hast du am liebsten?
7. Welche Fächer hast du nicht gern?
8. Wer ist dein Lieblingslehrer? Warum?
9. Um wieviel Uhr kommst du am Morgen an?
10. Wann ist die Schule aus?
11. Wie fährst du zur Schule?
12. Welche Klasse hast du am Montag um elf Uhr?
13. Was macht man, wenn der Lehrer krank ist?
14. Wieviele Freunde sind in den selben Klassen wie du?
15. Wieviele Stunden Wissenschaft hast du pro Woche?
16. Deiner Meinung nach, ist das zu viel oder nicht genug?
17. Welche Sportarten kann man in der Schule treiben?
18. Macht man Sport genug in den deutschen Schulen?
19. Kann man Musik oder bildende Kunst in der Schule lernen ?
20. Welche Pläne hast du für die Zukunft?
A more simple version
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Wie heißt du?
Wie alt bist du?
Wo wohnst du?
Hast du Geschwister?
Was lernst du gern in der Schule?
Was lernst du gar nicht gern?
Wie heißt dein Lieblingslehrer? Warum?
It may encourage some pupils to learn these in advance of the interview and practise with others
in the group. Remind them that these are largely the questions which are likely to appear in the
GCSE oral exam and that they would do well to learn them all at this stage.
Interviews with teachers must be set up by you in advance. Interviews with pupils could be
arranged by the pupils themselves.
Aktivität
Write in English an impression of German school life, based on the chart you made
about the differences between German and English schools.
Divide it up as follows:
Introduction: where you are exactly.
Description of what is going on around you, with observations.
Your understanding of school life generally.
What do you think about it? Your thoughts on the positive and negative aspects.
Which system, British or German (if any), is most effective in your opinion and why?
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Aktivität
Benutz was du in der Tabelle geschrieben hast, um über die deutsche Schule zu schreiben.
ODER
Mach eine humoristische Zeichnung, die das Schulleben in Deutscheland zeigt.
ODER
Mit jemand anderen, zeichne ein Poster über das Schulleben.
ODER
Mach alle drei Ideen
Aktivitäten im Klassenzimmer
Arbeite auf Deutsch
Teil 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Um wieviel Uhr beginnt die Stunde?
Wieviele Minuten dauert die Stunde?
Was studiert man im Moment in dieser Klasse? (eg Mathe, Englisch)
Was ist die Nummer des klassenzimmers?
Wie heißt der Lehrer/ die Lehrerin?
Wieviele Schüler gibt es in der Klasse? Wie alt sind sie?
Teil 2
Beschreib der Lehrer/ die Leherin. Schreib Notizen neben jeder Frage und dann, schreib eine
Beschreibung unten.
-
Haare
Augen
Körper
Alter
Kleider
Charakter
trägt er/ sie eine Brille?
etwas anderes?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
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Teil 3
Beschreib einen Schüler oder eine Schülerin:
-
Haare
Augen
Körper
Kleider
arbeitet er/ sie fleißig?
passt er/ sie gut auf?
hat er/ sie die Hausaufgaben von gestern gemacht?
etwas anderes?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Teil 4
Beschreib das Klassenzimmer
-
Groß/ mittelmäßig/ klein
Wieviele Tische und Stühle?
Farbe der Wände?
Teppich auf dem Boden?
Wie organisiert?
- An der Wand, gibt es:
- Farbe des Bodens?
- die Tische
-
-
zwei und zwei
in zwei Reihen
in drei Reihen
in einem Kreis
Posters
Bilder, die mit der Unterricht helfen
die Arbeit der Schüler
etwas anderes
Ich liebe in der deutschen Schule zu sein, weil …________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Es gefällt mir nicht in der deutschen Schule zu sein, weil …________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
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Zeig wenn, deiner Meinung nach, es richtig oder falsch ist:
Eg Sie sind unhöflich mit ihren Lehrern
X
Sie passen gut auf
Sie unterbrechen nicht
Sie organisieren sich sehr gut
Es gibt viele interessante Bilder an der Wand
Der Lehrer benutzt die ganze Zeit das Buch
Die Wände des Klassenzimmers sind nicht geschmückt
Die Kinder rühren sich nicht
Man kann nicht während der Stunde sprechen
Sie machen zu viel Grammatik
Die Aktvitäten im Klassenzimmer sind sehr interessant
Die Klassen haben nicht Vielfältigkeit genug
Die Klassen sind zu kurz
Die Lehrer sind freundlich mit ihren Schülern
Der Schultag ist länger als in England
Die meisten Aktivitäten sind langweilig
Das Mittagessen in der Schule ist wunderbar
Der Stundenplan ist sehr verschieden von meinem Stundenplan
Alle Arbeit vor 13.30 machen ist zu viel
Sportklassen sind verschieden in Deutschland
Niemand will mich hören, wenn ich Deutsch sprechen will
Einige Schüler rauchen im Schulhof
Viele Schüler sprechen Englisch
Die meisten Leute sprechen Englisch mit gutem Akzent
Sie lernen hier keine anderen Fremdsprachen
Die Englischklassen sind wie unsere Deutschklassen in England
Die Deutschen sind sehr begeistert von Englisch
Ich möchte drei Monaten in einer deutschen Schule verbringen
Ich glaube, es ist nicht möglich eine Fremdsprache in drei Monaten zu lernen
Der beste Aspekt der deutschen Schule ist _____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Und der englischen Schule? _________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
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Was sind die schlimmsten Aspekte der Beiden?__________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Was könnte man machen, um die zwei Systeme zu verbessern?
Das englische System _____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Das deutsche System______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Letter to parents sent out just before the return visit. With four changes to the German group,
including two extra children in their class, and the departure of one of our own students abroad,
hosting had been a particular issue.
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Included
on Disk
Section 5
Letter - Hosting
10th September, 200_
Dear
German Exchange 200_.
I am writing to confirm the arrangements for the coming weeks with regard
to the German Exchange. I should like to thank you for agreeing to
accept a student at short notice and particularly so if you have agreed
to host someone you have not met before. I hope that your daughter/son
will enjoy the experience and benefit from it.
You have agreed to accept:
One child for the whole exchange ______
One child in the first/second week ______
Your guest(s): ___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
I enclose his/her/their details, a programme for the exchange and a copy
of the letter I have sent to all families who are already participating.
Please contact me at school if you have any further questions.
Thank you once again for helping in this way.
Yours sincerely,
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Included
on Disk
Letter – Return Visit
23rd September, 200_.
Dear Parents,
Re: German Exchange 200_.
Thank you to all parents who have helped to tie up the loose ends with
regard to the exchange. We have now managed to find accommodation for
both the extra students and the coach driver (the latter with a member of
staff). Unfortunately, one of the girls will be with me until Monday,
along with my member of staff and my son’s partner, so if anyone could
help out for the weekend, this would be gratefully appreciated.
The programme remains substantially the same, except for the visit to
Penhow Castle on the final day, for which a substitute will have to be
found. Information will be with you in advance of the visit, if there
are any special requirements.
Our guests are due to arrive on Friday, 24th September at 6.30 p.m. at
the back entrance to the school by the tennis courts. They seem
confident about the arrival time, but if anyone should prefer to check in
advance, I can be reached on ________ between 5.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. on
that day.
I should be grateful if those parents who offered to accompany •
The Bath visit (Thurs 30) – just German students,
•
Cheddar Gorge (Fri 1) – English and German students and
•
Big Pit (Mon 4) – English and German students could confirm this with me on Friday evening. We should still like more
volunteers, so if your circumstances have changed, please speak to me!
I am sure this will be an enjoyable and rewarding visit.
I look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Yours sincerely,
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Included
on Disk
German Exchange Programme 200_.
Mon 11
Arrival at school, by tennis courts at 6.30 p.m. Students and staff go immediately
into families.
Tues 12
Students to be brought to C Block.
1 hr. in school – tour of school in groups accompanied by Year 10 English students
1 hr. in class with own teacher, visit to town.
Visit to zoo - own coach, to arrive 1.30. Arrive back by 3.30 p.m.
Wed 13
Cheddar Gorge. Picnic. Afternoon swimming at Sedgemoor Splash in Bridgewater.
Depart 9.00 from tennis courts. Tour will start 10.30, but arrive a little early. Leave
12.15 -12.30 for Bridgewater.
Thur 14
2 hrs. in school, in class. Students to be allocated to classes. Big Pit. Ironworks.
English and German students together. Depart 10.45 from tennis courts. Tour
12.00 at Pit; 2.00 at Iron Works. Depart 3.00-3.30. Return for 5.00 p.m.
Fri 15
1 hr. in school with own staff. Leave 9.45 a.m., own bus. SS Great Britain, Blue
Glass Factory, Maritime Centre (all together) Boat trip, picnic. Leave 9.45 and tour
begins 10.00. Boat trip from SS Great Britain landing stage. Maximum one hour;
eat on board. Return by coach or on foot from in front of Industrial Museum for
3.30 p.m.
Sat 16
In families.
Sun 17
In families.
Mon 18
2 hrs. in school in class, 2nd hour working with English students in Year 11. (Specific
instructions will be issued) City Museum, Georgian House. Picnic Cabot Tower.
Possible town trail/shopping. Return for 3.30 p.m.
Tues 19
Bath – visit to Roman Baths. Organised teaching Session. Shopping. Leave 8.40 by
coach. Teaching session (already booked) starts at 10.00. Coach drops students in
coach park then short walk to baths. Leave 3.30 p.m. to arrive approximately 5.00
p.m.
Wed 19
Penhow Castle
Afternoon: Ice Rink, if time. Depart 9.00 a.m. from tennis courts. Return for 5.00
p.m. Include visit Ice Rink if desired.
Thur 21
All day in school with English students. 7.30 Party in school, live music.
provided by parents
Fri 22
Depart 9.00 - 9.30 a.m. for Germany.
Food
All meetings at C Block – meet your partners here. All outings require picnics.
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Sample Timetable
The following timetable is for time spent by German pupils in English classes. Pupils work in pairs.
• The first section is class and subject. e.g., 8FR (Year 8 French)
• The second, in italics, is the teacher’s designation.
• The third, in bold type, is the classroom.
Every pair is given a sketch map of the school – particularly necessary on a split site.
Pairs are designated by number and are given just their strip, whilst their teachers have a copy of
the whole timetable. Just two lessons are shown for Thursday and again for Monday. Here are
just four pairs; in reality, there were fifteen. The key is organisation, with all staff concerned
having prior knowledge of their guests’ presence. German and English staff involved need to be
on duty to field any problems. Senior staff need to be aware of what is happening and when.
German Students in class
1.
2.
3.
4.
Thursday, 14th October
Monday 18th October
Period 1
Period 2
Period 1
Period 2
8SP ME C3
8FR IE C5
8FR CP C6
8SC RM U5
10AR GM R6
10AR NO R5
10DR FB A11
10GE CW B11
8DE LJ C3
8RE CS C9
8 HI SB R2
8MU PT A10
9 MA RM L10
9 MA YT L7
8SC HM U8
10EN LT L3
Fr – French; AR – Art; MA – Maths; RE – Religious instruction; DE – German; DR – Drama; HI –
History; SC – Science; GE – Geography; MU – Music; EN – English; SP - Spanish
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Section 6
Interview mit einem Verkäufer.
Du mußt auf Englisch fragen.
Namen der Schüler in der
Gruppe:
1.
Um wieviel Uhr ist der Laden geöffnet?
2.
Ist er am Wochenende geöfnet?
3.
Wieviele Personen arbeiten dort?
4.
Wieviele Stunden arbeiten sie pro Woche?
5.
Gibt es Studenten von der Universität, die dort arbeiten?
6.
Was ist der mittelmäßige Alter von den Kunden?
7.
Was für Arbeit machen sie gern im Laden?
8.
Was machen sie gar nicht gern?
9.
Waren sie schonmal im Ausland? In welchen Ländern?
?
10. Sprechen sie eine Fremdsprache?
Teil 2 – während des Interviews und später.
Beginn mit einer Beschreibung von dem Laden
- Wie groß ist er?
- Wie ist der Dekor?
- Was für Ware haben sie?.
Schreib den Namen des Ladens
Frag den Namen des Verkäufers und wie man ihn buchstabiert; frag wie alt er ist – weniger oder
mehr als vierzig Jahre alt?
Andere Fragen:
- Was im Laden ist am teuersten?
- Was ist am billigsten?
- Welches Artikel ist sehr populär?
- Wenn du £25 hättest, was würdest du kaufen? .
These questions are in German so that the pupil is obliged to work out how to ask them in English
AND so that they do not simply hand them over to the shopkeeper.
A similar questionnaire for British pupils abroad can be produced in English.
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Treasure Trail
(This one is based in Bristol, so if your school is in Bristol, it’s ready-made. For others, it is meant
as an example of what can be done. Quite a lot of work is necessary in advance.)
Start at the roundabout at the top of Cotham Hill.
1. What type of hospital is at the roundabout?
2. What is Western College?
3. Name of Church.
4. Name of Primary School.
5. Date of fountain.
Head down St. Michael’s Hill.
6. What sort of place is the Highbury Vaults on the left?
7. Name of the Barber’s Shop for men.
8. What is the typical sign of a barber’s attached to the front of the shop?
9. Look at Highbury Villas – which French expression is used to indicate a road, which is blocked
at the end?
10. Which drinking animal can be found in this street on the right (look up a little)?
Go a little way into Tyndall Avenue.
11. Which shop can be found on the right hand side?
Return to St. Michael’s Hill.
12. Which animal on the right is represented in a mosaic?
13. Which legendary hero has given his name to a pub on the left?
Draw the coat of arms on the black litterbin opposite Colston’s Armshouses.
14. What happens every Wednesday at the Scotchman pub?
Go round the church staying up on high. Cross the little road and go down the steps.
15. Name the glass shop beside the traffic lights on the left.
16. What is in the left hand window?
Cross at the traffic lights and stand at the top of the steps. Look back at the glass
shop.
17. Which musical instruments are sold nearby?
18. Give the name of the steps.
Go down the steps and turn right along the road.
19. What shop for having fun can you see immediately on the right?
Cross over at the crossing and go slightly to your left.
20. Name the 3 statues on the front of the little chapel?
21. When was the Almshouse founded?
Continue down the steps.
22. How much does it cost to use the Internet (on the right)?
23. What is the name of the café?
24. Give the opening hours of the handmade boots and shoes shop.
25. Who makes wedding dresses in this street?
26. Which other word is used for these clothes.
Draw the doorknocker on the left.
27. What can you see through the iron gate next to the fish and chip shop at the very bottom of
the steps?
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Go left.
28. What is the name of the statue on the left?
29. What can you see in the courtyard of the Hotel du Vin? And in the showcase on the left?
(Read the sign)
30. What was the former name of this hotel?
31. Which two commodities were important to trade in Bristol in 18th and 19th centuries?
32. Copy the graffiti on the pedestrian bridge above you. What is it about?
33. What is the logo on the scooter shop? Draw it.
34. Name the pub on the left.
35. What is the Bayhorse? Cross over in front of House of Fraser and go along Horsefair.
36. What can you buy in “The Works”?
Go along and then right, into the Arcade.
37. Name the teddy bear shop.
38. Is the Red Baron still there? How much is he?
39. What is also included in the price?
40. What is sold at “Deep Turtle”?
41. What is the most expensive item in Zodiac Zones? How much is it?
42. Find two of your teachers in Costa’s Coffee Bar at the end of the Arcade and sign in, to get
your instructions for finding the treasure.
Each group can be given one of the following routes for finding their treasure.
Instructions for treasure (1)
Turn right and enter The Galleries opposite Tesco Supermarket. Go up the escalators right to the
top and find the exit by going towards the right, past the ironmongers and the main post office.
Leave the shopping centre, cross the road and go straight along Wine Street. The road curves
along to the left, but you go straight into Corn Street. The St. Nicholas Markets are on your left.
Go in and find the sweet and chocolate stall in the middle of the hall. Identify yourself and claim
your prize.
Instructions for treasure (2)
Turn right and walk to the end of the street. Turn left and walk up to the top, past Waterstones
and the Odeon cinema. Cross the road and go straight along Wine Street. The road curves along
to the left, but you go straight into Corn Street. The St. Nicholas Markets are on your left. Go in
and find the sweet and chocolate stall in the middle of the hall. Identify yourself and claim your
prize.
Instructions for treasure (3)
Turn right and enter The Galleries opposite Tesco Supermarket. Go up the escalators right to the
top and find the exit by going towards the right, past the ironmongers and the main post office.
Leave the shopping centre, cross the road and go straight along Wine Street. The road curves
along to the left. Follow it a little way (you can see the Bristol Bridge in front of you). Turn right
into an opening by a stall selling material. These are the St. Nicholas Markets. Walk along the
aisle and turn right again to enter the main hall. Go in and find the sweet and chocolate stall in
the middle of the hall. Identify yourself and claim your prize.
Instructions for treasure (4)
Turn right and enter The Galleries opposite Tesco Supermarket. Go up the escalators right to the
top and find the exit by going left and then right just before the shop called TKMax. Cross the
road via the pedestrian bridge into the park and walk more or less straight until you come to the
river. Turn right and walk along the river as far as the Bristol Bridge. Cross the roads via the
pedestrian crossings and turn right up High Street. Turn left into the market opening via the shop
selling material. These are the St. Nicholas Markets. Walk along the aisle and turn right again to
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enter the main hall. Go in and find the sweet and chocolate stall in the middle of the hall. Identify
yourself and claim your prize.
Answers
1. Homeopathic.
2. Surgery.
3. Cotham Parish Church.
4. St. Peter and St. Paul.
5. 1882.
6. Pub.
7. Giggsy’s.
8. Red and white pole.
9. Cul de sac.
10. White bear.
11. Waterstone’s bookshop.
12. Elephant.
13. Robin Hood.
14. Live music night. (written on board)
15. Bristol Glass.
16. A display of blue glass vases.
17. Violins.
18. Christmas Steps.
19. Joke shop.
20. The 3 kings of Cologne.
21. 1483.
22. 5p.
23. Coffee.Net.
24. 10.30 – 6.00, Tuesday – Saturday.
25. Karen Reilly.
26. Bridalwear. (written on shop front)
27. A beautiful garden.
28. The cloaked horseman.
29. Corkscrews.
30. The Sugar House.
31. Tobacco and sugar. (see noticeboard)
32. Choking on your fumes.
33. Drawing of logo.
34. The White Hart.
35. Another pub.
36. Books, etc.
37. Rascals.
38. Yes, £178.
39. A personal message.
40. Jewellery.
41. An Egyptian Headdress.
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Included
on Disk
A ‘Thank You’ letter
This letter went out to parents in a year that the German and French visits overlapped.
Although very organisation-intensive, we were able to double up on some of the visits
and social events.
6th October, 200_.
Dear Parents/Carers,
Exchange 200___.
I am writing to thank you all for allowing your children to participate
in the exchanges and, above all, for hosting the German and French
children on the return visit. In both cases, the overwhelming majority
of pupills have had an extremely positive experience, and many are
already making arrangements for a further round of visits.
Particular thanks are due to those who hosted extra children, teachers or
a different child from the one with whom the original contact was made.
Without your help, we could not have made this work. We very much
appreciated those parents who agreed to accompany visits, especially Mr.
____________, whose comprehensive knowledge of Bath was of great interest
to the German and French groups alike.
The teachers who accompanied both parties have asked me to pass on their
good wishes and thanks to all concerned; they were especially pleased
with the joint party for pupils, teachers and parents together, which, in
the case of the French, was felt to be a fitting end to a wonderful two
weeks.
Thank you once again.
Yours sincerely,
How to Organise a Good German Exchange
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