Congratulations to Ellen Steiner who was awarded a scholarship by the renowned UK German Connection this summer. She spent two weeks in a host family in Germany and attended an intense German course.
UK-German Connection is a bilateral government initiative for school and youth links and the aim of their work is to bring young people together from the two countries. They act as a first port-of call for information and advice, provide a dedicated linking service and offer complementary funding for UK-German activity as well as a range of bilateral programmes, trips and seminars.
Ellen also visited a local school in Sevenoaks, New Beacon, to share her experiences and learning with the students there. Ellen’s presentation was very interactive and students were asked to guess German logos – they were surprised how many symbols and logos they knew were actually German). Ellen also explained about German school routine, and the children asked questions, such as “what do German children eat at school”…which must have been very eye opening given that German children do not get school food and always have a packed lunch, and they also talked about the German cuisine in general. Ellen also emphasised how important it is to visit other countries in order to learn languages properly. Ellen has been on three such trips now: Aachen in year 8, Ibbenbueren exchange in year 10 and now as the winner of the UK German Connection Award this summer.
The Headmaster, Mr Mike Piercy, said that Ellen’s visit helps to “widen the pupils’ horizon” and lots of the students now want to go on to study German.
