German Exchange Comes To Solihull

German students have spent this week visiting The Sixth Form College, Solihull as part of an exchange partnership with a German school near Frankfurt.

A Level German students at the College have been entertaining students from our partner school, Albert-Einstein-Schule in Main-Taunus-Kreis near Frankfurt. It is the return leg of a visit to Schwalbach near Frankfurt which took place in late November/early December.

The exchange, which takes place every two years is aimed at helping both sets of students (18 students from each country) improve their spoken German and English and to embrace German and English culture.

The German students arrived last weekend and spent the weekend with the families of our students. They had an official welcome at the Mayor’s parlour on Monday and joined our students in their lessons on Wednesday and Thursday. Visits and excursions were also planned, including a day trip to Oxford (pictured above) on Tuesday and a visit to Stratford on Friday.

The trip to Oxford included a Harry Potter tour, which visits Christ Church, the Divinity School and New College. Additionally, they went to the Electric Cinema for a private screening of "Baghdad Café" and then went on to the Big Wok, which was very popular with the students.

The trip to Frankfurt at the end of last year (pictured below) also involved an official welcome, while the students took in a tour of Frankfurt’s skyscrapers and a day trip to the old university town of Marburg where the Grimm brothers studied. They also visited Continental-Teves, a company that the College has forged close links with, which taught the students a lot.

"This partnership with the Albert-Einstein-Schule is so valuable to both sets of students," commented teacher Deborah Smail-Ross. "In developing another language, there really is no substitute for visiting that country and using those language skills on a daily basis. Our students have already benefitted from that and this week it was the opportunity for our friends from the Albert-Einstein-Schule to do likewise.

"Both sets of students have built up some good friendships through this exchange and they have all learnt a lot. It will undoubtedly aid them all with their studies and they have had a lot of fun through it as well."