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Leaving school? Yes, why not?
… but only for 5 days, and with a justified reason – to exchange your school for a new one, full of international students from 22 countries!
Eight students from our small secondary school in Siewierz attended an international conference in Berlin, Germany:
Klaudia Bańka, Maciej Ciszewski, Mariusz Jakubczyk, Weronika Kucharska (ZS Siewierz), Sylwia Ostaszewska, Magdalena Ściślicka, Malwina Swoboda and Olga Urbańczyk
The topic of this year’s conference was “Media without boundaries: creating or solving problems?”. Young people were working together on topics ranging from media to environmental issues and social problems. They proved they belong to half and three-quarters of the world’s population who speak more than one foreign language, as English was the main tool of communication among 700 students and 220 teachers who came to JFK School in Berlin between 14-17 November 2012.
Travelling abroad is definitely not a new experience for many students of our school. Even more of them have an easy access to the world of information on the Internet. However, they still need to be guided so that a deeper understanding of their place in the world is developed. Before the conference, under a long supervision of the English language teacher, they got an insight into complicated social, political and environmental issues. What is more, the students wrote resolutions to discuss them later in Berlin with their foreign friends. Students working in the Youth Assembly analysed the causes of school and family abuse of children and tried to find ways to combat them.
Most of the debates took place in the JFK School in Berlin. Two girls had the honour of being guests of the Swedish Embassy in Germany. For the night, students stayed with German host families. The conversations at breakfast and supper were often a bit awkward, but the level of language competence does not hinder communication so much. What is important, is the realisation that all people generally behave and react in a similar way and that the small differences are what really matters.
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Eye-opening experience? – definitely yes!
Students have realised that their peers not only can speak English very well, but they can discuss and defend their views, and provide surprising solutions to the world problems. They could see that everything in Germany is well organised, public transport works perfectly and people are warm and friendly.
Marcel Proust, the French novelist, observed that „the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes”. He was aware of the fact that by working with other people we learn about their cultures and consequently, we are able to explore new ideas and prospects.
Will the students be looking at the world with new eyes? I am sure they will. And pictures of Berlin sights will evoke wonderful memories not only of the 21st century architecture, perfect transport and organisation, but most of all, of the deeper understanding of other cultures.
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U. Kosteczka
Comenius Partnership in LO Siewierz 