Every year, the school social services organise a German-Greek exchange programme in cooperation with the Wilhelm-Heinrich-von-Riehl school. The school social services are supported by the youth work department in acquiring third-party funding from European support funds. This makes it possible to enable as many adolescents as possible to take part in the trip. The Greek pupils will travel to Germany in January, and their German partners will fly to Greece in March.
For year-seven pupils, travelling for the first time without their families is a very special experience. Naturally, they’re a bit reticent at first, but they quickly make friends with the young pupils from Greece and are very relaxed about speaking English to each other.
They reflect on what they’ve experienced in travel diaries and record all their impressions. For example, they travelled to the mountains and were surprised that you can go tobogganing in Greece.
The teenagers were very impressed by the fact that life in Greece is different, and they got to know people who were more friendly to each other.
They returned from their travels with new strengths. They had got to know themselves better and had become more self-confident. They have improved their English and have learned how to communicate despite language barriers.