Report Weeks 25 and 26
Interns: Manuel Wilms & Luca Schnur
Week 25
Monday was entirely dedicated to continuing the bee project, which had already been a central component of the lessons for several weeks. The goal of the project was to teach students about the importance of bees for the environment and society, while simultaneously combining academic content with creative forms of learning. The students designed their own lapbooks about the life of bees, recording important information regarding the anatomy, lifestyle, and duties within a bee colony. This involved a lot of crafting, gluing, and creative work. Additionally, the children were given the opportunity to make candles out of real beeswax, allowing them to establish a direct connection to the products made by bees. A special highlight was observing a real beehive, which gave the learners an even more vivid insight into the life of a bee colony. The students were highly motivated and showed great interest in the various aspects of the project.
On Tuesday, we once again participated in Mrs. Wuerfler’s online lessons. The core focus of the content was sentence structure—specifically, parts of a sentence, their functions, and how they are applied. The objective of the unit was to consolidate the students’ grammatical knowledge and prepare them to independently analyze sentence structures. Furthermore, an initial introduction to the upcoming Asterix and Obelix project was provided, giving the students an overview of the coming lessons.
Wednesday featured a classroom project prepared by Manuel regarding the migration of Germans to the United States. The goal of the unit was to introduce students to historical migration movements and to illustrate the significance of German immigration to the development of the USA. Famous German immigrants were introduced, and German inventions as well as cultural influences that remain visible in the United States today were examined. As a result, the students gained a deeper insight into the connections between Germany and the USA and were better able to understand historical developments.
Thursday was a special highlight of the week. On this day, we were given the opportunity to visit Claremont High School to gain a comprehensive insight into the American school system. At the same time, we were allowed to actively participate in teaching the classes. Manuel presented a portion of his project on German migration to the USA, while Luca introduced content from his computer science project regarding Artificial Intelligence. The goal of these teaching units was to introduce both historical and current societal topics to the American students and to promote international exchange. Additionally, we were able to sit in on a regular high school history class and observe the differences and similarities between the American and German educational systems. The subsequent feedback from the students and from Mrs. Tsai was particularly valuable, opening up new perspectives for our lesson planning. We were able to apply much of this feedback directly to our ongoing teaching at the German School Campus. Overall, the visit was an extremely enriching experience and provided us with a detailed look into daily life at an American high school.
On Friday, we assisted Mrs. Schoeneich with various organizational tasks. Among other things, we sorted numerous books and prepared them for storage. These activities also gave us an insight into the organizational processes of a school, which constitute an important part of daily school life alongside actual teaching.
Saturday was dedicated to a social community project with the German Honor Society. Together with the students, we spent several hours packing care packages for people in need. The goal of this initiative was to promote civic engagement and teach the students the importance of social responsibility. Working together was a very positive experience and impressively demonstrated how school learning can be connected with social action.
Week 26
The 26th week began with a series of important school events. On Monday, the ÖSD A2 exams took place. In parallel, the final preparations for the upcoming graduation ceremony were underway. The younger students intensively rehearsed their musical performances and presentations, while the older learners prepared their book presentations and worked on a short play. Since the theme of the graduation ceremony was based on the previously completed bee project, much of the developed content was revisited and prepared for presentation in front of the audience. The objective was to make the project results visible and to provide parents with an insight into their children’s learning progress.
On Tuesday, the Asterix and Obelix project was conducted during online classes. To begin, the students received an overview of the historical context of the Roman era, Julius Caesar, and the Gauls. Following this, the comic book and film series were introduced, alongside the movie Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar. The learners then delivered their character analyses of Asterix and Obelix. They examined character traits, relationships with other figures, physical appearance, as well as their personal assessment of the characters. Finally, questions about the movie were discussed, and various aspects of the plot were reflected upon together. The goal of the unit was to combine historical knowledge with media analysis and linguistic expression.
On Wednesday, the project was continued with the in-person class. Following an introduction to the historical background of the movie, the students were given character sheets for Asterix and Obelix. While watching the film, they took notes on their assigned characters and subsequently exchanged their observations in groups. Based on their notes, they prepared presentations which they then delivered to the class. Both groups presented their results confidently and with great motivation. The concluding discussion about the historical accuracy of the film and their personal evaluation of the plot demonstrated that the students had engaged deeply with the material. Despite minor challenges, the teaching unit as a whole was very successful.
Thursday consisted of multiple online teaching units with different students. In one group, the genitive case was covered and reinforced. The learners were already able to confidently apply many case forms and demonstrated a good understanding of the grammatical structures. Another student focused intensively on Germany and the state of Saarland, showing a keen interest in cultural and regional studies. A third student worked successfully with new vocabulary and possessive articles. Overall, these class sessions reemphasized the importance of individualized instruction and dffferentiated learning opportunities.
The absolute climax of the week was Saturday, which hosted the graduation ceremony for the German School Campus. The celebration was entirely themed around the bee project, the results of which had been developed over several months. To open the event, the younger students presented their rehearsed performance in bee costumes. This was followed by a play and the awards ceremony for the winners of the reading competition, who read excerpts from their books and received their medals. Furthermore, successful exam candidates were recognized and certificates were awarded. The goal of the event was to honor the achievements of the students and to look back on the past school year together. The event concluded with a shared buffet and numerous conversations among parents, teachers, and students. This celebration simultaneously marked the end of the 2025/2026 school year at the German School Campus.
Conclusion
Weeks 25 and 26 formed a successful conclusion to the school year at the German School Campus. In particular, executing and presenting long-term projects like the bee project or the Asterix and Obelix project showed us how vital action-oriented and project-based learning is for sustainable educational development. Furthermore, the visit to Claremont High School provided valuable insights into the American school system and offered us the chance to test our own teaching content in a new school environment. Finally, the graduation ceremony made it clear just how much progress the students had achieved over the course of the school year. All in all, these final two weeks allowed us once again to gather numerous pedagogical, organizational, and intercultural experiences that will accompany us on our continued path as future teachers.
