This year, we were finally out of lockdown and were able to open up more and do more things. For example, a group of senior students took a trip to UC to learn all about Germany and its history and the courses, opportunities and scholarships UC has for them in German.

On top of this we had a few collaborations with other organizations and schools like the Tanzen project which was a dance which was compiled with lots of other groups doing the same dance. All Years from 9 to 13 got together to contribute to the Tanzen project with the song "Applaus, Applaus" by the German band Sportfreunde Stiller.

Also throughout the year there was the Taschen Projekt where we decorated tote bags with a German theme and wrote letters to put inside, then swapped them with Ashburton College. Germans are really into reusable shopping bags and it was very fun to create and exchange bags and get to know each other.

Our wonderful German teacher, Frau Currie, treated her students to traditional German waffles with nutella and icing sugar as a fun treat on the 30th of September.

Over the year, we had two main projects that we really put effort into. They were the Band project, where we chose a German band and, in German, spoke about who was in the band and why we liked them, and the Köln presentation where we wrote all about the fun and exciting attractions to see and do in the German city of Köln.

Also during this year, Christchurch was entrusted in the care of two pieces of the Berlin Wall and Burnside High School is now the guardian of a replica of those two pieces. Some students attended the ceremony as well as Frau Currie and Mr Holstein!

Towards the end of the year the Goethe-Institut held the A1 and A2 examinations in which 10 students took A1 and 7 took A2, which years 9 to 11 participated in. These are examinations which students take for extra German experience and for a certificate they can put on their CVs. Bravo to those students who passed, well done!

And Herzlichen Glückwunsch! to Ksenia Vasylevska, Katherine Sun and Alex Yang for winning this year's German scholarships to attend a Jugendkurs (language and cultural immersion) at the Goethe-Institut in Wellington in January.

Written by Bronwyn Homer and Laura Marshall Year 9