Over the course of term one to four, it’s safe to say that all students taking German have experienced some aspects of German culture!

To start off the year, senior students taking German had the opportunity to attend a forum held at the University of Canterbury. Held in February, this “Warum Deutsch?” forum was a chance for our seniors to engage with university students and professors. Our seniors were able to learn so much more about Deutschland and studying and working in Germany in the process. In result of this, they were provided with an insight to other people’s passion and love for German.

Another event held during the year was the Mardi Gras. This yearly celebration of culture was a delicious way to introduce German culture to Burnside High School students, as well as a way for us students to work on our cooking skills! With delicacies such as Lebkucken, Kartoffelpuffer and Spätzle, it was a huge success for the Languages department. 

For Open Night this year, the German department decided to include some fun activities. This involved some students from each year pitching in to share their knowledge of German culture and language to kids who may potentially take the language next year. An example of this was our very own Quiz-Meisters Tom and Josh who rounded up some keen participants for their quiz. Alongside the quiz we had Jack Hatherly with his usual entertainment, repping the Deutschland football shirt! One of our most popular activities however was the table Fussball, a favourite amongst many.

Next we have the Year 10 OSKAR Quiz held at Lincoln High School. The quiz run by the Goethe Institute was a great way for students to engage their learning and challenge their limits. Students in the Year 10 class who entered found it super fun and engaging. What a fun way to learn about a culture! With general knowledge in quick fire rounds, language, geography, history and culture questions, this proved a challenging yet eventful night. There was also a number of practical tasks such as a Trabi car race, and creating the perfect brezen out of playdough. This year Frau Currie was able to enter three teams, one of these teams taking out the OSKAR trophy again! This team consisted of Brianna Sands, Rachel Pang, Libby Gillespie and Cathy Porter.

This year Burnside decided to join the “Unternehmen Deutsch Projekt” in collaboration with the Year 10 German students. This project allowed the students to work with local German businesses such as Cafe Berlin, to create a new business idea. These initiatives ranged from school canteen collaborations, to traditional clothing of the workers. In addition to this, Cafe Berlin was able to come visit and show the students a few of their popular items like brezen and currywurst. Mmmm, sehr lecker! 

Provided once again by Goethe-Institut, our Year 9 and 10 students attended the German Film Fest. This was a field trip to see a German movie called “ROCCA Verändert die Welt,” that had only positive critiques afterwards from our students. The bus ride was a struggle to get on, but once we were on, we were away. A nice stroll around town to find the art gallery was a nice addition as well. In relation to this, we give a massive congratulations to Jeriel Tee, Kieran King and Lewis Grey from the Year 12 German class who were declared the German scholarship winners for the January 2020 German language and culture course at the Goethe-Institut. This is a 3 week course in Frankfurt, Germany so we wish the boys the best of luck. Herzlichen Glückwunsch und viel Spass!

This year has been an amazing year for all our classes. Fond memories have definitely been made, including all our little field trips! German language and culture is so unique, and our programme at Burnside does a great job of it. Vielen Dank, Frau Currie for your enthusiasm to teach! The best year of German yet.