At the start of the year we welcomed back Caitlyn Trotman and Peyton Fields from the Nordrhein-Westfalen Exchange, and later in Term One their partners Johanna Oleksik and Yasmin Muller were a helpful addition to the Year 13 class.

We were also delighted to hear from Victoria Williamson that she had had an amazing time on her three week Goethe-Institut PASCH scholarship trip in January to attend an international Jugendkurs in Frankfurt.

In May, a number of Year 12 students were interviewed by the Goethe-Institut for the 2020 scholarships, and Ella Calder was selected to attend the immersion interview weekend in Wellington and Lara Seaton was awarded a three-week Partnership School Scholarship to study German at the Goethe-Institut in Frankfurt, as well as visiting nearby attractions.

A highlight of the year was the German Talkfest, held in May at Tirohanga Camp. Twenty-three students from Years 11, 12 and 13 joined other students from John McGlashan College, Bayfield High School and Otago Boys’ High School for this German language immersion experience. Over the two days, they enjoyed many activities including a quiz about Germany, speed dating, vocabulary games, an ‘Amazing Race’ and a ‘Family Feud’ quiz. The girls from Columba also carried away most of the prizes for the ‘themed cake’ competition!

In Term 3, all German learners from Years 9 to 13 went down to the Art Gallery for the annual German Film Festival to watch “Rocca verändert die Welt”, which was most enjoyable. Later in the term, students in the Year 11 and Year 12 classes took the ‘Fit in Deutsch’ A1 and A2 exams, which will give them a German language qualification which is recognised worldwide.

Mr A. Moore

HOD Languages