On 9 - 10 May, 25 students of German in Years 11, 12 and 13 went to Camp Tirohanga Mosgiel to take part in the annual German Talkfest.

They were joined by a further 50 students from other schools including John McGlashen College and Ashburton College. The aim of the camp is to talk as much German as possible, especially with students from other schools, and this started well on the Wednesday afternoon with a lively 'speed dating' exercise, followed by many different vocabulary-based team games. 

With the help of Heike Papenthin, German National Advisor, and 8 German teachers from local schools, the students also completed a treasure hunt with clues and tasks in German, a ‘create a meme’ competition, a mammoth German quiz and then finished the evening with a German movie.

 The next day the students had the opportunity to record an interaction for their NCEA internal portfolio and to judge and sample the many cakes which had been baked with a German theme for the ‘Kuchen’ competition. Columba students pulled in most of the prizes for the cake competition, especially the Year 11 group (see photos). 

As always, one of the main highlights of the camp was the delicious food, provided for everyone by the amazing Ms Riethmaier. We all came away with our stomachs full of nourishment and our heads full of German!