Scotch College

Continuing to strengthen German links

Bringing the seeds of language to life through Scotch student exchange programs.

Words: Malcolm Pacey

The summer holidays are always a busy time for Scotch’s students of German, as they take the opportunity to involve themselves in the large variety of student exchange programs available through the College.

The German Department helps to facilitate student participation in both the Bayerischer Jugendring (Bavarian Youth Ring) and Society for Australian–German Student Exchange (SAGSE) programs, as well as giving boys the opportunity to attend one of several German schools with which we continue to enjoy strong relationships.

Alex Linossier was one such student. He hosted his exchange partner, Johannes, during term two of last year and enjoyed the reciprocal part of the exchange for one month, starting from late December.

Alex spent his time in the town of Villingen, located in the beautiful Black Forest region of Germany. Villingen has the distinct advantage of being situated close to both the French and Swiss borders, which afforded him the opportunity for some wonderful travel.

What made a real impression on Alex was that individual German schools, which are almost exclusively run by the government, do not cater for all levels of ability. Instead, students attend a school with others of similar ability.

Alex says a student exchange is ‘the quickest and most effective way to learn a language’. This opinion is shared by David Thomson, Scotch’s winner of the exclusive SAGSE scholarship for 2006–07. David spent 10 weeks in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, near Cologne. His scholarship was sponsored by Audi Germany.

One of the first activities in which David took part, and which left a lasting impression on him, was attending the Ahrweiler Christmas market, held in the old part of the town. This very traditional German activity emphasised to David the importance of Christmas to Germans.

‘Christmas Eve, as I understand now, is more important in Germany than Christmas Day,’ he says. ‘The family gathered for a large dinner, and the church in the centre of Ahrweiler really got into the Christmas spirit!’

Highlights of his scholarship included a week-long winter camp with other scholarship winners and their exchange partners, a week of unrestricted travel within Germany, and the grand finale – a visit to Germany’s historic and dynamic capital, Berlin.

The chance to travel abroad as an exchange student is obviously the ultimate way of bringing the seeds of language sown in language other than English classes to life.

The links the German Department has developed in the past, and which continue to flourish today, present an opportunity for Scotch boys to live a dream: to be a young person in a foreign country, attending school and visiting places only seen in books or on television before. ‘Your exchange partner becomes a friend for life,’ according to Alex. This is what learning a language is all about.