The Latest at Goethe

Sofia, Annamária and Krzysztof come from Central Eastern Europe, are learning German and are part of the editorial team of the online pupils’ newsletter Klick. What moves young people in Central Eastern Europe? How do they see Germany? This is an encounter that makes us optimistic. By Caroline Meurer and Astrid Schmidt

Meeting place: the world clock at Berlin Alexanderplatz. The thermometer reads 30 degrees. We have a date with the editorial team of the online pupils’ newsletter Klick. The pupils in the networking project in Central Eastern Europe reflect in German on their living environments and their classroom lives while getting to know foreign cultures. The 22 pupils from Central and Eastern Europe have come to Berlin for a one-week workshop. They are waiting for us and are engrossed in conversation – some even in German. Shy yet curious faces look at us with anticipation.

Annamária is 17 and comes from Szeged, Hungary. When she’s not at school, she likes spending time with her family. Annamária is one of the two chief editors of the pupils’ newsletter. She asked Sofia from the Czech Republic and Krysztof from Poland to join us because, as she says, it is “not exactly easy to talk in a foreign language about a specific topic.” To get away from the heat and the crowds at Berlin’s favourite meeting place, we walk to the park next to the Rote Rathaus.

On the way there, the 16 to 18-year olds notice differences between Germany and their home countries. 16-year-old Krysztof loves nature and likes most to spend his free time hiking with his father in the Tatra Mountains. Surprised, he remarks, “There are lots more bicycles in Berlin than in Warsaw.” Annamária adds, “What I like here is that lots of young people sit in the parks and have lots of leisure time. In Hungary it’s a lot more complicated, the people are always in a hurry and have to work long hours.” Sofia is 17 and goes to school in Cesky Tesin. Compared with the Czechs, she feels that Germans are more tolerant. “Here, everyone is allowed to have their own style, no one cares. At home, for example, girls who wear lots of makeup or high heels are given odd looks.” Yet, all of them notice a great many things in common as well. That’s a given because “After all, we all live in Europe“.

Logical: German

We are surprised at how well the pupils speak German and hear that all three took German as their first foreign language. Sofia was even born in Germany and began school here. Annamária has the impression that German is not necessarily popular as a mandatory subject among her age group in Hungary. “Many of them say that German is such a hard language. Most of them prefer English.” Krzysztof can’t understand that. “I’m a lot better at German than English. The German language is so logical.”

The online pupils’ newsletter Klick offers pupils learning German from six countries the opportunity to use the German language in a creative way outside of the classroom. The pupils’ newsletter consists of five editorial teams and one chief editing group. The articles on the online platform were all written by the pupils and reflect their lives in their home countries. Klick is constantly updated with new articles and is interesting online reading for anyone interested in the lives of pupils in Central Eastern Europe.

We ask how the articles on the subjects of language, life, learning, culture and politics are written. “It’s different everywhere. In the Czech Republic we tell the teachers what subjects we want to write about and the teachers then give them to us as exercises for German class,” Sofia tells us. At Krzysztof’s school in Poland posters and adverts are drawn that they hang up at school. “We also organize meetings where we work on the articles together. There is also a volunteer from the Goethe-Institut who helps us a great deal.” Annamária is in the chief editorial office, located in Hungary, because the idea for Klick originated at the school in Szeged. They write hardly any articles since the pupils are busy sorting and editing the copy submitted by the other editorial teams. In the future they plan to rotate the chief editorial duties among the countries.

Krzysztof hopes to improve his German skills with his work for Klick. Yet working in the team and researching subjects that move young people from all over Europe are just as important to him. “I think it’s great that young people from other countries can visit Germany this way and improve their German skills.” After six months, the online platform already had 44,000 hits, including many from Canada, the USA and Russia. Sofia emphasizes that Klick is a good opportunity to get to know new people from all over the world. The regular workshops, like this one in Berlin, also serve to provide the participants with solid tools of journalism. “That’s something you can’t learn just anywhere.” The teaching staff also came to Germany in 2010 to be trained in online journalism and thus be prepared for their work on site at the partner schools.

Klick is very special for project head Michael Hauke, expert for instruction (Schulen: Partner der Zukunft) at the Goethe-Institut Budapest. “We can learn so much about the region and new things about Germany. We think it would be great if all people in Europe or even the whole world could enter into dialogue as easily as the editors of our pupils’ newsletter.”

In the meantime, it’s started to rain and we escape under a sunshade with Sofia, Annamária and Krzysztof. The pupils feel at ease in their home countries and are enthusiastic about learning German. At the moment, they are not sure what will happen next; foremost they are looking ahead at graduation. However, they can imagine coming to Germany to study after finishing school. Sofia thinks that students can develop more in Germany and that the universities offer a greater choice than those in the Czech Republic. Annamária asserts, “If you go to university in Hungary, you have opportunities in Hungary, but if you study in Germany you have opportunities all over the world.“