On the morning of 26 February, the AHR13F started a day trip to our partner school, the ROC in Hengelo. Everybody in the bus was very excited since this was the first time the Ahaus class visited the Dutch students whereas in the years before Dutch classes came to the BWV. After a warm welcome by the Dutch students, who were all part of the “Excellence-level of English class” and their teachers, we first played communication games like “the Doughnut” to break the ice and to get to know each other better.
After that we were divided into mixed groups of four consisting of Dutch and German students. First our partners showed us around school, which was very fascinating to experience everyday-life in a school with more than 10,000 students.
After a guided tour and some coffee we started to work on the project R.O.L.E., which means “Regarding our lives in Europe“.
This project is aimed at comparing the life of students in other EU-countries. Aspects like the differences in the educational systems, how we make a living as student, comparing our career prospects and plans for the future were the core issues of our group work. Additionally, we exchanged opinions about our hopes and expectations regarding the European Union.
After some delicious lunch with tasty “broodjes” and freshly-squeezed orange juice, we summarized our results on posters and presented them to the other students.
After listening to different presentations we came to the conclusion that the similarities between the Dutch students and us overweigh the differences by far. It was interesting to see that most of the Dutch students were striving to go to university after school, whereas most of us prefer to do an apprenticeship after passing the A-levels this summer.
Another interesting fact is that Dutch students receive some financial support from the Dutch government to speed up students´ school career, but in case you do not pass your exam in time, you have to pay back the money soon, which we doubt is a good idea.
Finally, we evaluated the project in class and gave our teachers some useful advice how to improve this and that about the project.
In the end we can say that we spent a great day in Hengelo pushing our English communication skills and bearing some interesting discussions and conversations with our Dutch equivalents.
Bye and Doei!
Jamie van de Sand/Jule Wynk (AHR 13F)