Category Archives: July 1, 2010

Neukloster

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Our agenda today started off with a one hour bus ride to the small town of Neukloster, where we visited the Gymnasium AM Sonnenkamp Neukloster.  This is an all daz grammar (or in other words secondary) school with a bilingual section, meaning some of the courses are offered in English for students who prefer to European Universities.  First we were welcomed by Ms. Astrid Paschen, the Head of School and Mr. Jürgen Milde, the CertiLingua Coordinator.  We toured the school grounds, met with a couple of the teachers, and then we had the opportunity to attend a class with 8th grade students (including a bilingual geography lesson and history lesson).

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These 8th grade Geography students are in the bilingual section. This Geography class is smaller than some of the other classes at the school becuase of this. Mr. Hilde was our host in Neukloster who gave us the tour of the town and the school.

Geography text book in English. Vocabulary words are in the glossary with the German translation.

Geography text book in English. Vocabulary words are in the glossary with the German translation. Geography lesson today was about South America.

When asked about how teachers approach controversial subjects in history, the history teacher answered that it is dangerous to hold to a particular view, rather, encourage the students to find out what happened in their families after the war, etc.  The history lesson we observed was  about the Wilhelm II, the German emperor, who was son of Kaiser Friedrich III and was Kaiser during World War I.   Even though this lesson was all in German, we could see how the lesson flowed and how well the teacher was prepared with visuals and even a video clip.  These 8th grade students only have one period of history per week, so this teacher said that she struggles to cover everything in the time available.

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After class, we ate lunch at a restaurant where we enjoyed a nice view of Neukloster lake.  Our tables were on the lawn of the restaurant, and we got to chat with Mr. Bilde and Ms. Paschen a bit more.  Mrs. Paschen, who was a teacher in what was formerly known as GDR or East Germany, told us about her experience working for the school during this time period.  With Mr. Bilde, we talked more about the education system in Mecklenburg, making comparisons with our schools in the U.S.
IMG_2194 After lunch we went on a guided tour of the city of Neukloster, where we saw a former monastery…
Former monastery Church St. Mary and St. Johannes in "Sommercamp"

Former monastery Church St. Mary and St. Johannes in "Sommercamp"

and the Stadmuseum (city museum).  This museum is actually inside a little house in which people actually lived when East Germany was the GDR.  He had set up each room with artifacts that were representative of things you would have found in households during this time period.  For example the “playroom” or nursery had actual toys and baby things like these.
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