“Sticks and stones

May break my bones

But words will never hurt me.” (Children’s rhyme)

But words can hurt. And they do. Especially when there is bullying involved.

The play called “Sticks and Stones” deals with bullying at school. We were lucky to host the renowned White Horse Theatre Company at our school. They performed “Sticks and Stones” in front of 200 students from our school.

You can find out more about the play HERE

After a great performance by English speaking actors from England and Australia, we were allowed to ask questions and talk about bullying at school. The conclusion was that the worst thing are the “watchers”. They watch others being bullied without doing anything.

Here is a short interview by Hewan from GKS with Julia, one of the actors:

GKS: Why did you start doing theatre?

Julia: Well, that’s a good question. For me personally the theatre has always been the place I felt happiest. And I was always fascinated by different people, different characters, by the psychology. In theatre you are working with people and learning about people all the time. You have to become very different characters, which I find very exciting.

GKS: What are the reasons for choosing this play?

Julia: Our artistic director, Peter Griffith, actually wrote this play himself. It’s based on his own experiences of bullying when he was at school. And we felt it’s a very relevant topic because it takes place in every school. If you ask around, most people have experienced bullying some time in their lives. I know all four of us [the actors] have, so we felt it was important to talk about this.

GKS: In which countries have you played?

Julia: I have acted in England and Germany, Angus has done a lot of acting in Australia – because he’s Australian – the others have only toured in England so far, so this is their first time in Germany.

GKS: What do you feel when you’re on stage?

Julia: Well, that depends. There are many different factors. Obviously you try to be in the part and feel what the part feels at the moment but every day we’re in a new room with new conditions, you know, the way you have to speak in order to fill the room; the way the audience reacts and how you interact with the audience. And the audience is different every day, so that is what makes this job so exciting.

GKS: Did you have experience in situations like these?

Julia: Yes, all four of us had experiences with being bullied, I myself, when I was 13 or 14. All the other girls in my class were only interested in boys, clothes and going partying and so on. And I was interested in theatre and books and that was not very cool. So basically I didn’t have any friends in school but I got over that through getting to act and so I found my world that made me happy.

GKS: Cool. Thank you very much for the interview.

Julia: Thank you very much.

Last autumn, the GKS started a cooperation with the Mierendorff Grundschule. Mrs Enskat from our English department has been teaching there and has produced the following photos showing some of the work of the ‚Versuchsklasse ‘ (year 5). The students come from three different classes and are highly motivated to learn English.

Click to view slideshow.

]]> http://gksblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/english-at-mierendorff-grundschule/feed/ 0 HC http://gksblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/the-american-authors-collection-on-bbc-radio-4/ http://gksblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/the-american-authors-collection-on-bbc-radio-4/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:19:14 +0000 ngraf http://gksblog.wordpress.com/?p=292 ]]> You can now listen online to interviews with American authors from 1939 onwards. All you need to do is to simply follow this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/front-row/american-authors/.

From 27 to 31 January 2010, the GKS’s year 13 Leistungskurs went on a school trip to visit the British capital. We managed to explore many famous places in London Town and can now only confirm Samuel Johnson’s famous quote. This post is designed to provide our readers with a brief outline of our activities during the trip.

Day One

We arrived around noon. Before setting off to explore the city, we inspected our accomodation. The hotel we stayed in was situated very close to Baker Street and beautiful Regent’s park. Hence, we resided very central and had great transport links. Having crossed that from our list, we headed towards Waterloo which is situated south of the River Thames. As we were in search of good-value-for-money food, we went to a street called Lower Marsh. This street was once part of the oldest settlement of the South Bank. As a matter of fact, it used to be marsh land until the early 19th century. The term South Bank refers to the southern shore of the River Thames. It is a popular place among Londoners and tourists. Here, you can find many famous sights such as the London Eye, Globe Theatre, Tate Modern and so on.

On our first evening, we joined a guided Jack the Ripper Walk. The tour started at Tower Hill tube station and led us through  London’s East End; much of it is known nowadays as the City of London and the financial district.

After having walked through drizzly London for almost 2 hours, we were ready for one of the most famous Bagel shops in London, on Brick Lane. This area of East London saw Jewish immigration during the 17th century. However, as so many places in London are witnessing constant change, Brick Lane is now the heart of the Bangladeshi community and therefore referred to as Banglatown.

Day Two

Our second day in London was meant to be very busy. In the morning, we went on an educational tour to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. After having learned some very interesting facts on Elizabethan theatre, we were quite hungry and made our way towards the Docklands. We stopped at Shadwell DLR station for some traditional Fish & Chips. Be advised though that it is very difficult to find a good Fish & Chips shop in London and this one is an insider’s tip. Having filled our empty stomachs, we continued our venture through the London Docklands and Canary Wharf. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the Docklands were the busiest harbour in the world. The British stored here all goods that were brought in from the colonies. During the Second World War, the Docklands were heavily bombed and destroyed. Consequently, most of the wharfs were closed down shortly afterwards. Up to the 1980ies, they were a forgotten part of London until Prime Minister Thatcher decided to regenerate the area. Since the City of London lacked office space and buildings were not allowed to exceed the height of St. Paul’s, the Docklands seemed to be the most promising part of town in terms of expansion. Today, Canary Wharf houses most of the global finance and insurance companies and a stunning architecture.

We then left Canary Wharf behind us and visited beautiful Greenwich with its Prime Meridian and colonial architecture. In order to complete an exciting day successfully, we made our way back into Central London by boat on the River Thames.

Day Three

On our third day, we explored parts of Central London such as Oxford Street, Picadilly Circus, Soho, Covent Garden, China Town, the Strand and Trafalgar Square. Those of us interested in the Arts, visited the National Gallery.

Day Four

As our fourth day was a Saturday, we had to visit London’s famous street markets in Notting Hill and Camden.

* all pictures copyright by ngraf

Download the presentation of NSW and Victoria

Download the dialogue tour NSW and Victoria

Download the worksheet for NSW and Victoria

Listen to the Australian National Anthem

Read the words of the anthem

This month’s link is to this funny video showing why learning to speak English properly is so important!

Play the free trial version HERE