A visit to Berlin

After our preparatory visit to Lithuania last October, in April we met our partner schools again in Berlin to discuss the second year of the Comenius project and to finalise the programme for the coming months. The other partners in this project, entitled "Our school is our castle: Myth or Reality?" are schools in Lithuania, Latvia and Germany, the host country this year.

This visit proved to be fruitful not only to us teachers but also to the students who accompanied us. Their motivation was clearly highlighted during various workshops held during this visit.

After arriving in Berlin we had a welcome party, which helped to break the ice especially among the students from the participating schools and also helped them get to know each other.

We were elated when we saw the Maltese flag stuck on one of the main walls of the entrance hall at the school, accompanied by photos we had sent to them earlier this year showing different activities and celebrations held at our school.

Besides experiencing new learning and teaching strategies, we also shared discussions with the German students and took an active part in the lessons. We were surprised to note that in just one class there were students of at least five nationalities - Poles, Turks, Israelis, Palestinians and Chinese. Although they all live permanently in Germany, they are still very proud of their country of origin.

Our students were delighted to take part in some physical exercises and later on, after lessons, even played football with German students. They interacted very well with the rest of the group and also proved to be very knowledgeable about Malta's history, and answered questions about Malta with great confidence.

During our stay, we learned about the importance of familiarising, accepting and appreciating the difference between European cultures and most importantly we learnt that these differences are not a barrier to culture and friendship. We had the opportunity to visit one of the most renowned universities in Germany, Potsdam University, and we also attended an educational intercultural fair at Berlin's Rote Rathaus, which offered great opportunities for students who are interested to study abroad.

Our programme was jam-packed with activities and our Berlinese hosts made sure we had a good look at their beautiful city.

This truly inspiring visit would not have been possible without the collaboration of our headmaster, Joseph Huber, who encouraged us to join this project and who always offered us his help when we needed it. We also thank our students who behaved very maturely and collaborated fully with us and the rest of the team thus making the visit worthwhile and remarkable.