UK German Connection: Evaluation conference

I found myself contemplating the idea of travel as I was on my way to Euston to find the hotel that we’d all been booked into. It was Friday. A mere seven days earlier, we’d left the UK, bound for the Berlin and ultimately Weimar. Now though, there I was again in the land of green fields.

The accommodation
The hotel that we stayed in was the Premier Inn, a mere five minute walk away from Euston station.
Not only was the location rather good, but so was the hotel itself. Although they specialise in cheap rooms, they were very respectable – a couple of beds, en-suite, satellite TV, towels and such provided.
OK, so admittedly that’s what most hotels should provide as standard (minus the TV), but compared to where we stayed last time in November, it was nicer to say the least.

The conferencems
The conference began by a selected few of the group presenting what they’d achieved over the course of the year with their respective partnerships and projects.
There were those who’d sent each other boxes for Christmas and Easter, begun a pen-friend scheme, made films showing each other their towns and main sights, created a German music club and baking club, decorated their school’s language corridor like the Berlin Wall – amongst other things. There was lots more! In short – very impressive stuff.

The majority of people though, myself included, had little to show their efforts, either due to a lack of time, motivation or other difficulties in school – communication problems and the like. Although it sounds simple, in reality it isn’t easy to get a project off the ground and keep it there!

We then had a couple of workshops discussing the various problems (and positives) that we’d experienced and encountered along the way. (These were briefly interrupted by lunchtime, and the Syrian protest going on around the corner – which we were warmly welcomed into, but declined!)

All in all…
Although the scheme didn’t produce that much of a project for me – despite a fair crack at the whip – it’s clear that this is still a very valuable thing to be involved in, hence I’m still happy to have been involved in it.
It forges even closer links between countries and schools (they’d be relatively close anyway, one presumes, with having a Language Assistant in the classroom), and, from what was shown, is clearly a source of great intrigue, enjoyment and the breaking down of stereotypes on both sides of the project. This is particularly important in the UK, due to the lack of language learning there (one of my hobby horses!).

UKGC article: Thüringen’s backwaters

Another one of my UKGC articles has been put up on their site.

This time, it’s focused on travelling in Germany, so I’ve picked out some ‘backwater’ style places that I’ve travelled to, rather than the more talked about and popular cities.

I gave a quick summary of Oßmannstedt, Bad Sulza and Stadtroda along with a few more added thoughts since typing up their respective posts in the blog.

Take a look, if you want: Clickety-click!.

UKGC: Articles

So, just to do some personal plugging, over at the UK-German Connection Voyage site, my two latest articles have been finally put up – one about the challenges and surprises that I had in the first two months of being a Language Assistant and the other asking about why we should learn German (or indeed any foreign langauge, for that matter).

I had a nice bit of fun writing these – it took time, as I’ve been busy with various things, but they’ve been finally submitted and there they are.

UKGC: Conference

‘So, we hope that you now feel satisfied and realtively confident in what you have to do, to begin and continue a project in your schools.’

The round of applause that followed was justly deserved. All 60 of us – 45 German Foreign Language Assistants (FLAs) and 15 British (ELAs) – had had a great three days.

Introductions
The first day was a bit of a whirlwind of activity. Meeting people, which began as a ice-breaker activity such as ‘Make a map of the UK using yourselves. Find out where the compass directions are and then stand where you’re working / from’. The same occured for Germany too. This was a bit of fun and then we got into the real nitty-gritty of it all.

The work itself
The whole conference was essentially a way of easing us into the way that the UKGC operates. This ranged from a rather ‘dry’ first day, in which we were given little talks on what sort of things we could do, what funding would be available if we needed it, what the ‘dos and don’ts’ are that the UKGC adheres to, and many other things besides.

The second day was a lot better, as we focused on what sort of projects we, ourselves, would want to do and had the chance of a mingle. For me, I don’t like these sorts of situations, so I didn’t get very much out of it – but at least we had a vague idea of what the other EL- / FLAs wanted to do, as we all had to gather by a specific area depending on what our main idea was. If it was ‘Media / Art’, for example, off they went to that corner, ‘Music’ another, and so on.
As my own preference was for a penfriend sort of scheme, I was pleased that there were a good seven or eight folks gathered around this bit!
It then came to actually choosing a partner to pair up with, and I was rather lost with it. In the end, me and a girl got together, but we weren’t all that compatiable really – she was fixed on her magazine idea, and me with my penfriend scheme. In the end, on Sunday – we went our separate ways, but that finished with a positive twist.
We were also treated to a couple of workshops – one on project management and the second about linking and partnerships – both were interesting and allowed us to get interactive and ask questions.

Sunday – the final day, in which we were finishing our action plans, and me and the partner from yesterday had an honest discussion and – as I said above – both came to the conclusion that we’d both be better off finding someone else and we approached the organisers (all of whom were incredibly helpful) who managed to sort us both out with new bods. My new partner, Kerstin, was very open, friendly and seemed a lot more flexible. All in all, a much better prospect! Hopefully, we’ll make this year a good ‘un!
As well as this, we were taken through the websites of the UKGC, which is divided into three ‘pillars’ – for parents, kids and ‘Voyagers’, mainly aimed at teens. There’s a huge amount of info on there, if you care to take a look!

The location of the course / accommodation
The location of the course was the old DDR’s embassy (now emalgimated into the German government’s buildings) at 34 Belgrave Square, near Victoria. This was a fantastic, central location – with Buckingham Palace a few minutes walk away, as was Hyde Park and so on.
The accommodation too, was relatively close to the square and was in yet another prime location – around a five minute walk away from Lancaster Gate tube station. On Sunday, this gave us the great opportunity to walk from the hostel to the course through Hyde Park, which took around 40 minutes and was nice and brisk. A great way to start the final day!
The accommodation itself, although a hostel in effect, was nice – basic, of course, but nonetheless, did the job solidly for us all, I think.

Freebies
A nice surprise at the end of the course – we were told we would get some freebies! Seeing as we’d all had a lovely meal out at (a rather hard to find) Zizzi’s in Victoria the night before, all paid for by the UKGC, plus the fact that flights and travel is paid for by them too, what else could they give us that was free?
The answer: A hoodie, a bag, a badge and a hell of a lot of support, if we need it.

All in all, a brilliant conference! Although I felt initially as though it may have been a bit of a mistake – the first day didn’t particularly captivate me – by the end, all was dandy and now, I’m ready to begin setting up this penfriend project, along with Kerstin, ASAP.

Cracking stuff!

UKGC: FLA Ambassador Conference details

Last week, I received some more information about the UK-German Connection FLA Ambassador Conference, that I’ve been invited to take part in this week. I blogged about what the scheme is set up to do earlier this year – click here to read that.

The conference, which takes place between Friday 19 Nov to Sunday 21 Nov, is aimed at allowing us to build up an idea of what the UKGC initiative does. The days will involve talking about the expectations of the group, what the conference will actually involve, the short and long term aims of the project, various websites that they have, project funding and support, workshops going over project management and planning, project plan writing and also have a time for questions.

I’ve already got my list of things that the teachers at school want me to do – all pretty simple really:
1) Forge links with a British school and get contact with it moving, preferably for the long term future, rather than just this year
2) Attempt to set up a penfriend project (this was very much emphasised!)

In addition to this, I’ve offered to get various little tidbits for folks at school and a couple of other friends, so now have an ever lengthening shopping list. The majority of it, seems to be simply be either touristy things – badges, key rings, photos and so on, but also a fair bit of food! Chocolate, tea, chocolate, crisps and chocolate seem to be on the menu. Not that I’m complaining – it’s nice to be able to bring something back that folks’ll enjoy!

Thursday, when I’m flying out, will be a long, long day for me: Getting the train out of Weimar at 0550 to get to Frankfurt in plenty of time for my flight into London City. From there, I’m meeting up with someone for lunch, then off to probably have an explore of the city that I love. On the plus side, as the accommodation (already paid for by the UKGC – very nice of them) isn’t ready until Friday, this means that I get to spend a night in my old bed. Whether I’ll love it or loathe it, we’ll see.

This heralds the start of a very interesting, busy time for me. To say I’m looking forward to it all, is an understatement.

UK-German Connection: Application successful!

On Monday, I’m pleased to say that I got an e-mail from the UK-German Connection to say that I’m invited to the conference in London on 19 – 21 November! I’m on the Ambassadors’ scheme!

What the scheme involves, to reiterate (I’m sure I’ve covered it before though!), is Language Assistants of both nationalities – German and British – to get together and team up, ultimately leading to a short-term project and hopefully some lasting contact and ties with a British / German school. Here are some examples of what sort of projects can be undertaken and the things achieved.

What’s interesting, is that both the travel and accommodation in London will be paid for by the UKGC. This also means that I’ll be travelling on the Thursday and probably Monday to / from Germany, so it’ll involve a couple of days off work – but I’m only too happy to make up the time, so there’s no problem there.

More information will be sent out to us soon, presumably about the travel and accommodation arrangements.
What I know so far though, is that during the conference the following will be covered:

• Project planning and development together with FLAs
• Briefing session on outreach work and school partnerships
• Introduction to the aims of UK-German Connection
• Social programme in the evening

Below is a rather dry bit of text, taken from the UKGC’s annual report about why the FLA Ambassador Programme has been created:

Foreign Language Assistant Ambassadors’ Scheme
UK-German Connection developed this network scheme in collaboration with the PAD, the British Council and colleagues from the Goethe-Institut.
We asked potential ambassadors to demonstrate a commitment to and enthusiasm for the development of UK-German bilateral work and selected the best applicants to join the pilot programme.
Their role is to promote bilateral activity, disseminate opportunities and support our outreach efforts.

All very interesting and exciting stuff, I think!

UK-German Connection: Articles

UK-German Connection
www: Main website / Articles section

I posted some weeks ago about two things to do with the UK-German Connection.
1) My application to be an ELA Ambassador and to take part in some short-term UK-GC projects with other German LAs in the UK and;
2) The possibility of me writing some articles for their website, just for the sheer fun of writing.

While the application news hasn’t come to me yet – no doubt it will do soon, either in the affirmative or negative – I’m pleased to say that I got a resounding ‘Welcome on board!’ with the articles idea. Over the last few weeks I told myself that I’d write something, but eventually found the time to do so, over the first weekend of my holiday.

The article is titled ‘Why Germany?’, and details the reasons why folks should pick Germany, either as a holiday destination, or – more the focus of the article – a place to live, or stay for an extended period of time in. I also wrote a little personal introduction, sent in a few photos of various bits – Berlin and Weimar during the Zwiebelmarkt, for example – and they’ve now been put up online on their website!

I’ll be writing some more articles over the coming weeks and months – two a month is what I’ve told myself I’ll do, and did a bit of brainstorming a few weeks back as to what ideas I could come up with. I came up with 10 and, combined with the thinking of the UK-GC contact, it’s already been bumped up to 11 already. Good times!

You can see my own little section of the UK-German Connection site, by clicking here. It contains my personal introduction and articles and will be updated as I send more in.

Enjoy!