Taylorian 2020

77 T he fifth student exchange between Merchant Taylors’, St Helen’s and the Matthias-Claudius-Gymnasium (grammar school) in Hamburg was successfully completed over the October half-term. The fifteen British (twelve boys, three girls) students travelled to Germany to stay with the partners they hosted back in September. They immediately found themselves in a German-speaking environment the moment they stepped aboard our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt/ Main, where we transferred onto a second flight to Hamburg. There were some happy reunions to be had in the arrivals hall late on Friday 25th October, and then students had the opportunity to spend the weekend with their exchange partners. Some attended football matches, some visited the beaches of the North Sea and others even had the chance to travel to Berlin for the day!  On the Monday, students and teachers met up in school before travelling into the city centre to visitMiniaturwunderland, a series of high-tech model countries based around an exceedingly complex arrangement of model railways, all spread over three floors of a large former warehouse. It even has its own airport (complete with visiting UFO!) and is counted amongst Hamburg’s most popular attractions. Students learnt how Hamburg is, at heart, a sea-faring city, and how trade brought, and continues to bring, great wealth to the city and Germany as a whole. We then walked under the river Elbe via the ‘alter Elbtunnel’ and took some group photos from the other side, looking back on the city skyline.  On the Tuesday, we visited the Airbus Finkenwerder facility, where the Airbus A320 family is manufactured, along with components for the A330, A350 and A380 aircraft.WediscoveredhowBritaincurrently contributes to the Airbus programme by manufacturing wings in Broughton for the A330 andA350, as well as how some Airbus aircraft are fitted with Rolls Royce engines (some of which are made in the UK, some in Germany). This was a really stark reminder of how important connections between our two countries are. This is clearly one of the reasons why we see the exchange as a vital part of our work teaching German. In addition to these excursions, our students were able to spend a day and a half in lessons with their exchange partner, which better brought to life some of what had been described to them in German lessons back in London. For most students, it was also their first time abroad without parents, and they needed to learn to look after their own passport and money, as well as fit in with the routines of their host family for the six-day stay. We hope that it was an excellent and enjoyable introduction to Germany for our students, and that they’ll continue to explore Germany and improve their German language skills in the years to come. Mr M W Pacey Trips Trips German Exchange Trip to Hamburg