Students from Otto Pankok Schule in Muelheim have been taking part in exchanges to Darlington for more than 20 years now, and this year we visited our partner school, the Hummersknott Academy, from the 20th to the 27th September.
Ten 15 year old students with thier teachers flew from Düsseldorf to Newcastle to get to know England, the British culture and to meet new friends in Darlington. All of us stayed in host families to speak as much English as possible and to experience English daily life. Most of us did not know where we would stay until we got there, but we were lucky and the host families were friendly and welcoming.
We really enjoyed being guests at Hummersknott Academy, being shown around this brilliant school with its perfect equipment is so different to our school in Germany. We took part in varous lessons and the highlight was the cooking lesson in which we produced Yorkshire Pudding and a very tasty apple crumble. We also followed the Darlington Heritage Trail which showed us much about the town. Every day we had a little photo competition which was started by our teachers, and the craziest picture was supposed to win, so we had to be creative! One evening both German and English students met for a "Laser quest" We played school against school and although we had one player less we won, nevertheless everyone had a good time.
Additionally we had two very interesting days in school since the English system is different from the German one, for example we don't have "Registration" and we don't cook at our school. but as you see above we can all prepare puddings now!
As well as being in school we went on many trips to get to know the North of England. In Barnard Castle we visited the old ruins and had a look around the shoe exhibition in the Bowes Museum. In Beamish we experienced country and town life 100 years ago, and in York we loved the atmosphere of the old city. In the castle museum we all liked having a look around and trying on funny costumes.
Each student spent the weekend differently, depending on what the host family had planned. But no matter if we visited London, the countryside or the family's grandmother, we all enjoyed the time spent with our host families.
After one week full of new experiences we were all sad to fly home again and nearly all of us cried when saying farewell. We really hope that many of our new friends will come to Muelheim soon.
Report by Lea Boeger and Otto Pankok Students.