Class 8LHR of The Bishop of Llandaff School in Cardiff, Wales
When our English teacher Mr Lutsch first presented us with the idea of writing to a partner school, opinions were very divided. Some feared it would mean too much work, others were looking forward to meeting new people. However, in the end, it was clear that it was and still is an unforgettable experience for everyone.
The project came to life during the then already ongoing Covid pandemic in 2019. Mrs Huball from the Bishop of Llandaff School in Cardiff and Mr Lutsch from the Akademisches Gymnasium Salzburg decided to take the opportunity to start a project that, even though it was difficult, allowed us all to stay in touch with other people. It made the pandemic a lot easier because you could still write to someone and talk about it.
The school partnership and student exchange projects between the AkadGym and the Bishop of Llandaff have been going on for over three years now. During this time, we have sent each other many emails and text messages about our holidays, hobbies and even the Austrian school system. Since the two school systems are very different, we had the task of writing an informative text in groups about our school system, explaining how it works and what we like about it. And that was just one of the many projects we did in that short period of time.
Sergej Rakulj, 5a, at St Peter’s Abbey looking at Hohensalzburg Fortress
Our latest project this school year was on Silent Night and Joseph Mohr, one of the AkadGym’s best known past student, who wrote the lyrics to the carol Silent Night. In the last week before the Christmas holidays, we did some research and wrote an informative email to our Welsh pen-pals about the world-famous song Silent-Night. For this project we also went on a walking tour through the old town of Salzburg to take pictures of the places somehow connected to Joseph Mohr, and the Salzburg Christmas market. These pictures were then sent along with the text to our pen pals to tell them about Joseph Mohr, give them an overview of the city of Salzburg and an idea of what it looks like at Christmas time.
Although not everyone was enthusiastic about this project from the beginning, we can now say that it was a great experience, not only for us students, but also for our teachers. We hope it will continue for many years to come.
Anes Spahic 5a, Laura Warzycha 5a
Fotos: Mrs Hubbal, The Bishop of Llandaff School; Laura Warzycha, 5a
