Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sábado, 17 de marzo de 2012

Back to Spain

On Saturday our students spent a day with their host families. Some of them took advantage of the time and bought the last presents. Others have been lucky enough to do some exciting activities such as adventure sports!

The farewell was at the airport, at the end of the day. We were all there: Spanish and German students, German families and teachers. We took the last group pictures and we had to say goodbye... and then tears started to run down our students' cheeks. Most of them wanted to stay in Niedernhausen some more time!

But this in not a definite goodbye. In a month's time we're expecting our German partners in Barcelona. This can be the beginning of a great friendship!

Regreso a España

El sábado ha sido día libre para pasar con las familias. Algunos lo han aprovechado para hacer las últimas compras. Otros han tenido la suerte de poder practicar deportes de aventura. Cada uno os lo contará por sí mismo.

La despedida fue en el aeropuerto, ya al final de la tarde. Todos estábamos allí: alumnos españoles y alemanes, padres y profesores. Sacamos fotos y tuvimos que despedirnos… y entonces comenzaron las lágrimas. ¡Cuántos querrían quedarse en Niedernhausen unos días más!

Pero esta no es la última despedida. Dentro de un mes esperamos a nuestros amigos en Barcelona. Y esto puede ser el principio de una buena amistad…

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Friday, 16th March

ENGLISH: Barbecue time!
Today we had lessons again at Theisstalschule in English, Spanish, maths, music, politics and French. We would have liked to be in the music lesson where Victor Garcia showed her talent dancing sevillanas with the Spanish teacher. We´ll have to wait for the German visit in Barcelona to see it!
Around noon we had cooking lessons where we´ve learned how to bake typical German „brezeln“, that is to say, lace-shaped bagels. Also we added some salt and sunflower seeds to them. After that we baked some regular bagels to eat with the barbecue eat and as desert, typical apple and cottage cheese pies (Apfelstrudel / Quarkstrudel). In the meantime, some of our students were grilling tons of meat in the barbecue: sausages, hamburgers, steaks... Yummy! or „Lecker!“ as they say in German!

The barbecue area was in the open air next to a pond with beautiful goldfish and a little garden shed. There we shared our food, result of the skilful cooks our students are, with the German students, the teachers
involved in the exchange and even some German parents who wanted to spend their lunchtime with us. And later, after having the pies with vanilla ice-cream we all ended up lying down on the lawn, some sunbathing and napping, others splashing their feet in the pond cooling our feet down and enjoying an extraordinary sunny spring weather in a little village
in the centre of Germany.

In the afternoon, our students planned to meet as usual in the city hall at 4pm as they have done the whole week and other interesting things. Check out their blogs on the right to know more!!!



ESPANOL: ¡Todos a la barbacoa!

Hoy hemos vuelto a las clases en la Teisstalschule: Inglés, Español, Mateamáticas, Música, Política, Francés… Nos hubiera gustado estar todos en la clase de Música, donde Víctor hizo una demostración de baile de sevillanas con la profesora. ¡Materia pendiente para la semana de Barcelona!

A media mañana comenzamos las clases de cocina, donde aprendimos a hacer “brezeln” alemanes; o sea, panes en forma de lazo. Les pusimos sal y pipas. También preparamos panecillos para las salchichas y tartas de manzana y requesón. Mientras, algunos chicos hacían las brasas y asaban la carne: salchichas, hamburguesas, bistecs…

La barbacoa fue al aire libre, junto a un pequeño estanque donde nos divertimos con los peces rojos. Allí compartimos el resultado de nuestras habilidades culinarias con nuestros compañeros alemanes e incluso con algunos padres que se acercaron a pasar un tiempo con nosotros. Y después del helado de vainilla acabamos todos tumbados sobre el césped, refrescando nuestros pies en el estanque y disfrutando de un sol de primavera en un pueblo del interior de Alemania.

Esta tarde parece que los alumnos han hecho planes de grupo, así que pedidles que os los cuenten en sus blogs…

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thursday, 15th March

ENGLISH: The radio in Germany
Today Thursday we´ve visited the radio FFH , the most important radio station in Hessen, the federal state where we are. First, we´ve arranged to meet at Niedernhausen´s train station. We took the regional train ( S-Bahn) to Frankfurt and then changed trains to go to Bad Vilbel, a little village in the middle of the countryside.


There as soon as we entered the building they kindly offered us drinks and they took us to a big and modern auditorium to show us a video presentation featuring a brief history of FFH, photos of celebrities who have come to be interviewed and other important events and concerts FFH has arranged lately. Amongst the celebrities were Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Leona Lewis. FFH is a commercial radio station that is to say that it finances itself thanks to advertisements and marketing. FFH reaches to a wide range of audience and it belongs to a media corporation which includes two other radio stations: Planet Radio catered for teenagers and Radio Harmony catered for adult listeners.


After the initial presentation, the guide took us to a production studio, where she taught us what every gadget and devise was used for and how to make a radio programme. It´s not as easy as it seems! In that same studio we recorded a piece of a radio programme in German and English. Our students, Marina Callejon and Alex Parraga volunteered to play the guests part. As soon as they´ll send the recording to us you´ll be able to listen to it clicking on the link on your right!

Later we could visit the office floor of FFH with the different sections: sports, news, on-line radio, shows and music. The office floor is full of desks with laptops and computers, screens all around, the musical archive with 50,000 CDs, traffic lights indicating if the host is on air , the music studio, pre-production studio, …Fascinating!

Finally as a farewell, they took a group picture of us which they promised to upload on their website. We´ll be famous in Germany! Check their website on the following link:


We´ve come back to Niedernhausen by train where our partners and their dear families were waiting for us with a full programme of activities to do with us. Don´t forget to check our students blogs on the right!!



Español: La radio en aleman

Hoy jueves hemos visitado la FFH, la gran emisora de radio de Hessen, el estado en que nos encontramos. Primero nos reunimos todos los españoles en la estación de tren de Niedernhausen. Cogimos un tren hasta Frankfurt y luego otro hasta Bad Vilbel, un pueblecito rodeado de campos amarillos.

Allí entramos en el edificio de la FFH, donde nos ofrecieron bebidas y nos llevaron a un auditorio muy moderno para mostrarnos en imágenes algunos datos sobre la radio, fotos de artistas famosos que la han visitado y de otros eventos organizados por la radio. En realidad se trata de una empresa privada que posee tres emisoras, pero solo una de ellas alcanza una audiencia masiva entre personas de todas las edades.
Acabada la presentación inicial, nos llevaron a un estudio de producción, donde nos enseñaron para qué sirve cada máquina y cómo se realiza un programa de radio. ¡Y no es tan sencillo como pensábamos!

En esa misma sala pudimos grabar nuestra propia entrevista, que esperamos poder colgar en este blog para que nos escuchéis por la “radio”.

Después pudimos visitar las otras oficinas de la FFH: mesas con ordenadores para los trabajadores, muchas pantallas por todas partes, el archivo musical (¡con 50.000 CDs!), el estudio para la música en directo…


Como despedida, nos sacaron una foto de grupo que colgarán en la web de la radio.


¡Así seremos famosos en Alemania!



Al acabar la visita hemos vuelto a Niedernhausen, donde nos esperaban nuestros compañeros alemanes con muchos planes para esta tarde. Cada uno os lo contará por su cuenta.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Wednesday, 14th March

ENGLISH: Mainz, cradle of the printing press

This morning while our German partners were having their regular lessons at school, we have taken a train to Mainz changing trains at Wiesbaden.

As soon as we have arrived, we’ve strolled along the cobblestone streets stopping on the way to take pictures of the main touristy sights: the military headquarters, the Carnival fountain, the Opera House, the half-timbered houses of the Old Town and much more.

Our main visit was Gutenberg Museum, the inventor of the printing press. First, a museum guide has demonstrated and showed us how a book was printed in the XVth century with a replica of the original printing press Gutenberg used. One of our students, Valeria Moreno, has helped in the demonstration. After that, we have seen a cartoon film which taught us the personal and professional life of Gutenberg, the great inventor, who ended up receiving a pension by the king in order to save his life from misery. Finally, we had a look through the impressive exhibit of old books and manuscripts, ranging from big atlas to tiny poetry books. There were also examples of Egyptian papyrus, Mesopotamian stones or with Chinese characters.

Our next visit was the Cathedral of Mainz (Mainz Dom) and later the students had some free time for shopping and having a hamburger at McDonald’s. And this has been our day trip!

Back to the school, Spanish and German students were planning where to meet and what to do in the afternoon. Some mentioned bowling, other tennis playing, athletics… but let them tell us about it… check their blogs on your right!

ESPAÑOL: Maguncia, cuna de la imprenta
Esta mañana hemos dejado a nuestros compañeros alemanes estudiando en sus clases y nosotros hemos cogido el tren camino de Maguncia (Mainz en alemán), con transbordo en Wiesbaden.
Al llegar a la ciudad tuvimos que hacer un recorrido por las calles empedradas con varias paradas en el camino para hacer fotos: junto al cuartel militar, la fuente del Carnaval, la ópera...













Pero nuestro destino era el Museo Johannes Gutenberg, el inventor de la imprenta.
Lo primero que hicimos en el museo fue escuchar las explicaciones sobre la confección de un libro impreso en el siglo XVI. Y tuvimos una demostración práctica con la ayuda de Valeria Moreno, una de nuestras compañeras. A continuación vimos un vídeo de muñecos gracias al cual conocimos la historia personal y profesional de Gutenberg, gran inventor que acabó recibiendo una pensión del rey para no morir en la miseria. Y acabamos de ver el museo dando vueltas entre los libros antiguos, grandes como cajones o pequeños como teclas de ordenador. También teníamos ejemplos de textos en papiro de Egipto, piedras de Mesopotamia o con caracteres chinos.

Nuestra siguiente visita fue a la catedral y a una plaza típica de Maguncia, desde donde nos desperdigamos un poco para efectuar nuestras compras o comer una hamburguesa. ¡Y la excursión ya acabó!
De vuelta al instituto, españoles y alemanes hacían planes para esta tarde. Pero dejemos que sean ellos quienes nos lo cuenten...

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tuesday, 13th March


ENGLISH:Classes at Theisstalschule
Today our students attended classes from 8am to 12,20am. They had lessons in Latin, English, Spanish, German, Religion and Maths. Some of the classrooms are equipped with interactive SMART boards and our students were very impressed by them. They participated actively in most of the classes and were surprised when German students stood up when the teacher entered and greeted him/her saying "Good morning Mr/Mrs ....".

At 12,25am our students had lunch in the refectory at school together with their German partners. Today's menu was sausage with mashed potatoes and red cabbage(Bratwurst mit Pürée und Rotkohl) or vegetable burger with mashed potatoes and salad (Gemüsefrikadelle mit Pürée und Salat).

After lunch German and Spanish students together took part in a sports competition.They played hockey, football and basketball in 10 minute-shifts.

The winners got golden medals!!

ESPAÑOL:
Hoy hemos ido a clase desde las 8 de la mañana hasta las 12:20. Hemos tenido Latín, Inglés, Español, Alemán, Religión y Matemáticas. Algunas aulas tienen pizarras interactivas SMART que nos impresionaron. Hemos participado activamente en la mayoría de las clases y nos sorprendía ver que los alumnos alemanes se levantaban al llegar el profesor para saludarlo con un “Buenos días señor/a …” a coro.

A las 12:25 hemos comido en el comedor del instituto con nuestros compañeros alemanes. Hoy tocaba salchicha con puré de patatas y lombarda, o bien hamburguesa vegetal con puré y ensalada.

Después de comer hemos participado en un torneo deportivo junto con nuestros compañeros alemanes. Hemos jugado al hockey, fútbol y baloncesto en pequeños partidos de 10 minutos. ¡Y los campeones se llevaron una medalla!

¡Mira cómo jugamos en el vídeo que está más abajo!

Check out the following video to see how well our students played today!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday, 12th March 2012

Our first day at Theisstalschule

At 8 o´clock this morning all students and their German partners were at the hall of Theisstalschule on time! They were excited telling each other about their weekends. At 8.15am Maria Lorenzo, the Spanish and music teacher, met us and led us to the assembly room where our students have given a great presentation in English about our school INS Dr Puigvert and Catalan/Spanish traditions.



Check out our the power point our students have presented on the link on your right!


At 9,15h we´ve taken a train and a bus to Frankfurt city centre. We have visited Senckenberg Museum of Natural History featuring dinosaurs, elephants and whales, the origin of man, mammals, models showing the construction of Earth, birds, minerals, insects, fish, evolution of plants and more.





Later we´ve taken the underground to visit the historical centre of Frankfurt where we´ve taken pictures of Römer, the City Hall, which is opposite a row of typical half-timbered houses (Römerberg) rebuilt according to the traditional plans in 1986.




Also we´ve walked across the Eiserner Steg,a famous iron and concrete footbridge, crossed by over 10,000 pedestrians every day. It connects the city centre and Römerberg with Sachsenhausen on the southern banks of the Main River. A curiosity: lovers set padlocks on the bridge rails as a symbol of their love copying the tradition which started in Paris (France).



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Saturday, 10th March 2012

Our arrival to Germany

ENGLISH:

We arrived at 6 o´clock at the airport, with a sleepz face but full of excitement and high expectatiojns. We were going to meet our new German friends and all students were asking us "what should I tell them? how can I ask this and that?". On the plane they didn´t stop talking to each other, practicing their English and German phrases while the rest of passengers were sleeping.


On our arrival to Frankfurt the German host families and partners were waiting for us with flowers, a big smile and a big banner "Bienvenidos a Alemania". And from then on our students have spent their Sundays some celebrating the confirmation of their partners, others going to the cinema or getting together...

Alex Parraga and David Mellinas landed safe and sound in Frankfurt airport on Sunday, 11th March. They took a Maths test on Saturday and we wish them best of luck to pass and get a grant.

Our students have already started telling us their experiences in their blogs.

Check out what they´re writing on the right and have fun!


ESPAÑA

Nuestra llegada a Alemania

Llegamos al aeropuerto a la seis de la mañana, con cara de sueño pero con muchos nervios e ilusiones. Íbamos a conocer a nuestros compañeros alemanes, ¿y qué les diríamos? Desde luego en el avión no faltó la conversación, en medio del silencio que guardaban los alemanes... que dormían.
Al llegar a Frankfurt nos esperaban todos, con pancartas, con flores o con una gran sonrisa. Y a partir de aquí cada uno comenzó su fin de semana particular. Algunos alumnos han pasado el domingo con la fiesta de la Confirmación, otros han tenido otras experiencias... Y ya han comenzado a contárnoslo en sus blogs. ¿Qué nos contarán?

PD: Álex y David también han llegado bien, aunque un día más tarde, después de hacer un súper examen de Matemáticas.