HSC German Speaking Day at the Goethe Institut

On Friday 27 May, the Year 12 German class travelled to the Goethe Institut in Woollahra for the HSC German Speaking Day, which was designed to help us prepare for our speaking examinations and develop other useful skills. We met at Edgecliff station in the morning, before walking to the Goethe Institut where we met other HSC German students from eight schools across NSW. We got our name tags, snagged the table tennis table for a quick round before other schools arrived, and then our hosts introduced themselves before sending us off in groups for the day’s classes.

We cycled through three rotations, each one led by a different teacher. German Extension students had the opportunity to perform a short play based on characters from the novel we’re studying and draw topics out of a hat and speak about them in German for one minute. Continuers students played games to improve their German grammar and speaking skills, including a game similar to ‘Yes, and’ in which they had to expand on what the previous person said.

After the three rotations, we enjoyed a lunch of authentic German pretzels, followed by 45 minutes of ‘speed dating’. We walked around the room to music, and when the music stopped, we had a conversation in German with a random student. This was my personal highlight of the day — it was surprisingly fun, given how anxious I was beforehand, and it helped me practise my impromptu speaking skills.

Then, to continue the German theme, after saying goodbye to everyone we caught the train to Kings Cross and had some delectable coffee and strudel at Una’s Cafe, where we almost embarrassed ourselves by ordering in German to the non-German-speaking waiter. It was a really relaxing way to finish our learning-packed day.

A big thank you to the people at the Goethe Institut and the teachers for organising the day, and of course to Frau Reynolds for coming along with us and putting up with our questionable use of German idioms.

By Jack Lohning