STUDENT EXCHANGE Broadening horizons
College has a number of exchange programmes, which give boys the chance to spend two months in another country where they can immerse themselves in both the language and the culture.
Head of Modern Languages Mrs Susan Harding says exchanges are when students live with a family, then the boy comes to New Zealand to spend the same amount of time at College. Language exchanges are with Germany, France and Japan. “Our boys come back with a greater personal maturity,” she says. “They are enriched, because they have to step up and face challenges. They have to live with strangers and speak the language. They have to step outside their comfort zone and live as a local, but this is how they get insights into the people and the culture. “Of course, they come back linguistically proficient, but it is the self-confidence and the self-development which is most noticeable. They have been in a totally foreign environment where they did not know anyone else and have learnt to cope. They have met strangers who will become lifelong friends.” Mrs Harding is keen for younger boys to think about going on an exchange. She encourages those who are interested to talk to boys who have experienced life in another country and find out what a great experience it is.
13 student Callum Oorschot.
speaking German and certainly lacked confidence. “I felt out of practice. I had not done much speaking, because the external exams at the end of the year do not include this. I just had the vocab that I had learned. However, by the time I left, I felt I had improved so much and could understand what was being said. I felt confident enough to chat away to people, especially in a one-on-one situation. Groups could still be a bit tricky, though.” Germans are much more proficient in English than New Zealanders are at speaking and understanding German, Callum says. “They start learning English from a much earlier age than we start learning another language. In the
“Your time at College really consumes your life, because your sport and most of the activities you do are centred round the school. In Germany it was more you went to school to go to lessons and that was it.’’ Callum was staying with a host who went to a Gymnasium, an academically focused school. “We are definitely a lot more high tech in New Zealand schools,” he says. “The Council in the city was in debt, so not much was being spent for the school facilities. We were not allowed to take phones or laptops to school and there was no Wi-Fi, anyway. It wasn’t that the students weren’t well off, it was just that the school needed updating.’’ Although most of his host family could speak English, Callum decided he would try to speak only German where possible. “It was quite difficult when my host was chatting with his mates when we were hanging out together, because there was a lot of banter, slang and they spoke quite fast. At school, I could understand most things that were being said, unless they were too technical, but in some subjects I had never done before, such as Latin, it was very difficult. I ended up reading a German book in Latin classes.” Callum says when he arrived he was not very fluent
Callum Oorschot Going from Christ’s College to a large school in Bonn, Germany, was a real culture shock for Year
Callum Oorschot
College Issue 29 2015
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