Projekt “Bridging Cultures” der LK Englisch

Am 8. und 9.12.20022 begrüßten die Schüler der Englisch-Leistungskurse aus dem Jahrgang 11 zwei englischsprachige Referenten der Hope Foundation. In einem Workshop erfuhren sie mit Blick auf die nachhaltigen Entwicklungsziele (SDGs) viel Wissenswertes über die Situation in Simbabwe und Argentinien. In eigenen Präsentationen stellten sie ihre Ideen und Lösungen vor. Englisch war die Arbeitssprache für den gesamten Workshop. Hier der Bericht einer Schülerin mit genaueren Einblicken. 

The “Bridging Cultures” project (8^th and 9^th December 2022)

a review written by Jessika Franz, LK Eng 11

Hope, unity, and integrity – these are all values that have been presented to us 11th graders in the “Bridging Cultures” program, which took place on the 8th and 9th of December. Kim Kufazvineyi and Agustín Alcalde – two members of the Hope Foundation – have taught us students with an advanced course in English a lot in these two days. The “Bridging Cultures” program aims to raise cultural, social, and economic awareness in the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to students in Berlin. 

After an informative introduction at the beginning, we were told to split into two groups – one group would be focusing on certain SDGs in Argentina and the other would be focusing on SDGs in Zimbabwe. Since I have chosen Zimbabwe, I can inform you only from what I have experienced or what I have heard from other students.

In my group, we were mainly focusing on the SDG “Zero Hunger” on Thursday, where Kim told us about the famine and living conditions in her home country. We found it incredibly interesting and shocking at the same time. This country suffered from a big inflation crisis, where even a slice of bread was considered valuable and kids living in rural areas often had to walk more than 8 km to school. 

On Friday, our focus went to the SDG “Gender Equality” where we talked about women’s rights and how this country disrespects them. After various enlightening exercises, which helped us to understand the situation of women in Zimbabwe better, we prepared a presentation about the two SDGs to present to the other group. 

As a conclusion to this topic, Kim also told us the good aspects of her country, for example, that the people in Zimbabwe are very kind-hearted people, who would smile at strangers on the street and talk with them about their day.

The people in the Argentina Group focused on the two SDGs “Quality Education” and “No Poverty.” They also gave presentations (or a role play) on these topics. I learned a lot from it, e.g., that Argentina is a poor country and kids don’t get the proper education they need.

All in all, I think the “Bridging Cultures” program was an immense success. Before this workshop, I only heard from Zimbabwe in Geography class, so I gained a lot of knowledge and learned about some solutions, that I could incorporate into my everyday life to help the people in Argentina and Zimbabwe. The people from the Hope Foundation were exceedingly kind and helped us in every way that they could, which I found very enchanting. I think this program is truly beneficial and informative to us young students, and the Hope Foundation should definitely keep up their great work!