Activities in Germany

Stuttgart Town Hall We visited the town hall in Stuttgart on where we were given an introduction into the work of the people who work for the department of integration. What has been done there and is still being done can be seen on our powerpoint presentations : Stuttgart – a multicultural city, and Integration – the Stuttgart Way which we presented in Levanger/Nor- way Felix

Integration Games At the end of the school year 2012 there was a project week at our school. One of the workshops was about ”integration games” and about 15 pupils from different classes took part. The idea was to make us realize how integration works and to realize that there are latent prejudices and stereotypes. We played different games where we had to answer questions and give our opinions on particular situations where Germans and foreign people were involved. After the games we had a discussion with our teacher about what we found out. Some of the pupils in our workshop had a migrant background themselves and could express their own views on the topic which was very interesting.

Integration Games

Later we also watched some films on integration and had to answer some questions about the film and write a short comment. One of the films was called “Almanya” and showed the story of a Turkish family in Germany. The father of the family had come to Germany as a”guest worker” and all his children were born in Germany and had integrated in different ways. We also played the game “Last Exit” in our Computer Room. Here you can imagine how it is when you have to flee from your country. The workshop lasted three days and we all found it very interesting because we had learned to see the situation of migrant children from other perspectives. Thomas

Integration Games

Reception facility for asylum seekers On we went to the reception facility for asylum seekers in Karlsruhe (Aufnahmestelle für Asylanten) where the director told us something the way asylum seekers are dealt with in Germany. When they come they can stay in the camp for some time. At this time their application for asylum is considered by the authorities. Only about 25% of them will be given a residence permit so that they can stay in Germany. They have to prove that they are persecuted in their home country or face strong discrimination because of their ethnic origin. All the other asylum seekers will have to back or stay here illegally. Sometimes the legal proceedings take a long time and then they are sent to other places in Baden-Württemberg where they have to stay in places especially made for them. In the last year the number of asylum seekers who have come here has increased dramatically. There is also a power point presentation about that topic which we showed in Solleftea/Sweden. Marlene

Reception Facility in Karlsruhe

Bureau of Integration in Karlsruhe On we went to the bureau of integration in Karlsruhe (Amt für Integration). There Mrs Weingärtner told us everything about her work as an integration officer. Among other things she is responsible to help migrants find at the different institutions in Karlsruhe where they can do an integration course. This course which consists of 600 German lessons and 70 lessons about living in Germany is compulsory for migrants who want to find work in Germany. They can also start a German course at the Goethe Institute in their home countries before they apply for a job in Germany. These courses are free for migrants who get social welfare. Others have to pay a small sum and get half the money back when they finish the course within two years. Sofie

Bureau of Integration

Schillerschule in Karlsruhe On we went to the Schillerschule in Karlsruhe which has special classes for migrant children.At the school there are children from more than 80 different nations. They are offered extra tuition in German, called German as a second language. In their timetable one can see that most of their lessons consist of language courses, but they also have lessons in other subjects.

Schillerschule Some don’t speak German at all when they come, some know some basic words and others can speak a little bit. The reason for this is because the children have different “backgrounds”. Some are the children of asylum seekers who have arrived in Karlsruhe and will only stay here for a short time. Others are children with a migrant background whose parents have moved here recently and who work here. But they all have in common that their parents can’t help them with their homework and that most of them have problems getting integrated into school life.

Schillerschule We went to one of the lessons to see how the teacher, Mrs Thormann, worked with the pupils who are at the age from years. She has made up all the teaching materials herself and is very much involved in helping them get along in Germany. Some of the pupils have come on their own without their parents. They have made their way secretly from Asia through European countries to Germany and are very happy to be here and are very eager to learn German. As they are under 18 they live in flats where they are looked after by social workers. Ricarda

Schillerschule

Presentation Days At the end of March there is alway a Presentation Day at our school when parents come to see what the school can offer their children. Of course, we always have a room with information of the current Comenius Project.

Presentation Days at the Eichendorff- Gymnasium Ettlingen

Presentation Days

After the first project meeting in Ettlingen we showed the public what we and our partner schools have done so far.

Presentation Days

BNN- local newspaper in Karlsruhe Form 9d had a project about integration in Ettlingen in their history lessons. Their teacher asked them if they would like to write articles about that topic for the local newspaper. These articles appeared on This is one of them.

BNN - interview After our project meeting in Melilla we gave an interview to the BNN about our Comeniusproject and the meeting in Melilla. The reporter wrote an article that can be read in our booklet.

Film Welcome In form 10a we watched the film „Welcome“ where the young Kurdish boy Bilal tries to get to England to see his girl-friend. He is in Calais together with other illegal immigrants and waits for a chance to cross the channel by hiding in a truck. When this attempt fails he thinks of swimming across the sea.The swimming-instructor Simon helps him and becomes his friend. Simon also gets problems with the police for helping him. When he hears that his girl-friend will be married by her parents, Bilal decides to swim across the channel. He is almost there when the English police see him. He tries to flee and drowns. We had to answer a work-sheet about the film and our teacher gave us some fact-files about migration laws in the EU and illegal immigration in general. We talked about the problems of asylum seekers before we went to the Reception Facility for asylum seekers in Karlsruhe to get some basic ideas.