Jahrbuch 2006-2007

268 Vermischtes Internationale Abteilung International Students and German Cultural Trips at Schloss Neubeuern Arranging school trips is not only a challenge but also a marvellous opportunity to build co- hesion and a shared experience in which tea- chers and students can participate. At Schloss Neubeuern, for the past several years, interna- tional students, along with the teachers, have taken part in cultural trips to different parts of Germany. This year, the main destination of our excursions included among others Berlin (28 th September -3 rd October 2006), Cologne, Aachen and Maastricht, The Netherlands, (12 th – 15 th July 2007) As anyone who has ever planned an excursi- on of this type can confirm, there are numerous details to be considered and arranged before the train or the bus arrives and the adventure begins. Thus, we believe that these trips pro- vide an opportunity to achieve several goals. One of them is to have the kids involved in the planning process of the whole trip. There is so much learning to be had in the planning and organizing of an excursion. And it is emer- gent learning because it gives us the chance to shape our planning also according to the ques- tions and needs of our students. Our particular interest, however, is to expose our international students as much as possible to a first-hand experience of the diversity of the German and European culture. This year our trips were balanced with struc- tured activities and free-time choice. Our inter- national students visited many historical sites, cathedrals, sites of governments, museums etc… We have even integrated, where possib- le, some important activities that occurred in the course of the excursion in to our program. We are sure that this kind of trips provides an important benefit of expanding the student’s understanding of the German language and culture, the historical events and their back- grounds. On the other hand we try to help the- se young people to gain a new perspective of cultural diversities and realize that they are part of a large world. They can experience and visu- ally appreciate that important events take place and significant people live in places and coun- tries different from their own. Our students were, this should be stressed, very interested in learning more about the German culture and I particularly was intrigued by their high motiva- tion and intense focus. To summarise, our cultural trips were a tre- mendous success. We all have learnt a lot, the weather was perfect, and the kids were great. Also, because parents had been able from the very beginning of the planning to see the com- ponents of the excursions, they felt in touch not only with the cultural but also with the acade- mic requirements their children faced.