High-level visitor at the European School Munich: On Wednesday, 30 March, the second mayor of Munich, Katrin Habenschaden, took the time to visit the European School Munich. As the coordinator for the European topics at Munich City Hall, she wanted to find out what everyday life is like at the European School Munich and how the European School system works.
After a short welcome and some explanatory words, the mayor visited three classes of the Secondary School at the Neuperlach site. In the integrated natural sciences in Dutch in S7, experiments on the human eye were taking place. At the front of the projector was a cross-section of the eye. Even guests who don't speak Dutch understand the word "contactlenzen". Next stop: Geography in English as a second language for S5 pupils from Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Posters with geography drawings and information adorn the walls from floor to ceiling. The class investigated how the sustainability of the Brazilian city of Curitiba compares to Munich. A fitting topic for Katrin Habenschaden, who is responsible for climate and the environment as well as Europe, to mingle with the pupils right away. The topic also occupied a graduating class for Swedish as a first language, the next stop on the tour, in a very different way. They read the Swedish Nobel Prize for Literature winner Harry Martinson. "Aniara" is about a spaceship that leaves Earth after pollution and war have made it uninhabitable, and of course they read the poetry epic here in the original Swedish.
Then the path led past the welcoming event for the new Ukrainian pupils. At short notice, the European School Munich was able to provide tuition at the school for 39 children and youths displaced from Ukraine, who had been taken in by employees of the European Patent Office, the European School and EU organisations. 24 of them had their first day at the ESM Secondary School this Wednesday at a brunch. They were welcomed by new teachers who translated into Ukrainian, as well as by students who will mentor them during their first weeks.
After talking to pupils, the mayor went to the second ESM site at Fasangarten. There, she first looked at the Kindergarten. In the Primary School next door, the choir sang as a welcome and the pupils performed a flag dance. There was also time for a short quiz on Europe. During two class visits, Katrin Habenschaden learned how lessons are taught in a Spanish and English fifth grade. The Spanish-speaking pupils proudly presented a city they had built out of paper in their classroom. In the English-speaking P5, lessons took place with the help of iPads. Using QR codes, the class was able to pick up and solve various tasks. The last stop of the visit was the primary school library, which offered a nice conclusion with its many books in all European languages and the quiet ambience. With numerous impressions of the great diversity at the European School Munich, Mayor Katrin Habenschaden finally set off for her next appointment.
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