Native Speaker Network

Blomberg – The Native Speaker Project began on December 6, 2010 in HVG for the 9c students and lasted one week. For this week, we were taught by two Americans. Everyone was very nervous when they walked in, but after a few minutes we found out, that this week would be cool. First, Chris and Mr. Cobbs introduced themselves. Then, our class was divided into two groups, which were led by Chris and Mr. Cobb. When Mr. Cobb’s group was out of the room, Chris wanted us to tell him something about our life. Everyone joined immediately and a nice discussion resulted. After this, we played ‘the love game,’ where two people discovered their beloved without watching. After the lunch break we went to the sports hall and played an American sport called ‘kickball’. It was a lot of fun!

On Tuesday, we collected information about America. To illustrate this, Chris drew a map on the board. There, we added the things we already knew. For participating, we could get points for our groups. In every group, there were 3 classmates and at the end the winner got a prize. We also practiced some role plays, where we had to improvise. These were realistic situations and we were put in our roles by Chris.

Our third day began with planning our upcoming presentation on Friday. The class decided to do a funny sketch and a talk show. But the main event consisted of showing Chris our home town, Blomberg. With a partner, everyone prepared a short talk about a sight he could see. Then, when we walked through the city, we presented the town hall and the church and Chris also got to know the Döner Kebab shop. It was a nice trip because of the snowy landscapes and relaxed atmosphere. In the last lessons we practiced a hiphop dancing performance in the TuGy. Of course we had to speak English…

On Thursday, we made a more theoretical part of the project. Together with Mr. Cobb the group held a debate. Two parties discussed social networks like facebook. Although some students had to represent an argument they didn’t believe in, everyone worked with engagement to win the discussion. When the lunch break was over, the whole class went to the kitchen in the Pestalozzi- School. There, we baked original American brownies. We really looked forward to eating them at the next day.

On the last day of this exceptional week, we finished our performance for the presentation, where our parents and some teachers would come. We had a lot of fun while practicing with our costumes. In the meantime the contest for the best brownie started. One group won, but actually they all were very delicious.
The first visitors arrived at 2 pm in the assembly hall. Mr. Cobb’s group started their presentations. After that our role plays took place. When this was over, we celebrated the end with cookies and hot drinks. During this time, we asked our native speakers for their e-mail addresses, so that we could keep in touch with them. Unfortunately, the nice week was over.

By Christopher Falke and João Paolo Pöppel (9c)