Germany Educational Trip - Day 5

5/15/2019

Tour participants at Sparrenburg Castle, Bielefeld

[15 May] The visit to Georg-Müller-School Bielefeld was the main focus of the day and it was nothing less heart-warming and fulfilling than what we experienced yesterday at AHF-Elementary School.

It was a Christian school again and we learnt about its strong Christian flavour in their curriculum design. The school has a primary section and two secondary sections depending on the levels of the students. In Germany, you study for your primary education for 4 years and then move up to secondary. Depending on your school results, you are normally sent to either general schools (Hauptschulen), intermediate schools (Realschulen) or grammar schools (Gymnasien). There is another type of secondary schools called comprehensive schools (Gesamtschulen) welcoming students of all academic levels. Georg-Müller-School Bielefeld has a primary section, a grammar school section and a comprehensive school section. It is a very interesting combination.

Representatives of Georg-Müller-School Bielefeld received souvenirs from Mrs Lam and I. They explained the Germany education system to us and how they ran their school. They were very approachable and treated us like VIPs! We really appreciated their hospitality and the time spent on us.

I think this has nothing to do with the school's style. Mrs Lam just bumped into a student with an artistic hair style and she asked if he could have a photo with her. The boy agreed swiftly. I guess that it represented the school's friendliness and respect for individual's style. And for your additional thought, haven't you noticed that the German students we visited didn't need to wear uniform?

This also has nothing to do with what we seriously learnt from the school. I just loved the orange juice they served us while the presentation was on going. “Orangesaft” is obviously a German word which obviously means orange juice. The German language seems to have lots of compound words – putting words together to form new words.

This is a shot of what a P.4 English exercise page looks like. Students were even asked to separate the fake compound words into individual words to make meanings. I think the German children are taught in class the concept of word breaks in English.

Students were all greatly friendly. It was a pity that they didn't have a Student Ambassadors Programme like we do, or else we could have learnt more from their children. But anyway, the students there tried to use their second language, which was English, to communicate with us. They might not be fluent, but they tried with their heart. And they all smiled very brightly. This told me the school was a great school. And by the way, this little guy with me in the picture was the owner of the exercise book above.

I met another new friend, Aaron, though I'm not sure if it was the right spelling of his name!

Mrs Lam successfully disturbed the School's Executive Director Mr Pieper's pizza time by introducing Ying Wa Primary School's unique features to him. Our latest Slideshow was one of the gifts for his school. Although Mrs Lam didn't put on her “Infinity Shirt” today, her power of expressivity remained invincible!

This was a shot of Mrs Lam during our Bielefeld city tour. She looked far away into the mountains and small houses, thinking about her upcoming retirement life. Well, as she would be staying in England, she would have a lot more chances pondering in the refreshing European wind like this. Only A cup of tea seemed to be missing from this picture of tranquility.

Question time now...Wait...do you really need questions in order to respond to my travelogue? You can reflect on anything I write here! Anyway, I have two questions for you. The first one is really really hard.

1. The above picture was one of the slides we were shown during Georg-Müller-School Bielefeld's presentation. What was the common message behind all these pictures?

The above question is too hard, right? Let's try this one...may be even harder...

2. I took this picture when the P.4 students were having a lesson. This particular pupil had the word “pupil” stuck on him. Why?

Das ist alles für heute. Schreibe dir morgen. Vielen Dank.

Dr H C Lee

32 Comments

Joshua Choi

5/16/2019 04:22:34 pm

Where is Dr Lee in the first picture?And what school have you visited?

Dr H C Lee

5/16/2019 06:19:08 pm

I encourage you to see the picture and read the article again Joshua. I believe you can easily answer your own questions.

Jack wong 6a 28

5/16/2019 09:42:59 pm

Q1: traditional exams and curriculums are bad because everyone is forced to take an exam not according to their abilities but their school’s favour
Q2:Because he/she is a pupil (duhhhhhhhh)

jay

5/16/2019 09:43:47 pm

I translated your last sentence as:

that's all for today, write you tomorrow. Thank you!

Am I right?

Jaydon

5/16/2019 09:45:33 pm

I am Jaydon(6B), not "jay"

5/18/2019 12:29:12 am

You speak German? Wow! Cool!

Fu Yat Yuet 6B08

5/16/2019 10:09:18 pm

I don't really know the answer for question 1!
For the other question, I think it means he is a pupil too?

Jonathan Ford link

5/16/2019 10:12:56 pm

1) I believe the thing that the photos have in common is how conventional schools and teaching methods can be tortuous and brain-washing for students, causing them to be misled, bored and turn into clones.

2) I think the word 'pupil' is on the student's shirt to show that he is not German, as seen from his 'Miami' top and facial features. The German way of spelling pupil is 'schüler' and not 'pupil'.

Nicholas Cheng 6A 05

5/16/2019 11:26:05 pm

Q1: It shows that everyone is forced to do the same thing in school.
Q2: Because he made the sign by himself? (really can't answer)

That's all for today. Write you tomorrow. Many Thanks.
(look's like Dr.Lee had really learnt some German)

5/16/2019 11:28:10 pm

Or did Dr.Lee use google translate or the students as translators?

5/17/2019 01:32:43 am

What a clever question to ask...^o^

Charlie Lui 6A

5/17/2019 01:02:38 am

The first one is about child modelling and unflexible and unfair rules that don't care to everyone's needs.The second one is because the teachers know that the visitors can't read German and stuck the piece of paper on the pupil yo let the visitors know that he is a pupil.Why? I don't know.

Oliver Ng

5/18/2019 10:03:26 am

Q1 : I think it's about people forced to do a type of thing, whether it's lessons, going through doors and stuff. It actually tells us that we should be free, and not restrained from our boundaries.
Q2: I think it's for traveling teachers (like Dr .Lee) to see that he is a pupil.

Alfred TSang

5/18/2019 02:43:29 pm

Q1. Telling about the people who have the power should not use it to limit on other people.
Q2.I think it is a punishment from the teachers and let him wear it.

Justin yip

5/18/2019 03:18:30 pm

Q1. It’s about child modelling and lots of restrictions, turning them into lifeless workaholics.
Q2. Because he didn’t behave in class and the teacher stuck it onto him to remind him he was at school?

QQ 6B

5/18/2019 03:38:30 pm

I hope our school can learn some thing of this school
1:I hope we can wear casual cloths to go school
2:We can make any hairstyle we want to go to school

Roy Chan 6E04

5/18/2019 06:58:26 pm

Question 1 answer: The message is that most schools don't care about all the students, and force(maybe?) all students to learn exactly the same thing, therefore not letting them to follow their interests.
Question 2 answer: I think there are two possible answers: 1. He isn't from Germany, and the badge is for other students or teachers to notice and take special care of him. 2. This boy has some kind of disability? The badge informs other classmates or teachers, so they can help him in times of need.

Colin Tong 6C 20

5/18/2019 10:29:13 pm

Question 1 answer: I believe the thing that the photos have in common is how conventional schools and teaching methods can be tortuous and brain-washing for students, causing them to be misled, bored and turn into clones. It's nonetheless the same as Hong Kong's cramming erroneous flawed education. It's like voices wrapped in a bubble. To me( I'm not becoming critical), nowadays students have to take the hardest labyrinth and going around in circles. The scenario is actually: Traditional exams and curriculums are bad because everyone is forced to take an exam not according to their abilities but their school’s favor, which means turning them into lifeless workaholics. It's all about child modelling, not flexible and unfair rules that don't care to everyone's needs. Our education is the map to the exit. The problem is the how. Spoon-feeding and cramming is the wrong compass. To enhance the world's education, it's up to us, the next generation, to solve those problems. Let's think about how to enhance our education!
question 2 answers: as I can see, the word 'pupil' is on the student's shirt to show that he is not German, as seen from his top and facial features. The German way of spelling pupil is 'schüler' and not 'pupil'. Another possibility is that he might be off daydreaming in class, and the teacher made him wear this to remind him that he was a student who ought to concentrate. The last possibility is to let English-spoken teachers and visitors know that he could speak fluent English.
German students are more carefree and easy-going than us Hong Kong students. they are interactive and eager in their daily learning. Looking back into our learning, I think we should just look and learn-- educating different kinds of children has its own unique ways.

Bryan Choy

5/19/2019 01:22:21 am

No.1 The pictures are showing all kinds of unfair situations of people being forced to do all kinds of stuff that are the same. They limit the students' creativity and this makes all of the students clones and the same.
No.2 I think that the sign saying pupil means that the student wearing the badge is a new student in that school.

CHING ching

5/19/2019 10:18:18 am

Q1:sorry dr. Lee I don’t know the answer
Q2:I think he is some sort of leader in his class

I think your friend Aaron is so creative

Keith 6A17

5/19/2019 03:32:40 pm

I don't know the first answer sorry.
I think he is a new student and let other students identify him.

Jonathan Hui 6A14

5/19/2019 04:20:48 pm

Q1. The common message is 'study should be more creative'. I think the photo at the upper left shows us this clearly. It reminds us what would happy if study is just about remembering things. This is no difference than pouring memory in to your brain with out knowing how to use it. The photo at the lower right shows that no mater what kind of animals you are, you have to learn the same thing and reach the same standard.
Q2. I don't really know what's that means. But I guess he plays a role in a drama.

Cheston Leung 6A 16

5/19/2019 06:12:00 pm

Question 1:Everyone are same?
Question 2: ...I surrender
The question 2 is harder!
Bis zum nachsten mal

Lincoln Leung

5/19/2019 06:34:00 pm

I think Dr Lee is very lucky to meet these German little friends. Do you find German difficult to learn? It sounds very complicated!(Do you need to twist or roll your tongue when you speak?)

For the answers, I think the message behind was that the students have to pay more effort in learning and be more hardworking. I think the pupil who wears a badge is a new student and it may be more easier for the teachers to find him out.

Lawrence Ma 6C16

5/19/2019 07:18:50 pm

Q1: Everyone should be treated equally.
Q2: I think it's a drama role.

Joshua Kwok 6B13

5/19/2019 09:44:48 pm

Q1 I think the meaning is that students are not taught according to their own abilities, they(the ones good and bad at the subject) have to do the same thing,even though some are not good at it.
Q2 It looks like he is acting in a play

Sky Wong

5/19/2019 10:24:14 pm

Q1: I think the answer is everyone is different.
Q2 :He is acting a drama

Samuel Ng 6B19

5/20/2019 06:58:19 pm

Q1. I think the pictures represents that you shouldn't give up although you are stupid when you're born. Everyone has their different talent.
Q2. To learn the word 'pupil' ?

Kasen Hsu 6A

5/20/2019 08:08:47 pm

The German education seems very weird for us hongkongers due to the specialenglishlearningsystem(Guess this)they have . Also , I really want to taste the brand of the orange juice(which I have forgotten the name by the time I was writing the comment) mentioned in the article .
Answers for the questions
Q1 I think it is a sarcastic comic on the spoon-fed education systems in a lot of countries , I personally think that this kind of education system won't let you learn anything in school and instead train you into machines just for the purpose of examination.
Q2. I have no idea , maybe he is special in some way or... he just failed in his English dictation because of the word "pupil"
German English tests for anyone who reads this(answers at bottom)
1.MYBIKEGOTSTOLENBYSOMEONE
2.ITHINKYOUGOTTHEQUESTIONWRONG
3.IGIVEUPONWRITTINGMORE

Answers:(If you are reading this, you are cheating)

ALAN AU 6E 01

5/20/2019 09:27:24 pm

Das ist alles für heute. Schreibe dir morgen. Vielen Dank.
translate:
That's all for today. Write you tomorrow. Many Thanks.

Joshua Lam

5/21/2019 08:28:28 pm

1.Every one should be treated fairly.
2.The boy is special among the class.

Andrzej 5C (27)

5/26/2019 08:16:36 pm

Question 1 . torturous teaching methods might not make us better , the teachers for example only tell us blah blah blah and we input blah blah blah , we should he space to expand and think
Question 2. He might be a naughty student who probably somehow got the word pupil and taped it to his shirt

Germany Educational Trip - Day 5

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