Text: Anouk Baas/ “rsg Wiringherlant” and Katrin Woesner/ “Sickingen-Gymnasium Landstuhl“

For two years, students of “rsg Wiringherlant”/ Netherlands and “Sickingen-Gymnasium Landstuhl”/ Germany have been exchanging long handwritten letters via postal mail. On the German side, students between the age of 12 and 15 who wanted to practice their written English skills and who had fun communicating in the English language, participated on a voluntary basis in our project. On the Dutch side, this project is part of the bilingual program. Two groups of students between the ages of 12 and 15 who follow classes in English used this opportunity to improve their writing skills, learn more about different cultures and make friends abroad.
It has been a great opportunity for all participating students to engage in this meaningful real world interaction and experience, and we are looking forward to a continuation in the academic year to come. We are even planning to enhance this experience by adding video calls to the penpal project. Some reactions from students are:

“I learned to write letters in English to people who don’t share my language”
“The schoolsystem in Germany is really different, that was interesting to learn”
“It was really cool to meet someone my age who lives in a different country”
We’re looking forward to our continued partnership!
“Tot ziens” and “tschüss”!