Memorial and North High School students recently wrapped up their German foreign exchange trips and hosting. From first contacting their partners to visiting the incredible country of Germany to showing die Deutsche around Eau Claire, this has been a long journey for our schools’ German students.

Eau Claire’s German programs have been going through some changes as of late. From rumors of programs closing to hybrid learning to teachers travelling, German students have had to adapt. Many are very grateful that the program still exists, and have a lot of respect for the hard work that our educators have been putting in.

One of our wonderful German teachers tells us she thinks this demonstrates, “that there are still a decent number of students that care about learning another language and want that intercultural experience. It’s great that even with various issues, people still persist with the language.”

A special thanks to high school teachers Sara Heitzinger-Poss and Annisa Weiss for sticking through all of the changes that have had to happen and making this exchange possible.

“We haven’t been able to have an exchange since 2018,” says Sara Heitzinger-Poss, current German teacher for 3 schools in the district. “German is the only program that has a 2-way exchange. It was an amazing cultural experience, and I think it makes the German program special.”

This exchange was made possible by the collaboration of Frau Poss and Weiss with the teachers from the Gymnasium in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. It was an amazing opportunity for American students to experience the language and culture of another country. American students spent 9 days at the Gymnasium (the academic option of the 3 types of high schools in Germany) and 5 days in Munich this Summer. German students spent 9 days in Eau Claire, then went to see Chicago. they left EC on Friday the 7th.

About the exchange, Frau Poss says, “I didn’t go in with many expectations I didn’t really know the other teachers, and it was really amazing how it brought all of us together. There were other, non-German teachers from North and South who contributed. It was really amazing to see students bond with people from another country.

“At the end there were some moms crying. I think people really bond with each other in these programs and feel like these kids are a part of their families,” she says. Students at North and Memorial also got a chance to interact with people from another country; some of them had their first truly intercultural conversation because of this.

It’s also a fascinating experience for foreign students to see the cultural hub that is America. While the fact that American culture dominates the world (especially the English-speaking world) may be an unfortunate reality, it is still important to recognize how much we impact other countries. These students already knew and had adopted lots of American slang, and had seen many American TV shows and movies. We got to show them what this looks like in real life, and they taught us about culture in Germany.

And now, we present the evidence.

“Learning another language and culture leads to world peace, and that’s more important now than ever,” says Frau Poss.

We were so grateful to have these amazing students come visit and share their culture with us. Wir wünschen ihnen viel Glück zurück in Deutschland!