Champion High school created the German program to offer a foreign language course other than Spanish. While more students chose to enroll in the Spanish language class, the German program promotes student immersion in the language, culture, and even provides an opportunity to travel to Germany through an exchange program.
One German student, freshman Michael Redd, explained how German class engages students in learning.
“We do a lot of projects and we have a lot of fun. We learn a little bit of everything, but we do it in a fun way,” said Redd. “It is not pencil-to-paper bookwork, it’s interactive learning.”
Not only does the department offer unique learning activities, some students think that German provides unique advantages.
“I think German is a little bit harder to learn than Spanish,” said German Club president junior Carly Earnest, “but it allows you to ‘wow’ people around you and it’s a creative language that isn’t normally offered.”
Since our community is a German heritage site, Boerne ISD frequently participates in activities related to German culture.
“This year, theatre presented a play based on Anne Frank,” said Earnest. “It’s a good instance where you would need to know some German to be able to understand the background history of the play.”
Boerne ISD participates in an exchange program where students from Germany stay with Boerne students for a few weeks during the school year. Boerne students then travel to Germany during the summer and stay with German families.
“A bunch of kids from Champion get to go up to Germany,” said senior Hannah Goeke, who participated in the exchange program in 2019. “We tour around Germany for a few days and then we go to school in Germany for a few days.”
Champion German teacher, Frau Bergmann, sponsors the German exchange program which explores Germany.
“We traveled all the way around Alps, we went on an island in the North Sea,” said Frau Bergmann. “We went to Berlin and other important cities, sightseeing, and trying the German food everywhere we can.”
Frau Bergmann has advice for students who are undecided about which language to take:
“If you want to open up the world to you then I think you should choose German…” said Frau Bergmann.