Andrea von Nieding-Waechter is the German co-ordinator for the Smokefree Class Competition in Berlin. She accompanied the Spanish winner class from
Guadalajara on their visit to the Friedrich-Engels-Gymnasium in Berlin where the Spanish pupils met German pupils. Andrea was delighted to see the
“get together” of the pupils and illustrates her impressions of the meeting:
“Mrs Slama, the German class teacher picked us up in front of the school and took us to the class. I introduced the German Smokefree Class Competition,
which is run under the slogan “Be Smart – Don’t Start”. After my short introduction, the Spanish pupils explained how the competition “Clases sin humo”
is carried out in Spain. The basic rules are the same, but there are some differences, e.g. during the competition, the Spanish classes have to make
up a non-smoking slogan.
Both classes had to prepare a set of questions about the things they wanted to ask the other pupils. Mrs. Slama let them sit together in small groups.
I was expecting everybody to be really shy, but since the German Friedrich-Engels-Gymnasium is a bi-lingual school, the German pupils speak Spanish
fluently. So the pupils from the two countries could indulge themselves in a lively and enthusiastic conversation right from the beginning.
It was so fantastic to watch these European young people and I could see that they were having the most exciting time. And the German pupils were so
happy to have language practice with their Spanish mates, since they were planning go to Barcelona on a class trip in the near future. After nearly
two hours, the Spanish class said Goodbye to the German pupils. Everybody was in such a good mood – I think it was really a great experience for the pupils.”