A TALE OF TWO CITIES: GELSENKIRCHEN AND PADERBORN In March, Ms Christina Bartholomäus, currently working as a language assistant at Aston University, visited a class of Year 10 German students for a cultural project. In the first few lessons, she introduced two cities in Northern Germany and the students learnt about tourist attractions and cultural highlights there. The following week, they used this knowledge to compete in a poster and presentation contest, promoting one of the towns in Germany for a tourist audience. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the students gained a lot from meeting another native speaker and being able to apply and show off their language skills. German is currently the most sought-after language by employers in the UK. New research suggests that we face a dramatic shortfall of linguists in the near future and already poor language skills cost us 3.5% of GDP annually. Germany is also the UK’s biggest trading partner in the EU (almost a quarter) worth a total of £711 billion. By learning German our students will be very well equipped for the future job market. Salut Maman! Je suis en France en ce moment et j’ai commencé à travailler comme professeur d’anglais, c’est difficile! Pour les vacances, je vais visiter Marseille ç ava être super! À bientôt, Dédé Addresse: Madame Blochard Collège Handsworth Grammar Birmingham 45