As of: January 18, 2024, 5:00 p.m
By: Wolfgang Schnetz
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Preparations are underway: Next week, students from South Korea will attend secondary school for the first time.
© School
“Cultural diversity is an opportunity, but the risk is low,” says Rebecca Lenz.
As a host mother, she has been taking in exchange students from the Gute Änger secondary school for many years.
The Freising School's exchange program is celebrating its premiere this month.
Freising
– For several years now, students from the Gute Änger secondary school have been visiting schools all over Europe with the help of the Erasmus+ program.
The young people went to Spain, France and Sweden, among other places.
Such an exchange gives the girls and boys the opportunity to improve their own foreign language skills.
But the focus is also on personal development and getting to know a new culture.
For example, the small tour group from Freising was able to take a trip to an impressive cave in Las Medulas during an exchange in Spain.
During a “return visit” to Freising, the Spanish young people learned about typical Bavarian breakfasts, for example.
Excursions are an integral part of every exchange: Here the young people from Freising visited the Spanish town of Las Medulas.
© School
Funny anecdotes from a host mother
These trips would not be possible without the commitment of the parents.
One of them is Rebecca Lenz, who enjoyed taking part in student exchange programs as a teenager and now hosts children from foreign countries as a host mother.
She knows: “Whether with a single mother, in a windowless room with two bunk beds in a large family, in a villa or a trailer - the lifestyles of host parents are as colorful as the flags of their countries of origin.
And it is never the location or the number of square meters of your home that determine the success or failure of an experience abroad." She reports on her contact with other host parents: "We share a lot of prejudices and experiences in a good mood: the Spaniards eat poorly and sleep late, Latvians are huge.
Guests from Spain are Iberian-incorrigible when it comes to outside temperatures, sleep in a top and shorts, go for a walk in hot pants and don't need a jacket even when it's 2 degrees.”
Lenz knows that minor – or major – problems and friction can always arise during such a stay.
“Some guests are just as unfamiliar with the use of toilet flushing and toilet brushes as they are with polite phrases.
We had the case that in a week there was not a word of greeting, no request or thank you and the question: “How did you like that?” was only met with an “Okay.” at best.
For her, however, the advantages of such a project clearly outweigh the disadvantages: “Sometimes you meet a stranger who becomes a loved one, sometimes you meet a like-minded person with whom you have no connection.
Every moment you step out of your comfort zone, you win.”
The Gute Änger secondary school uses the positive reports from parents and students to expand its exchange program.
The school now says it wants to “start school collaborations at an international level and promote intercultural communication.”
The next exchange will be a real premiere: for the first time, the twin city is not in Europe, but in South Korea.
Together with the “Pusan Foreign Languagne High School” the next exchange program will be launched this month.
Above all, the “excellent performance in the Pisa study” and the “different lifestyle” spoke in favor of the East Asian country.
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South Koreans visiting for the first time
From January 24th to 28th, eight Korean young people will attend secondary school and live in the cathedral city, staying with students from the 9th KMRS grade.
Rebecca Lenz will also be there again and will host a Korean woman at her home.
She is already looking forward to meeting the girl and immersing herself in a completely new culture.