School means a bit of normality: there is now a welcome group for young refugees from the Ukraine at the Tegernsee high school.
The gratitude for that is huge.
Tegernsee
– “A pen”, but “the eraser”: The 16 Ukrainian students sit in class, highly concentrated, trying to understand what German teacher Eva-Maria Obermüller has just explained to them about indefinite and definite articles in the German language.
The teacher does not speak Ukrainian, she makes do with English.
That's not always easy either.
"Some of the students speak excellent English, but some hardly or not at all," reports the teacher.
And director Werner Oberholzner adds: "We improvise like the world champions - also with translation programs."
Ukrainian students come to Tegernsee from all over the district
The 18 Ukrainian children and young people who are currently attending the Tegernsee Gymnasium are between twelve and 16 years old.
They live with their families mainly in the Tegernsee valley, but also come from other places in the district.
Yaroslav (16) is grateful for the help and the friendly atmosphere
Like 16-year-old Yaroslav from Kyiv, who found shelter in Schliersee at home after fleeing the chaos of war.
The beautiful mountains, the lake: Yaroslav says in very good English that he is really happy to be able to live here in Bavaria in this “popular place”.
He also only has warm words for his new school.
There is a very friendly atmosphere here, says the youth.
Nobody puts pressure on him and his Ukrainian classmates.
The grammar school has long since made suitable learning materials and laptops available to the newcomers.
Anastasiia (16) also takes exams from her home school at the embassy
It is primarily gratitude that one hears in conversations with young people.
She is so happy to have the opportunity to learn here - it means she doesn't have to constantly think about the misery in her home country, says 16-year-old Anastasiia, who comes from the city of Kharkiv.
Many of her friends and her grandparents stayed behind in the war-torn country.
Of course she misses her a lot.
But she has also met new friends in Germany, says Anastasiia.
Also at the Gymnasium Tegernsee, where she is taught partly as part of the welcome group, but partly together with the German students in the regular classes.
At the same time, she will soon be taking exams from her home school at the Ukrainian embassy in Munich.
Pupils are assigned to the Gymnasium by the school board
Learning is not so easy for all Ukrainian students.
The educational level of the 12 to 16-year-olds is very different, the young people were assigned to the Tegernsee Gymnasium - regardless of their school career at home - centrally by the school authority in Miesbach, as Oberholzner reports.
“We would like to do justice to everyone,” says Obermüller.
As a German teacher, she took on a few extra hours to teach her new protégés the German language.
Refugee Ukrainian supports the welcome group at the high school
If there are major communication problems or the students need a contact person from their home country, this is also taken care of.
The Ukrainian Tania Petrova, herself a refugee mother, got a job at the high school and takes care of the young compatriots during and outside of the lessons.
The fact that they found each other was a stroke of luck, emphasized Oberholzner and Petrova in unison.
Read here: Funding package for welcome group at Rottach elementary school: donations enable additional lessons
Petrova is also full of gratitude.
She has found it a great experience to be in charge of the welcome group and it is important to her to support the Ukrainian children during this difficult time, says Petrova.
She is impressed by the tremendous willingness to help and the warm-heartedness of the people in Bavaria, which she now regards as a "second home".
Polina (14): "Lake Tegernsee" is the most beautiful place she has ever seen
14-year-old Polina, who currently lives in Bad Wiessee and also attends high school, has put her feelings into words in writing: she wants to say a huge thank you to the school, she writes in English.
"Lake Tegernsee" is probably the most beautiful place she's ever seen.
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