ICD Spotlight

Delaware educators visit Berlin

Published: Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:42 AM CDT

Three local educators traveled to Berlin during the summer to participate in the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation School Teacher Exchange Program.

Karen Barker, a biology teacher at Tatnall School, Catriona Binder-Macloed, an occupational therapist at Centreville School, and Diane Kirk, a psychologist at The Independence School, joined seven other educators from Minnesota, Texas, and South Carolina on the trip.

While in Berlin they collectively visited more than 21 schools from early childhood programs to kindergartens to elementary schools to four different types of middle schools and four different types of high schools. They discovered that the German system is set up quite differently from the American system and students are split up at grade 7 to attend vocational schools, called Hauptschules or Realschules, or to the more academic Gymnasium schools. There are also some comprehensive schools called Gesamtschles that have a combination of the three different types of programs but also start at seventh grade. Graduation from the Hauptschules and Realschules is after grade 10. These students may continue with more technical training and apprenticeships at a Fachoberschule or Berufsfachschule following their graduation at grade 10. The academic high schools or Gymnasiums continue for another three years with graduation following grade 13.

A great surprise to the American teachers was that schools were generally over for the day by 1 p.m. or at the latest by 2 p.m. In most of the schools, the students did not change classes, but remained in their classroom and it was the teachers who came in and out throughout the school day, dependant on the subject being taught.

Teachers typically did not have a room of their own, but shared a teacher’s room with up to 30 other teachers. There was usually a large common worktable and one computer to share among the faculty.

When not out visiting schools, the American teachers took in the historical and cultural sights of Berlin. The highlight of their visit was meeting with the president of the Berlin Parliament, Walter Momper.

Momper was the mayor of West Berlin in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. Sitting under a mural of the wall being breached at the Brandenburg gate, Momper recounted his role in the days and weeks both before and after that event. A decidedly younger Momper is depicted in the mural with a red scarf around his neck and a megaphone in his hand as he tries to maintain order at one of the checkpoints in the American Sector.

The Checkpoint Charlie Foundation(CCF) was founded in 1994 after the withdrawal of the American military from Berlin and is not associated with the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. The purpose of the foundation is to strengthen the good will and friendship that developed during the previous five decades between America and Germany.

American teachers are invited to apply for participation in 2009 by contacting the Delaware coordinator, Baerbel Schumacher. For more info about CCF, visit http://cc-stiftung.de/en.