Donnerstag, 20.02.2025, 1. – 5. Stunde, in der Aula: Schiller-Bundestagswahl
German department

A life with poetry!

The Joy of Reading

... is promoted by organising readings at our school or attending book presentations at various Berlin institutions (bookshops, literature festivals, LCB events, etc.). We also take part in the national ‘Leseprofis’ project (‘Reading Pros’) and offer this as an extracurricular club; additionally, we organise an annual schoolwide competition for reading aloud.
We also read Friedrich Schiller, of course!
In German lessons, he accompanies our pupils throughout their entire school life. This starts with the ballads by Schiller in year 7: students find ‘The Glove’ in the lion's den; in ‘The Pledge’, they sneak up on the tyrant Dionysius; and the shrieking of the ‘The Cranes of Ibycus’ reveals the murderers
 hiding in the audience. So there's a lot of Schiller in ‘Schiller’, right up to the final exams!
 

Reading Aloud Competitions at Schiller-Gymnasium Berlin

The aim of the reading aloud competitions is to encourage pupils to enjoy reading and to emphasise the criteria for good reading.
In the competition, the pupils present a short excerpt from a book they have chosen or a text they have written themselves. The audience thereby gets to profit from new literary recommendations.
The best readers will initially be selected in a class competition starting in September.
The school winners are then determined in a schoolwide competition in November - in the context of the nationwide ‘Vorlesetag’ (‘Reading Aloud Day’). The jury is always made up of pupils, and at the end book vouchers are awarded as prizes.
The reading aloud competition is very popular with the pupils in the audience, and the coveted spectator seats are always quickly filled.
Thanks to exciting competitions during the breaks hosted by the ‘Reading Pros’ club, the audience remains engaged while the jury deliberates.

Reading Professionals

Acting and experiencing theatre

... in our lessons! Our programme includes numerous performances by the Deutsches Theater in classrooms at our school as well as visits to Berlin's diverse theatre landscape. Through these theatrical interpretations, the plays we discuss in class, such as William Tell, Nathan the Wise, and Emilia Galotti, come to life on the stage. Poetry slam events are also very popular.

Exploring literary places

... as a supplement to our lessons. For example, pupils take part in reading and writing competitions or visit the editorial offices of a Berlin daily newspaper as part of the project ‘Zeitung macht Schule’ (‘Newspapers and Schools’). Course trips to destinations such as Vienna or Saxon Switzerland and excursions (to Schiller’s Weimar, of course) complete our programme (see also ‘Study trips’).


Study trips in German

The year 11 advanced German courses regularly organise a five-day study trip in the 2nd semester. Destinations in recent years have included Vienna, Saxon Switzerland, Marbach, Weimar, the Harz Mountains and Prague. The trips of course feature a literary focus, and they additionally promote team building and approach the destination from an interdisciplinary perspective (e.g. with a further focus on art, architecture, music, politics or history).

Expanding basic skills

... is foundational to our lessons, e.g. deepening knowledge in the areas of spelling, grammar and punctuation. To this end, German lessons with half the number of pupils have been introduced for year 7. Through other programmes such as a learning station, additional tuition lessons for different year groups, and the ‘Pupils Help Pupils’ project, we provide increased support for individual language needs.

Courses on offer

... are many and varied. For year 10, there is a elective course ‘Film / Creative Writing / Rhetoric’. In years 11 and 12, we offer basic and advanced courses, and those interested can take an additional course. Many students choose our subject for their Abitur examinations (written, oral or as a 5th PK). We also make use of the opportunity to include a alternative form examination (‘Klausurersatzleistung’) in the upper school.

        "Eng ist die Welt, und das Gehirn ist weit." (Friedrich Schiller)