Alice Rowe was a student – TTA’s first – on the German language week for 18-20 year-olds in Biberach recently. We hope this will inspire others to take up this generous offer in future. Alice writes:

“When I was offered by the Tendring twinning association the chance to take part in a free German course in one of the oldest towns in Germany, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Having studied German for the majority of my secondary school experience, including A Levels, I believed the course would be perfect for me, and I wasn’t wrong. Biberach definitely lived up to the expectations I had conjured from others’ experiences, providing me with an extensive insight into the life and culture of swäbisch Deutschland.

I was thrown straight into the town’s culture by arriving on the weekend of Schutzenfest; a traditional German beer festival celebrating Biberach as a town. The course having booked front-row seats for the History rally, our group was lucky enough to witness a truly incredible part of southern German tradition.

   It was amazing how many activities the trip packed into the week. With 4 hours of language lessons every morning at varying difficulties, we; a group of students coming from England, Poland, France, Italy and other countries; were able to introduce ourselves and get to know each other, all in German. This gave us the opportunity not only to enhance our German speaking by thinking on our toes but also to get to know other cultures from all over the world. Our week ranged from city tours of Biberach and Ulm with the visiting of the respective museums, to laser tag, swimming and a group BBQ with traditional German food cooked by us. Needless to say the course allowed me to enhance my German speaking skills extensively by completely immersing me in the language, while also providing me with life-long friends from across the globe, who share an avid passion in language-learning.”