Steinmühle’s First Italian Course Says “Arrivederci”

It was the perfect setting: bright sunshine and blue skies provided the ideal conditions for the first Italian class in Steinmühle’s history to take a group photo. On March 30, the 13 students from the 13th grade gathered for the last time with their teacher, Jeannine Walter. For the first time, students did not have to travel to another high school in Marburg to attend an Italian course; instead, they enjoyed the lessons right here at Steinmühle. “Whether a course can be offered on-site always depends on enrollment,” explained Jeannine Walter.

The students’ reasons for taking the Italian course varied widely. In two cases, a parent brought a native-language background to the family; other participants felt, “The language is beautiful and interesting.” Still others took the view that “learning languages is cool.” For other course participants, the decision was influenced by the requirements for the Abitur, which stipulate a specific foreign language component. In fact, two of the participants even chose Italian for their oral Abitur exam. Despite the pandemic, the Steinmühlen students are confident that they will soon be able to apply and deepen the knowledge they’ve acquired through real-life interaction with others.

“Unfortunately, for organizational reasons, it is not possible to schedule Italian classes at any other time than during the 7th and 8th periods or later,” explains Jeannine Walter, who also teaches English and French and is the department head for languages. Mar Montenegro is available as a second Italian teacher at Steinmühle.

Incidentally, the group photo taken at the end of the course is remarkable in two ways. Not only was it taken under pandemic-related restrictions, but—because of “Theme Week”—the students’ outfits also catch the eye. The theme for that week was “Gender Swap.”