This year marked the 11th time a Cambridge exam was held at Steinmühle. It’s a good opportunity to look back. Subject teacher Nicole Hohm reports:

In 2010, I received an invitation to “Cambridge Day”—at first, I thought it was just another invitation to a professional development event like any other. Since the topics of the workshops and presentations sounded interesting, I signed up on the spot without knowing exactly what it was all about—even though it took place on a Saturday in Frankfurt and required a small fee for the presentations and catering. The speakers were excellent across the board, and I was pleasantly surprised by the good organization and the overall experience, which isn’t always the case with training events hosted by the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

As the event went on, it became clear to me what it was all about—they wanted to bring the Cambridge exams to schools. One might ask, why would anyone want to pursue an external certificate—one they have to pay for, no less—when schools already offer English classes? The Cambridge exams are administered exactly as they are in every country around the world—whether in Japan, Singapore, Ghana, Egypt, or even Germany—which makes them comparable. You receive certification of your language proficiency, which is recognized worldwide.

Back at Steinmühle, I went straight to the school administration on Monday, presented the concept, and asked if we could try it out in the WU program. The school administration gave the green light: Why not?

In 2011, I taught my first Cambridge course, preparing 11 students for the FCE exam (First Certificate of English), which is now usually referred to simply as First B2 (B2 is the upper-intermediate language level). We were all nervous—the students, of course, because external examiners were coming to test them. And I was just as nervous, because I hoped I had prepared them properly: 10 passed the exam, and one missed it by just one point…

The following year, 16 students participated, and two even performed so well that they were certified at the next higher level—C1. This time, no one failed. In 2014, due to the high number of students (28), we offered two courses: Jeannine Walter taught one, and I taught the other, as always; in 2015, 21 students participated, and in 2016, 17 students took part.

 

We worked with rubber gloves, face masks, and disinfectant

In 2017, we took a year off because we switched from the FCE exam to the Business English exam—we now had a two-year plan: In the newly established WU Business English course in 10th grade, I began preparing the students for the business aspects. In 11th grade, the students were then prepared for the BEC exam (Business English Certificate). In 2018, 18 students took the exam—unfortunately, two did not pass, but two others reached the next higher level. Despite the pandemic, we all bravely carried on—wearing face masks, rubber gloves, and using plenty of hand sanitizer: 28 students participated in 2019, and 14 in 2020. In 2021, 34 students signed up—which was definitely too many for a single class. Matthäus Otte immediately agreed to take over a class. In 2021, an impressive four people reached the C1 level.

But this year’s class really took the cake—out of 29 students, 7 achieved such good results that they were certified at the C1 level. Huge kudos to the students who achieved such outstanding results despite the long period of online instruction in grades 9 and 10. Congratulations!

This year’s Cambridge candidates were: Alina Adamski, Paula Auschill, Max Badouin, Svea Bredendiek, Felix Busch, Anton Graf, Lena Herzog, Ellen Hilt, Emilia Hoffmans, Lennart Holly, Neele Jansen, Lotte Jungfer, Tino Kraft, Sarah Kremer-Golder, David Krüger, Nina Marko, Chiara Massa-Enders, Emilia Quaissa, Ana Catalina Pohl, Finn-Jonas Posingies, Tamira Preck, Luisa Reinhardt, Fabian Seidel, Adama Sow, Anna Steinfeldt, Ariane Stry, Bijan Teymoortash, Anna Tille, Joshua Wieder.

Despite pandemic-related restrictions, exams were held again in 2021, allowing students to earn the French DELF certificate. Due to the restrictions, the number of participants was lower than usual, but two brave Francophile students still took the B1 exams, prepared for them on their own, and traveled to Giessen for the oral exam: Etienne Harder (left) and Jan Audretsch. It’s all the more wonderful that both achieved excellent results! French teacher Jeannine Walter (right)—who is also the head of languages and the arts at Steinmühle—and the entire school community extend their congratulations.

Participating in the Read & Listen Challenge organized by Helbling Publishing was a huge success for Class 6b at Steinmühle. For taking second place in the competition among all sixth-grade classes nationwide, Jael Bieber received a certificate (photo) and a check for 100 euros on behalf of all her classmates in Class 6b. The money will go toward the class fund.

Nearly all of Steinmühlen’s 6th-grade classes participated in the challenge, reported English teachers Theresa Großer and Stephan Steinebach, who observed a high level of enthusiasm among all participants. The assignment involved reading a book online as part of their homeschooling for two weeks and answering quiz questions about it. The students exchanged ideas via video conferences, discussing their answers to the questions. For the 6th-grade class, the assigned reading was “The Captain’s Castle” by Gavin Biggs, published by Helbling Verlag.

There were 12 chapters to read online. Each chapter included a short audio clip that provided clues about the villain in the exciting story—whom the children had to identify. The main task at the end of the story was to determine who the thief was and who was trying to steal the treasure in the castle. The children also had to figure out exactly where in the castle this treasure was hidden. The contest was conducted entirely through the interactive learning platform HELBLING e-zone.

Teachers Theresa Großer and Stephan Steinebach were delighted that the varied set of tasks was so well received by the students: “The children participated with great enthusiasm and high motivation.” In total, over 7,000 students from all over Germany took part in this exciting competition. The competition was held separately for grades 6, 7, and 8, each with a different set of tasks. Steinmühle is the only school in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district to have placed in the top 10 in one of these categories.

Undeterred by the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Steinmühlen students have once again achieved outstanding results in English this year and earned the globally recognized Cambridge Certificate. Subject teacher Nicole Hohm and Principal Björn Gemmer praised the graduates highly for this achievement and posed for a group photo with them. Examiner Diane Oliver was also very pleased with the results and attested to the students’ excellent performance at a high linguistic level. The students had already achieved these results during the previous school year, while they were still in 11th grade. The photo session takes place a little later each year, specifically once the certificates are available.