English afternoons are fun!

What makes the EAA-class so special as compared to regular classes? Of course, our English afternoons! Staying at school until 5pm is fun when you hear lots about Halloween, dress up as a mummy, bob for apples and learn the vocabulary to talk about all of that on the side.

In December we talked about Christmas festivities and we listened to and acted out the story of The Gingerbreadman. We also formed gingerbreadmen from dough, baked them in the oven and decorated them with lots of delicious icing. Most of them did not survive the afternoon and our parents were left with the gingerbreadman-tale and not any bite of the real gingerbread we had made.

In spring, we focused on very well-known tales and performed a tale called The Gruffalo wearing masks and costumes designed for it. Roasted fox, owl ice cream, and scrambled snake, however, will never make it into the list of our favourite dishes.

In June, we organised a parents’ evening with English sketches, input from maths, biology, geography, arts, music and religious education. Our parents were surprised how fast end effectively we have learnt English this year.

Healthy Food and Snacks

Since one of the main concerns at our school is a healthy diet for students, the 2bW dedicated one EAA-afternoon to healthy food and snacks. After the students were equipped with different recipes, we went to the supermarket to purchase the ingredients. Back at school each group prepared their snack and produced a short clip, advertising it. After all the hard work we finally got to taste the “fruits of our labour”, which not only were healthy but also delicious.

Mag. Christine Schauer

Guy Fawkes Night

Bonfire night is an annual celebration primarily observed in the United Kingdom on November 5th. Guy Fawkes was a member of the Gunpowder Plot. He placed explosives beneath the House of Lords to kill King James I in the year 1605. The king survived the attack and Guy Fawkes was arrested. To celebrate Fawkes´ arrest people lit bonfires around London, which quickly became a big tradition in the UK. 
To get a better feeling for English traditions the 2gk did not only learn about Guy Fawkes himself and the English history but even made little effigies of the famous man. On November 5th they made a little bonfire in the schoolyard and burned the statues. Of course, they also enjoyed some drinks, roasted marshmallows and ate organic apples from their head teacher´s garden. This is definitely a tradition to get used to and a wonderful day to remember!

Our parents´ evening on May 8th

As it has been a tradition in the former years, we again hosted a parents´ evening to highlight the progress we have made within one year. For this evening we prepared an extensive program with performances from almost all our subjects. We performed sketches in English, Italian and French, proved our mathematical skills, re-enacted the life of St. Patrick, made instant snow and rounded off the evening with several songs.
We once again want to thank all our teachers for their support and look forward to many more CLIL lessons in this school year and the years to come. 

Native Americans

What was life like in North America before the first Europeans arrived? How many bison lived in the prairies around 1500 and why did Native Americans burn the prairies? Why is “three sister farming” possible even if you do not have any siblings, and who plays a key role in the Iroquois creation myth?

These questions and many more were dealt with in our third EAA afternoon in class 3hk this year, before we created our own totem masks, as you can see in the picture.

The Science Behind Cooking 

In the course of the semester the 4e-students explored many biological phenomena. One lab session covered the topic “Kulinarische Biologie: The Science Behind Cooking”. Not only did the EAA-students investigate why we cry when we cut onions and whether swim goggles can prevent it, but they also tried to find answers for questions such as why milk gets a skin if it is heated too much and how Rotkraut and Blaukraut differ or whether they are actually the same. Additionally, they figured out the best method to make beaten egg white. Pictures of our scientists at work can be seen below.

The first year of EAA-Oberstufe

The first week of our EAA-Oberstufe is in the books. And it was a week to remember. Accompanied by head teacher Mrs. Rackl and the English teachers Mr. Jungwirth and Mr. Duncan, the 5a spent the first Wednesday of the school year in Graz, enjoying a city tour through Lend and Gries – naturally conducted in English.
Thursday was spent with teambuilding exercises in the marshlands of the Sulm, followed by the infamous egg-drop. The students built flying-equipment, consisting of eight plastic straws, half a meter of tape and material brought back from the marshland, with the goal of throwing an egg out of the first floor’s window without the egg breaking upon impact.
The rest of the day was spent with acting classes, conducted by Mr. Jungwirth.
Friday started with a waffle-breakfast, which was prepared by Mr. Duncan (a little) and some of the students (mostly), followed by another session of acting classes and a drama workshop.
We are looking forward to our journey to the Matura, it surely was a great start.

Our parents’ evening in December

As we, the students of the 5aw, had participated in our school’s CO2 project, we gave several presentations on topics such as The Climate Change, Air Pollutionand The Carbon Footprint, urging our audience to replace plastic bags by biodegradable materials.
Further, we took pleasure in role plays, dancing as well as singing and, since we are a CLIL-class, we even composed and performed a CLIL-rap (the term ‘CLIL’ is synonymous with ‘EAA’).
Our audience indulged in the delicious food we served, was mesmerised by our performances and supported us by answering the quiz questions we had drawn up.
And what’s more……….? Well, have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The students and teachers of the 5aw

Observation of Earthworms

At first sight, earthworms seem to be relatively simple organisms. However, the truth is that many parts of their lives are still a mystery to scientists. Why do we see so many earthworms when it rains? Do they just like rain or do the raindrops sound like approaching predators to them? The EAA-students of 5aw took a closer look at earthworms and investigated how they react to diluted vinegar and what this tells us about the kinds of soil they are found in – because surely you have noticed that you do not find earthworms in every soil. You can see our researchers at work in the pictures below. 

5ek had a very busy start into the new school year (2018/19) 

All students who had decided on attending the EAA-class in Klostergasse (Realgymnasium) by the end of June 2018 had an intensive English workshop with English in Action and all the other students who were not quite certain if they should join the class had an intensive workshop with Mrs. Clark and Mr. Pratl. Both groups were preparing presentations for the parents´evening in the first week, which was a great success. Our headmaster, Mr. Wieser , was present at the evening and so was Ms. Lechner, who was watching very closely what had become of her first interviewees four years before, when the first EAA-classes were established at the BG/BRG Leibnitz. 

Celia Edwards from English in Action took students on a journey through England and its somewhat strange inhabitants, covering topics like iconic Britain, shopping in the UK, sports, schools, television, the Royal Family, London and music. For the parents´evening students prepared exciting experiments and presentations on interesting facts about life, such as how to put on make-up properly and how to play the violin beautifully. Quizzes about the Royal Family and the preparation of a 5-minute cake were amongst the hightlights of this evening as the audience was allowed to participate and were rewarded for right guesses. To round off the whole project week the original EAA-group performed a new version of Snow White as a team performance (everybody had a part). It was very interesting to see the play unfold as a team effort and how students had become more enthusiastic about performing it in the course of the week. The outfits turned out fantastic too thanks to the support of some mums. Thank you! 

Mrs. Clark and Mr.Pratl focussed on language training and talked about music, hobbies, revised some grammar and also prepared sketches. Even though students felt that they were no great actors their performance was really good and captured on film, which we all enjoyed watching at the end of this exciting and exhausting week.  

Enjoy the photos who were partly taken by Lukas Klopfer, Mrs Clark and Mr Pratl

Observation of Earthworms

At first sight, earthworms seem to be relatively simple organisms. However, the truth is that many parts of their lives are still a mystery to scientists. Why do we see so many earthworms when it rains? Do they just like rain or do the raindrops sound like approaching predators to them? The EAA-students of 5ek took a closer look at earthworms and investigated how they react to diluted vinegar and what this tells us about the kinds of soil they are found in – because surely you have noticed that you do not find earthworms in every soil. You can see our researchers at work in the pictures below.