The exchange, which was realized as a project, involved 27 Dutch pupils and the same number of German pupils. On the Dutch side, the pupils were accompanied by their teacher Mr. Spitshuis and a parent. Ms. Kosbab and Mr. Wattieau, teachers of the elective subject Dutch from year 7, supported the Gronau participants in the exchange project.
After the guests from the Netherlands, who arrived by bike, were warmly welcomed by their exchange partners, they went to the school canteen together. A varied and interesting program awaited them there, prepared by the Gronau comprehensive school. The program started with speed dating. This gave the pupils from the border region a chance to get to know each other. After some initial "strangeness", initial contacts were quickly made between the guests and their hosts. They then went on an exploratory tour of our school building in small groups. There, the Dutch pupils received a brief introduction to everyday school life at the comprehensive school from their German exchange partners. With the help of a school rally, they then had to work together to answer questions about the comprehensive school and the EUREGIO.
After a short breakfast break, our Dutch guests were given an insight into the subjects German, social studies and sport as well as the German school system. This was a novelty for many Dutch pupils, who were amazed that their German school partners were taught by different teachers on the same school day, which is not always the case at Dutch schools. The project came to a culinary end with a shared lunch in the canteen. At the end of lunch, all the participants quickly took to the stage for a group photo as a memento. Accompanied by farewell greetings in both languages, our guests cycled back home to the Netherlands. A return visit by our foreign language students to the Netherlands is planned for next spring.
The partnership between the two schools has existed since the 2020 school year and is based on the idea of offering pupils from both countries the opportunity to broaden their horizons of knowledge and experience beyond their own cultural "horizons" through cross-border encounters. This is not only about the practical use of the respective everyday language, but also about getting to know the German and Dutch school systems as well as cultural peculiarities. Gronau Comprehensive School would particularly like to thank the EUREGIO, as the project "Leer je buur kennen - Een retourtje Glanerbrug en Gronau" was made possible by the Interreg Germany-Netherlands program and co-financed by the European Union (EU).