A background talk with John

Imagine an everyday school situation: you learn a new topic from the textbook, you read a few pages, learn the appropriate vocabulary and then move on to the next chapter.

On the occasion of the 11th grade English curriculum, our English teacher Mr. Zech wanted to offer us something unusual and new due to the very important topic. He arranged a digital meeting with one of his friends from his first rugby team, who can probably describe and explain this topic better than any textbook. The topic was apartheid. 

The students were able to think about what questions they would ask the guest John Stoffels and so the time had come a week later - on January 24th. Camera and sound on, and the pupils were sitting opposite him.

John Stoffels was born and grew up in Cape Town / South Africa, is 56 years old and has  been living in Germany since 2001. The pupils asked him questions about his apartheid experiences and his life as a teenager. However, they also took the opportunity to ask more serious questions, which John answered openly and honestly.

And although this talk was about a serious topic, John still managed to put a smile on the students' faces by making jokes or simply letting his positive nature run free. So the atmosphere was not sad at all, but much more relaxed and interesting at the same time, while the life experiences of a real "contemporary witness" were reported. 

Despite the bad memories that John had to experience, it seemed as if he had a very positive view of his home country, and the students thought this was very remarkable. 

 At the end of the video conference, John expressed all his wishes for us: to love more and spread our wings, feel free and enjoy life.

It was a really great experience for the students and it seemed that John was also happy that he was able to impress many faces with his experience, simply because the way he told it was admirable. 

It's probably not a lie to say that the students learned more than they would have had if they had been asked to read through the pages of the book and learn the vocabulary. 

So once again a big thank you to our teacher Mr. Zech for the great idea. And John, if you are reading this:  Thank you very much !

Sophia Möller, 11a