Our school enjoys an in-depth cooperation with the university of Potsdam, which will enable students from the university to undertake various forms of internships in Accra, as well as providing support for further training for teaching staff, research projects in the field of education or visits to Potsdam for future planned class trips to Berlin in year 8.
On 23 August 2024, we received a visit from our academic cooperation partner. Prof. Dr Winnie-Karen Giera and Lilly Woltersdorf, research assistant, conducted a theatre workshop with pupils from grades 5 - 7. A research and teaching project focused on promoting reading skills, self-efficacy and social interaction on the topic of bullying. The pupils were very impressed by the somewhat different way of teaching.
As they have a trusting relationship with each other, they were very open to slipping into the different roles and bringing their acting talents to the stage. The texts were both challenging and stimulating for the bilingual pupils. At the end, some of the participating children summarized: ‘I really enjoyed singing’ or ‘I thought my role was great’ or ‘it was a lot of fun’. The scientists visited GISA at the end of their trip to Ghana, during which they had also visited the university in Winneba. The Potsdam university and the German International School had recently signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement, which, among other things, enables students from Brandenburg to do internships in West Africa.
As part of a trip through Nigeria and Ghana, the delegation from the University of Potsdam with President Prof Oliver Günther, Prof Dr Hans-Georg Wolf, Prof Dr Andreas Borowski and Katharina Schmitt made a stop at the German International School Accra. The two educational institutions have been cooperating since this year, which has already led to a first internship as part of the teacher training programme.
The quartet was welcomed by drummers and dancers from the Universal Wonderful Street Academy. The university and school then presented their programmes and engaged in a lively and intensive exchange, in which parent representatives and the new chairwoman Mirna Adjemi were also involved. There was agreement on the ‘win-win situation’ of the cooperation, which should be expanded further, for example with future visits by DISA students to Potsdam.
