Speaking Time: Tell about Your School

Hi, I’m Nastia. I’d like to tell you about my school in Germany. My familt had to flee away from the war in Ukraine. Now we live in the city of Viersen. Viersen is the capital of the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Viersen is twinned to the town of Kaniv in Ukraine.

My school in Germany is Erasmus-von-Rotterdam-Gymnasium in the town of Viersen. It is a high school. It was founded in 1992. The school was created by merging the modern language grammar school on the Löh (founded 1873 as a lyceum / girls’ grammar school) and the city’s humanistic grammar school (founded 1904, as a Latin school in 1526). The school uses the buildings of the former Gymnasium an der Löh.

My school in Germany was named after the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus is a scientist, philosopher, writer of the late 15th – first half of the 16th centuries. The appearance of this thinker marked the beginning of the development of the ideas of humanism in the European world of the Renaissance. Erasmus of Rotterdam is considered to be the founder of humanistic pedagogy.

Erasmus was theologian, philosopher, philologist, priest, author and editor of over 150 books. As a critical thinker of his time, Erasmus, also known as the “Prince of the Humanists”, is one of the pioneers of the European Enlightenment. Its impact extends to the present day.

The statements of Erasmus of Rotterdam are still considered leading in the theory of education and training:

• Personality is not an innate phenomenon, it is formed under the influence of education.
• The most important direction of education and training is the intellectual development of an individual in a complex with the formation of moral and religious convictions, as well as physical development.
• The task of education is to reveal the potential of the pupil in various activities, and above all in work.
• Each person is worthy of respect, has free will and is the subject of any happening events.
• A person is responsible for his actions.

My school is in the city center. It’s far from my house and it usually takes me 20 minutes to get to school on the bus.
There are more than 800 students in our school and they have classes in several buildings. There are 30 students in every class.

The lessons start at 7.50 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m. My school is a day school. There are many subjects that you can study, such as History, Maths, Music, Latin, French, English, Chemistry, Physics, and PE. In addition to classes, the school offers various after-class activities, including sailing, playing volleyball, and mountain biking. There is an art and belly dancing club. The school has its own choir, orchestra and theater company. Sport activities are very popular in my school.

There are many facilities in my school in Germany. It’s better equipped than my school in Ukraine. We’ve got a canteen, a library,a tennis court, a chess club,a musical hall, a gym, and a computer room.

The headmaster of our school is friendly.

I have been studying at my German school for a year already. I think it is a good school because I have many friends in this school and I feel comfortable at the lessons.