Goethe Institut Singapore supported Workshop at Ministry of Education Language Centre (MOELC) – 3rd and 5th of May:
Our 2-day Workshop (3rd & 5th of May) with 19 young Singaporean German learners was organised and supported by the Goethe Institut Singapore. For the first time in months The Ball team conducted a workshop in German. Students were shy at first but, especially through warm-up games and small group activities, they loosened up and discussed the effects of climate change and sustainability strategies in Singapore with their peers. Due to insurance reasons and time constraints we weren’t able to play FairPlay football, instead we focused on the SDGs in speed-dating and theatre. We were surprised to learn that none of our participants had theatre experience. You wouldn’t have noticed it by the way they delivered their role-plays though.
In between the two workshop days we visited the Goethe Institut to meet with Martina Schmid-Lindenmayer, Project Coordinator for Educational Services, and her colleagues. We were interested to hear about their experiences living in Singapore. One colleague, who has lived in Singapore for more than 45 years, talked about the incredible changes and development she has witnessed in that timeframe. Our young workshop participants (16 to 17 years of age) were aware of many negative things (like the use of incinerators to turn waste) about a perceived lack of sustainability in Singapore. This surprised us as we experienced Singapore as being the cleanest and greenest major city we have so far visited in South East Asia. We even needed to remind them of some positive examples that they seemed to take for granted: tremendous public transport and fewer cars on the roads for example. At the end of the workshops, the pupils pledged to use reusable containers and bottles, to reduce meat consumption and to help those less fortunate than themselves.
