Anyone walking through the corridors, hallways and classrooms of this community school on this Thursday morning was amazed at the colorful hustle and bustle. As part of the Multicultural Day, all class levels dealt with the countries of origin of all pupils. Principal Andrea Fürle is fascinated to report that all continents are represented at her school, with the exception of Australia. She jokes that she would like to have another pupil from Australia at the school so that all continents are actually represented at the school.
At this school, young people with little or no knowledge of German initially receive intensive language support in so-called VKL classes (preparatory classes) and are prepared for the transition to a regular class. The particular importance of these preparatory classes lies in the fact that language skills are immensely important for success in school, education, work and society.
The afternoon program on the occasion of this ceremony was organized exclusively by the pupils of the preparatory class. In addition to poetry recitals and dance performances, the words of welcome from former VKL students were an emotional highlight, says Elfie Zaulich, who hosted the program. She has been at the school since 2008 and is therefore an indispensable part of the VKL. The greetings from her former students consisted mainly of words of sincere thanks. They also spoke movingly about their careers and how many of them successfully completed their Abitur. This is also Bassam Tamur’s goal. He first spoke on stage about his escape in 2014. As a Yazidi in Iraq, he experienced severe persecution because of his faith. In 2017, he joined the preparatory class at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule without any knowledge of German. He says that VKL was a place that helped him to find his feet in his new environment and to believe in himself and his future. Today, he is about to graduate from the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule. Because at this school, it is also possible for pupils with little or no knowledge of German to achieve their goals, right through to A-levels and university.
The audience was captivated by his stories, especially the invited guests of honor Priscilla Hoffmann and Elfriede Baumann, both former teachers at the VKL, as well as Karlheinz Lang, retired principal of the former Thomas Schweicker secondary school. Monika Odenwälder, representing the school authorities, and Sophie Kling from the state education authority in Künzelsau were also invited.
At the end of the day, everyone agreed that Multicultural Day should not remain a one-off event. It should become a tradition at this school to celebrate diversity with such a day and to live and make community visible in this way.
