German teachers in Dunedin may have been humming Meat Loaf’s Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad this week, after two of three prestigious German language national scholarships went to Dunedin secondary school pupils.
Otago Girls’ High School pupil Lucy Pollock and Columba College’s Lydia Christensen (both 16) have won Padagogischer Austauschdienst Scholarships from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Columba College deputy principal and German teacher Jenness Riethmaier was delighted with the result.
"Two out of three is very good. I’m sure German teachers around Dunedin will be humming that tune.
"We’ve got a good group of German teachers this year."
Lucy and Lydia were selected following an intense series of interviews and social events at the Goethe Institut, in Wellington.
They will join the third scholarship winner, Wellington Girls’ College pupil Charlotte Sinclair (17), on a four-week, all-expenses-paid trip around Germany next July.
While there, they will spend two weeks with a host family, attending school with a "host sister", and then go on a tour around Germany with recipients of the scholarship from other countries.
The Dunedin duo are delighted with the scholarships and relish the opportunity to immerse themselves in the German language and culture.
"You’re surrounded by the language so it really forces you to speak it," Lucy said.
"It’s not like being in the classroom."
Lydia is also looking forward to the challenge.‘‘In some ways, German is very similar to English but it’s also very complex.
"There’s three different genders and it’s got quite complex grammar, so it is a challenge."
Both said they planned to continue studying German and hoped to use it in their careers. Neither girl had any idea who Meat Loaf was.
