Onatti Productions Ltd visited King’s Ely Senior this week as part of our ‘International Week’ celebrations!
Onatti Productions deliver inspiring plays in foreign languages to school students across the UK. Our MFL Department welcomes the company to King’s regularly throughout the academic year, as their productions are a fantastic way to enrich our students’ learning.
On February 1st, Kimberly and Connie, who are both native German speakers, presented ‘Im Alten Saloon’ to pupils in Years 9-11 who are studying German.
The story is set in 1856 in a dusty town in Midwest America. An old saloon bar has run into financial difficulties and needs to find some money. The cash prize offered for the town’s talent contest sounds like a great idea to raise funds, but that is not easy when the town is full of talentless people… That is, until a newcomer shows up and wins the prize for them.
Year 11 student, Storm Roskam, got the chance to join in on the action and made a brilliant barman!
Our Year 9 students have also been exploring ‘Karneval’ or ‘Fasching’, which is one of Germany’s biggest festivals. Pupils have been making their own Karneval masks and learning all about the annual carnival, which can be documented back to pre-Roman times. These times were difficult for the average person, so the carnival season was a chance to be free and enjoy life in a world where fun was non-existent for many.
Karneval is celebrated in all German-speaking countries. Its timing in the year is poignant, as it is just before the fasting season of Lent, which is when many people will forsake food as a sacrifice for religious reasons. Fasching allows a person to have a huge celebration, indulge and embrace all that is good before things are out of bounds during Lent.
Our ‘International Week’ is held annually in the Lent Term and it involves pupils in Nursery right the way through to Sixth Form. This year’s programme features student-led assemblies, baking competitions, food tasting sessions, art workshops, an International Concert, film screenings, drama productions and more!