Do you know what a “wee irn bru” is or which famous Scottish dish is served with “neeps and tatties”? If you don’t, ask the students of the 7A who spent a fortnight in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

The language week was organized and prepared by the group’s English teachers Christine Hisch and Martin Stolzlechner together with “English & More”, an Austrian company specializing in language-oriented school trips to the UK. In the course of the 2-week journey we engaged in various activities focussing on getting to know the city and Scottish culture and improve our language skills. In pairs the students stayed with host families and got to know the Scottish way of life. Every morning was spent at the Mackenzie School of English, a young, aspiring school, dedicated to communicative language teaching. After a lunch break spent at the many leisure facilities of the school, we went off to various destinations in the city centre. Among the many sights Edinburgh has to offer, we visited the Royal Mile and one of its royal landmarks: Edinburgh Castle. Moreover, we enjoyed a guided tour through the Scottish Parliament which allowed us a good insight into the political life of the country. In addition to these, students took a tour round the Princes Street Gardens and the historic city centre which led them to the National Gallery, Greyfriar’s Kirk, St. Giles Cathedral, the Heart of Midlothian and many more of Edinburgh’s numerous attractions. A full day was spent at the world heritage site New Lanark, where we got a deeper insight into Robert Owen's humanitarian approach to industrialization. Probably the highlight of our stay in Edinburgh was the weekend trip to the Highlands, the northern part of Scotland, the setting of many battles fought for the country’s independence. We boarded the coach early in the morning and started our tour with a visit of the Glenturret Distillery, the oldest Scotch distillery of the country, and continued with a walk through the Glen of Killiecrankie, a breathtaking valley and home of the Soldier’s Leap, where a soldier is said to have jumped 5.5 meters over a river in order to escape his enemies. Thereafter we continued to the famous battlefield of Culloden, where government armies brutally defeated the Jacobite Rising in 1746 and set a bloody end to the power of the highland clans and their culture. The first day ended at Carbisdale Castle, a haunted nightmare of a youth hostel, where we spent a night of fitful sleep in the picturesque snow-covered highland mountains. On the second day we visited the famous Urquhart Castle near Drumnadrochit on the banks of Loch Ness. The impressive ruin has a turbulent history that dates back as far as the 6th century and does not only offer an insight into the life and times of medieval Scotland but also a great view over the lake to keep an eye out for Nessie. Our subsequent visit of Sterling Castle rounded up our trip and we arrived back in Edinburgh tired but happy.

As we paid special attention to the sole use of English as means of communication, the students had a lot of possibilities to practise every-day English. The stay at the host families, over 30 hours of tuition at the Mackenzie School and the students’ own experiences when exploring the city on their own led to an enormous increase in their fluency and accuracy.

And finally what the participants said...

„ It was the most amazing and awesome trip and I will never forget it! I think I've actually forgotten my German.“ (Valentina)

„ Everybody was very friendly to us and I'm sure I'll miss Edinburgh a lot.“ (Tuba)

„ It was never boring, I had a good time.“ (Reinhold)

„ It was too short.“ (Sonja)

„ I'll come back!“ (Moritz)

„ Really cool were the Highland tour and Carbisdale Castle.“ (Sebastian D.)

„ I'll always remember these two weeks.“ (Michaela)

„ Edinburgh is absolutely amazing. I love Scotland!“ (Nadine)