Cultural Exchange Ambassadors

In your role as CEA, you’d work together with a partner or in a small bilateral cluster to:

• run joint projects, activities, events or clubs in order to inspire and motivate young people in your schools to engage with the language and culture of the other country
• enable young people to have direct, meaningful contact with young people in the other country and bring lessons to life through active involvement in joint projects with their peers
• run at least one project within your school or in conjunction with other schools in the area

What is a project?

• Bilateral – projects should be run with a partner Ambassador from the other country, or with an existing partner school
• Address themes that are of educational value, as well as interesting and relevant for pupils.
• Can be as long or as short as you like! You could run a project for the whole course of your assistantship, or just for a day (e.g. a project day!)

We will be running an introductory webinar in November 2023, where all the ambassadors will meet. We will also run a project development seminar, and a final evaluation webinar.

The plan for this year’s meetings is as follows:

November 2023 – Introductory Webinars

• Short introductory webinars will be held online on Thursday, 23 (evening) and Saturday, 25 (morning) November. This will provide Ambassadors with an introduction to the programme and UK-German Connection.
• Opportunity to plan projects, speak to previous Ambassadors, and get to know other English & German Language Assistants

February/March 2024 – Project Development Seminar

• In-person seminar (location tbc)
• Opportunity to assess progress and develop plans for the remaining months
• UK-German Connection staff on hand to assist in project planning

UK-German Connection will cover the project-related costs for seminars, including travel, accommodation and subsistence.

May 2024 – Evaluation & Wrap-Up Webinar

• Opportunity for Ambassadors to share their experiences, present their projects and evaluate the wider programme
• This will take place online. The date will be confirmed closer to time.

Regular “Check-in” meetings

• Chance for Ambassadors to meet and share what they have done in their projects so far, and how their further planning is going
• Check-in meetings will be offered to all Ambassadors every six weeks

All Ambassadors must be able to attend all meetings (including webinars and seminars).

UK-German Connection offers the following support for your project throughout your time as an Ambassador:

• webinars and seminars dedicated to project planning, development and evaluation
• a project fund to support with project activities throughout the year
• a forum for Ambassadors – for introductions, sharing project ideas, and keeping in touch throughout the year
• group “check-in” conference calls (online) – Ambassadors can share project updates, discuss any challenges, and generally keep in touch
• advice and support from programme alumni acting as mentors
• a dedicated member of staff providing ongoing support throughout the year

Get involved if you:

• are enthusiastic about enhancing UK-German youth relations
• have an interest in developing and running projects within your school
• are able to work on your own initiative as well as within a network
• are committed, reliable, open and flexible
• possess good organisational skills
• have good communication skills and intercultural awareness

Please note that German language ability is not necessary in order to take part in the programme.

You will learn a whole host of skills throughout your time as a UK-German Cultural Exchange Ambassador. Running your own project is extremely rewarding, whilst also building up valuable skills for your future career…

• Enhance your Language Assistant role and wider impact within your school
• Connect your pupils with a classroom in the UK, helping them to learn about culture and life in the other country from their peers
• Learn and improve your project management, time management, organisation and communication skills
• Provide your school with a connection in the other country, which could become a longer-term partnership
• Become a member of a dynamic network of like-minded people, meeting fellow Language Assistants from both countries

Leading the project has helped me grow in confidence, as well as brought me into contact with teachers I otherwise might not have worked with. It gave me a proper role within the school in that both students and teachers became more aware of who I was, and what I could offer – namely, authentic information about Britain.

Find out more about the programme and get inspired by the messages from past Ambassadors!

Ambassadors in 2023-24 should focus their bilateral project on one of the following three themes. The bullet points provide some ideas of subtopics that could be tailored to different interests and age groups:

• Digital World
  • How can schools harness the power of technology and AI for the better?
  • How does technology and media impact our lives and wellbeing?
  • “Fake News”, digital fraud, and cyberbullying: how can we make the internet a better place for everyone?

• “Planet B”: Sustainability & the Environment
  • What role does the environment you live in play in your day-to-day life?
  • Humans are at the top of the food chain. How can and should we protect our environments and fellow residents of Earth?
  • How important is it in today’s world to be sustainable at school? At work?

• Living in the Wider World
  • What does it mean to be part of a community? How can we be good members of one?
  • Who is “Me”?
  • How does the society you live in shape attitudes to health (sleep, food choices, exercise)? Work? Education?

The Cultural Exchange Ambassadors will be encouraged to explore these themes in their projects through a variety of different mediums, such as competitions and challenges, project days, discussions and survey research or even drama, dance and storytelling!

UK-German Connection will provide guidance and some examples of previous projects at the introductory seminar. Ambassadors should however develop their own ideas for the project themes and reflect on how these themes could be most engaging for their pupils ahead of the seminar.

The Cultural Exchange Ambassadors programme is carried out with the support of the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst, the British Council and the Goethe-Institut. You can find more information on the language assistants programme on their websites:

• www.kmk-pad.org
• www.britishcouncil.org
• www.goethe.de

If you have any questions, or would like further information about the programme, please don’t hesitate to contact us:

Email: ambassadors@ukgermanconnection.org