Rhys is a school teacher from Coventry who looks back at his twinning trip experiences both as a student and as a teacher.

Did you take part in anything like school exchanges when you were young?

Yes, in 1998, when I was at Cardinal Newman in Coventry I was fortunate to go on an exchange to Jinan in China. I think it was part of a Chamber of Commerce initiative encouraging links with Coventry and Jinan.

It was an amazing trip. It was intended for sixth formers. We had to go through an application process, with interviews and in the end 16 of us from different schools in Coventry were selected. All of us had different interests, for example for me it was history, for others it was arts, and so forth.

It was a ten-day trip. We stayed in hotels and university accommodation and every day we went schools and visited students’ families and did all kinds of things. We also had the chance to meet and share this with other people from Coventry as well. There were two teachers from Coventry and some involvement from the council and from CAIF.

Then as a teacher yourself, how did you get involved in the Dresden exchange?

The mayor of Dresden was visiting Coventry. It was part of their preparation for bidding to be city of European culture and we were going to be City of Culture so there was interest in sharing ideas. I think he just wanted to visit a school and because I was part of the lord mayor’s peace committee he came to my school.

I wanted to take part in exchanges although this wasn’t in the forefront of my mind when I started teaching! But with Coventry being known as the city of peace and reconciliation, I felt there was a purpose for twinning and making these links. So, it was a straightforward thing for me to do because I had already had the enthusiasm from my trip to Jinan, years earlier.

So we hosted the Dresden visitors and they enjoyed it. Then, they invited us back to Dresden over the following year. It was brilliant. The whole idea of the exchange is to highlight to students that there are other people out there who can broaden your horizons and the students we took all came from different ethnic groups, ages and they shared so much with young people in Dresden. Twinning makes you become aware of the world around you.

How long were you there for and what did you do there?

We were there for a week, from Monday to Friday. We took thirty students with us, all of them from an 11- 18 age range. We visited schools and the students took part in different projects related to history, art, dance, music and so on. Everything was done in English, which is embarrassing because we went there with no German and the students there they all speak English and their English is superb!

 Did you receive any feedback from the students after the trip?

We received very positive feedback from the students. I guess the only downside was having more time. It is interesting because the host worked their socks off organising all the activities and then you find out students wanted more time to do other things like playing with others or just sitting and chatting. Sometimes we are worried about filling the time when they also want some free time.

What were the highlights of the trip?

I think the highlight was that students were able to meet different people of different ages in Dresden but also the links between the students in our group were interesting to see. You really get to know each other on a trip like that and ours was a mixed age group and this ended up working well.

How was the application process?

The way we did it, students had to submit an application and write about why they wanted to go there and explain what peace meant to them. Also, they needed to be part of the peace and justice school group.

What were the things about Dresden that the students were interested in?

They really liked the buildings, these old building which had been destroyed during the war but they had rebuilt them and kept their characteristics. Just being in a different place and able to see what they had in Dresden and compare it to what they have in Coventry and the things they have in common and things that are different.

They stayed on a boat on the river, which was really peculiar and they really liked that.

But I think it was the whole idea of going to a different school, a school in a different city. Because there’s a lot of things in western culture that is very similar in every city, you know the coffee shop and fast food and all that, but there are still things that are very different. It is looking at those things. And making friendships, this is something which can endure more than ever with social media. I remember after I went to Jinan I sent a couple of letters to the people I stayed with and that was it. But now they can be in touch online and share a lot more than we did with a letter.

Do you have any recommendation for people who want to get working in exchanges?

It is important to get different people on board if you can because it is such a cross curricular thing, it is not one particular subject area you can tie it in with any subject. It is also understanding that it is important for students to have the experiences for their own development, to broaden their horizons.

Do you think it is more difficult to do these exchanges today?

I think that the idea of making links with other schools is still there but the concept of twining is not necessarily at the forefront of these links. For instance, there are teachers who have been working on links with their school and one in Japan but it is not related directly related to twinning really. But I don’t think that matters and they have come up with interesting events such as the commemoration of Hiroshima in the Cathedral every year. It is difficult fitting it into school but perhaps twinning is easier now because even if you don’t have a trip on the go, social media can help you share a lot more.