Crossing Borders

On December 3rd, 2024, an exciting collaboration unfolded at GIBS, as Jennifer Schumm’s Applied Language Studies class on Intercultural Communication teamed up with Ms. Pfistermüller-Czar’s 4C English class for an engaging and thought-provoking day of presentations. This marked the 15th anniversary of our joint reading project, where students passionately explored and presented on a captivating range of young adult novels: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Dear Martin, You Should See Me in a Crown, La Línea, and The Lines We Cross. Through these stories, the students immersed themselves in themes of culture and cultural identity, igniting lively discussions and offering fresh, insightful perspectives on how young adult literature can deepen our understanding of cultural influences and experiences.

Abhirami:

Not only did I like creating our presentation, but I also liked listening to the other presentations. I enjoyed introducing myself culturally because it explained a lot about my family and family background. I liked talking about the book more than creating a poster about it. I could hear the students’ opinions about the book. All in all, I thought that the project was fun and interactive, and I would really enjoy it, if we could do similar projects like this one more often.

Jolien:
The Crossing Borders project was a lot of fun, starting with the reading lessons in school all the way to the day when we got to present our books and interact with the university students. The part I enjoyed the most was definitely the station where we talked about the book with the students from Graz University. It was a really relaxed atmosphere and they were exceptionally kind and helpful.

Irene:

I liked the project. The best part was discussing the books with the unversity students. The students were really nice and open for opinions. We laughed a lot.

Felix:

wanted to share my thoughts on the Crossing Borders project we did with the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I really enjoyed it, especially the two stations we had.

The first station, where we talked about Junior’s life on the reservation, helped me understand how hard it is for him and how different his life is from mine. It made me think more about how important it is to stay strong, even when things are tough.

At the second Station we could Draw a scene and Share it with others. The students did it in a funny way, and Jonas and me loved it. All in all this project was very funny, especially because we engaged with others.

Eliza:

I think it was a pretty good project. For me, the best part was when we talked about the book in the book groups. Because there we heard the honest opinion of the students about the book and what they liked and what they disliked.

Laetitia:

I liked the project, because it was very fun and interactive. First, we socialised with the university students and talked about our cultural artifacts, so that it would be a bit more comfortable for us to present our presentations. Then we did our presentations and played some kahoots with the students.

Next, we were put into two groups: one in the ACE area and one in our class. The group in ACE worked at stations and did some tasks about the books. The class group were talking about the books and about some other things. All in all, I really liked the project.

Amira:

It was a very interesting experience and I liked that we got to talk to future teachers. One of the students also went to school at GIBS. I liked the station in our class much more than the stations in the ACE area because we just talked about the book and everyone gave their honest opinion about the book and had a lot of fun. In the ACE area, we talked about books we didn’t know and had to do some exercises.

Pia:

The Crossing Borders project day was really fun. I liked interacting with the university students and it was fun to see so many people in our classroom. We had to give our presentations in front of a lot of people, which was new, but it was good to get out of my comfort zone. The activities with the university students were fun and it was interesting to hear their opinions about the books we read. The people were really nice and I really enjoyed the day. I would definitely do it again.