Football meets Culture in Berlin - Now a two-year project

The “Football meets Culture” project now kicks off for the third time in Berlin – this time, however, with 4 groups of 12 children each. The Berlin “Football meets Culture” project is the first to run as a two-year project. This has been made possible thanks to the financial and active support of the S. Fischer Stiftung. A two-year schedule is designed to consolidate the lasting impact of the project. The first groups of 12 children each from Year 6 are now in their second year of the project.
There are now new participants with twice 12 children each from Year 5. The children are from the interdenominational school on the Campus Rütli (formerly the Franz Schubert Primary School) and the primary school Rixdorfer Grundschule. Alongside progress at school, integration is a key element for the project.
Twice a week, the children attend German lessons in combination with a football training session with a youth trainer from the club Hertha BSC. The football removes fear of contact, overcomes cultural and social barriers, facilitates psychosocial observation and creates space for learning. The aim is that after two years of being accompanied by “LitCam – Football meets Culture”, the schoolchildren will be in the best possible position for their transition to secondary school, as well as fostering social and communicative skills and in addition, arousing their interest in education and culture. Encouraging their motivation to read and reading competency are other important elements for the project.

The project is always scheduled for Mondays and Fridays from 2.00 to 4.00 p.m. at the Rixdorfer Grundschule.
At the beginnning, the children are divided twice into two groups. Whilst one group has a German lesson, the second has football training. They change around at the end of an hour.
There are cultural events once a month. Last year, for example, these included a vist to the 11 mm Football Film Festival.
For the school year 2010/11, the Hertha BSC footballer Gojko Kacar and the German Book Prize laureate Julia Franck are ambassadors for the project, as they already were last year.