EUROPE-MIGRANTS-SCHOOLS As hundreds more refugees arrive in Germany, schooling for migrant children continues

Record ID: 139964

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS-SCHOOLS As hundreds more refugees arrive in Germany, schooling for migrant children continues
  • Date: 11th September 2015
  • Summary: MUNICH, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) TOP SHOT OF MUNICH STATION INTERIOR VARIOUS OF REFUGEES WITH CHILDREN WHO ARRIVED BY TRAIN WALKING PAST INSIDE STATION (SOUNDBITE) (German) POLICE SPOKESMAN GERMAN FEDERAL POLICE AT MUNICH STATION, SIMON HEGEWALD, SAYING: "Yesterday, close to 7,000 new migrants arrived here at Munich station. Some of them continued their journey to other cities. Today, speaking in numbers, the situation is a little more quiet. We are still below the mark of 1,000 people who arrived in Munich since midnight. But there can be no talk of an easing because figures could rise again at any moment. Also, we obviously still need the personnel working here." BERLIN, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 11, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF KATHARINA-HEINROTH-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN BERLIN'S WILMERSDORF DISTRICT WHERE AROUND 500 CHILDREN FROM 20 COUNTRIES ARE TAUGHT AT, SOME IN SO CALLED 'WELCOME CLASSES' WHERE THEY FIRST LEARN GERMAN VARIOUS OF TEACHER KAI-FELIX VON MAIKOWSKI SHOWING CHALK IN DIFFERENT COLOURS TO CHILDREN, ASKING THEM TO TELL HIM IN CORRECT GERMAN "BROWN CHALK" (SOUNDBITE) (German) SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILD, SHAHD, SAYING: "My name is Shahd. I am 11 years old. I come from Syria." CARDS LYING ON TABLE VON MAIKOWSKI TALKING TO CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (German) TEACHER, KAI-FELIX VON MAIKOWSKI, SAYING: "Normally, you learn a language such as French with your own language as a reference. You have a book you can work with. In welcome classes, this is hardly possible when you have a North Korean, a Syrian and children from eastern Europe who simply don't speak German." PAN ACROSS SIGNS READING IN GERMAN "RULE NUMBER 1: I LISTEN WHEN SOMEONE ELSE TALKS! RULE NUMBER 2: I RAISE MY HAND BEFORE I TALK! RULE NUMBER 3: I SPEAK GERMAN!" (SOUNDBITE) (German) TEACHER, KAI-FELIX VON MAIKOWSKI, SAYING: "Our intention is to quickly transfer to regular classes those children who after a short period of time speak very good German."
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2EJUE9BXJJZ2NQLFQP9YWTLDN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds more refugees arrived in Munich on Friday (September 11), one day after the Bavarian capital saw 7,000 people get off trains from Austria.
    "Some of them continued their journey to other cities," said Simon Hegewald, spokesman for the German federal police at Munich station.
    "Today, speaking in numbers, the situation is a little more quiet. We are still below the mark of 1,000 people who arrived in Munich since midnight. But there can be no talk of an easing because figures could rise again at any moment," he said.
    Newcomers are told to register for refugee benefits at their final destinations within five days, but there is no way to check if they do it. Of about 25,000 arrivals over last weekend, only around 2,000 have stayed in Munich, according to a senior Bavarian official.
    Authorities estimate almost 40 percent of those arriving this year come from the Balkans and most will be denied asylum, unlike Syrians deemed worthy of protection from their civil war.
    In Berlin, Kai-Felix von Maikowski teaches newly arrived children with migrant backgrounds in a so called 'welcome class,' with the goal to integrate the kids into regular classes as quickly as possible.
    "Normally, you learn a language such as French with your own language as a reference. You have a book you can work with," von Maikowski said.
    "In welcome classes, this is hardly possible when you have a North Korean, a Syrian and children from eastern Europe who simply don't speak German."
    "Our intention is to quickly transfer to regular classes those children who after a short period of time speak very good German," the teacher said.
    More than 800,000 refugees will come to Germany this year, the state premier of Germany's biggest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, said on Tuesday, adding that this government forecast was three weeks old.
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