As a contribution to Black History Month 2021, the students of 11c wrote blog posts about how they see racism in the context of their daily lives in Germany. This project is inspired by our reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah, in which the central character, Ifemelu, records her observations about racism in the U.S. in a blog called “Raceteenth, or Various Observations about American Blacks […] by a Non-American Black.” 

Read on, and you will learn more about the importance of mental health in the Black community, the spoken and unspoken assumptions confronting Asian Germans, the appropriation of Middle Eastern youth culture, why being “old-fashioned” is no excuse for racism, how difficult it can be for non-EU citizens to get a visa to continue their studies at NMS, why confronting racism is more important than the Bundesliga, and much, much more!

Kai Linke and the students of 11c

Link to the blog: https://nmsberlin.wordpress.com/

Earlier this school year, 14 NMS current and past students and parents put on their creative hats and submitted their designs for the NMS 2020 Design Contest. 

We warmly thank everyone who participated: Diana (4C), Francesca (6B) + Fabienne (6D) + Clive (parent),Smaranika (Semi) (6C), Lian (7C), Leo (8b), Tristan (8D), Robyn (11B), Torie (11D), Sophie (Q2), Rosalie (Q2), Maya (Q4), Dante (IB13), Tamy (alumna), Stuart (parent)

This February, a jury consisting of 6 NMS students + parents from Primary + Secondary voted on the winning designs. After reviewing and discussing the submissions, their votes are as follows for the NMS 2020 design contest:

• Winning design (shown above): by Stuart Rittschof
• Honorable Mentions: Dante Martinelli, Rosalie Borkowski, Lian Baumann

The winning design will be featured on NMS t-shirts + sweatshirts/hoodies starting this spring/summer. The honorable mention designs and the winning design will be featured on a limited collection of cotton tote bags and possibly on hoodies too.

In surrealen Zeiten entstehen surreale Bilder

Im Rahmen meines Praxissemesters im Lehramtsstudium an der Universität der Künste durfte ich, Caroline Meyer, die letzten turbulenten Monate in Zeiten der Corona-Pandemie an der Nelson-Mandela-Schule hospitieren und auch selbst Online-Unterricht gestalten. In der Klasse 9d bei Florentine Baumann entstand dabei die tolle künstlerische Reihe zum Unterrichtsthema Surrealismus. Mit Webcam eingeschaltet vor dem Laptop sitzend, betraten die Schülerinnen und Schüler der Klasse 9d den virtuellen Kunstunterricht via Google Classroom und erhielten für die nächsten 20 Minuten die Aufgabe, ein surreales Selbstportrait aus mindestens 20 unterschiedlichsten Requisiten aus Zimmer/Küche/Bad zusammenzulegen.

DISTANZ-UNTERRICHT

Berlins Schülerinnen und Schüler lernen wieder online. Unsere Schule ist mit der G-Suite-Enterprise-Lizenz bestens ausgestattet. Die Daten bleiben in der EU, alle Schülerkonten sind pseudonymisiert und werden von der Schule verwaltet. Die Lernplattform Classroom und das Videokonferenztool Meet werden entsprechend unserer Datenschutzrichtlinien aus dem Jahre 2018 eingesetzt. Unsere Lehrkräfte werden in jedem Monat professionell weitergebildet. Das Online-Handbuch vom Juni 2020 enthält viele Tipps und Hinweise zum Online-Lernen. Da dieses Handbuch recht umfangreich ist, haben wir hier einige wichtige FAQs für Lehrkräfte, Schülerinnen und Schülern und ihre Eltern zusammengefasst.

Video #StayathomeChoir: Memories (Maroon 5) - Cover Dezember 2020 - YouTube

The love of music connects us even in these difficult times. Together with over 140 students from the Nelson-Mandela-Schule Berlin, the Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium Cottbus and various choirs and orchestras from Germany, Sweden, Austria, the USA and the world, we recorded a large choir video at the end of 2020. We are happy that music-making and singing together can take place even in such difficult times, but we are also looking forward to singing and making music in school again. The project was carried out by Felix Theuner, who is currently teaching as a practical semester student at the Nelson Mandela School in Berlin.

A musical offering from Primary Choir volunteers in year 5 & 6. Huge thanks for amazing advice and technical help from the multi-talented Julia Naji.

We present in a cappella: 'Silent Night;' 'Mary's Boy Child;'  'We Wish You a Merry Christmas.'

Video here

Hört ihr, wie´s knallt und zischt? The children of class Flex A performed the traditional German poem "Der Bratapfel" as a recording for their parents. It is a famous German poem, known and recited by kids all over Germany. Find out, maybe even your parents know the poem if they grew up in Germany?

The children were very excited to make this recording, especially as we had to make sure that all the Corona safety requirements for everyone, such as singing with masks, washing hands before and after, disinfecting instruments and keeping enough distance while singing, were met. In the end, it all worked out well and the kids performed wonderfully.

Don´t be surprised if after listening to this, you feel you really would like to enjoy a mouthwatering and delicious Bratapfel?

Enjoy Flex A´s "Der Bratapfel". 

As we have spontaneously recorded the Libertango by Astor Piazolla on the last day of school, which means the day before yesterday (Tuesday 15 the December), we would like to share this with the NMS community. 

See the piece here on Youtube

Am 10.11.2020 morgens um 8:00 trafen sich die Schüler der Klasse 7b  im Klassenzimmer, um Kunstprojekt durchzuführen.

 Sie waren aufgeregt und freuten sich auf das Bemalen der Wand. Zuerst wurde die Klasse in 6 Gruppen aufgeteilt. An diesem Tag fand kein normaler Unterricht statt, weil es ein Projekttag war. Jede Gruppe war der Reihe nach mit dem Bemalen dran. Sie malten 60 Minuten lang Töne als abstrakte Formen an die Wand.

Winner of the Crossword Puzzle Contest

Last week the Prom 2021 Committee drew a winner from the countless entries received for the Crossword Puzzle Contest. The winner is Lisa Wilde from Q1!!! Congratulations! A big thank you goes out to the designers of the puzzle Sive Chambers (Q3) and Hanna Holmberg (Q3), as well as all the contestants! We, the Prom 2021 Committee, hope you enjoyed expressing your school spirit while filling out the crossword puzzle!

We wish you a merry holiday season and a happy New Year! May the upcoming year be better than the last!

If you are in grade 13 and are still looking for a Christmas present for a friend, partner or parent, a ticket to the prom 2021 would be perfect! If you are interested, but don’t know how to go about buying a ticket, write us an email (Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein.).

For my CAS project I organised a week long Diversity Task Force event, the Diversity Task Force is dedicated to making our school a more inclusive, safe and welcoming place, regardless of gender identity, race or sexuality.  

Saying that, the purpose of this project is to begin breaking down the gender roles and norms that have been dictated by society. This event is taking place from the 16th to the 20th of November, we will be hanging up informative posters everyday of the week, this will be coupled with a themed competition , with different prizes everyday (details are on the posters). 

Seit dem Einsturz der Bekleidungsfabrik Rana Plaza (Bangladesh) im Jahr 2013, der 1135 Menschen in den Tod riss, veranstaltet die Nelson-Mandela-Schule jedes Jahr zum Gedenken während der internationalen Fashion Revolution Week im April Aktivitäten und Projekte zum Upcycling, um das Konsumverhalten bezüglich Kleidung und Mode zu verändern.