Work-Shadowing Program: Three visitors from Great Britain

Billey Chi, Riya Deshmukh and Edward Emmett took the chance to do an internship in Germany. The internship was part of the 'Work-Shadowing Program' offered for 16- and 17- year-old Brits by the 'Goethe Institute', a cultural institute located in Schwäbisch Hall. This year, 23 young men and women took the opportunity to experience german culture. The internship should give an impression of how life and work is in Germany, and so the three trainees got to see manufacturing, sales and marketing as well as the service department of FIMA Maschinenbau GmbH. After giving them an overview about the departments' tasks and role within the company, they supported the department with their daily work. It didn't take long until the young people enhanced their vocabulary with specific technical words like 'schweißen' (welding) or 'fräsen' (milling). The hands-on experience in the training shop was one of their favorites, working together with the german apprentices.

Besides the internship in an organization or company, the daily schedule which the Goethe institute in Schwäbisch Hall designed for the british students was complemented by many other activities which aimed to give them an understanding of the german culture. Alongside visiting various sights in and around Schwäbisch Hall, like for example the Würth art gallery or the open air museum in Wackershofen, they tried german food for dinner. The students' favorite dishes were 'Schnitzel' and 'Kartoffelsalat'. Overall the youths were grateful for the educational week in Germany and for having the chance to improve their language skills and getting to know german culture better. FIMA employees were pleasantly surprised by the students' language skills and their openness and courage to take such an opportunity at their age.