Munich Supercrew rock the North East!

Taking part in the workshop and concert were Great Park Academy (hosts) and Gosforth Academy (Newcastle), Yarm School (Stockton), Normanby Outwood Academy (Middlesbrough) and Ponteland High School (Northumberland). Young people had a warm up workshop with the band, helping them learn the rhythms and words to the great songs that were then performed in an interactive, high energy concert with the Munich Supercrew. All the pupils and teachers received t-shirts and had lots of fun singing and dancing along with the music – and learned how to rap in German!

Watch a short film about the concert and workshop by playing the film opposite or by clicking here.

This was a fantastic way to see students living language and it being used in a real context. We’ve had such a great time. The students and staff have absolutely loved it. We’ve had everyone up singing, dancing. Everyone has been involved.

Helen Gardiner, Head of Languages at Great Park Academy, Newcastle

We attended the event with 26 Y9 students who were really inspired and excited by the band and the concert. I have been using the songs in lessons and the students are singing and clapping along. It’s a great joy and very inspirational. Many thanks for organising this event.

Angelika Schneider, Teacher of German at Gosforth Academy, Newcastle

Our concerts are always a big party. .. we start working with melody and rhythms and if you’ve got this, you only have to put the words in it… it is easy to learn language with music.

Meeting all those pupils and how we act together, how the complete vibe is going on in the workshop or concert, to see that it works every time and comes together, is the best thing!

Michie, Singer with Munich Supercrew

Watch: Michie Hahn (singer), Helen Gardiner (Great Park Academy) and pupils, Sofia and Yassin talk about the excitement of the event, with film from the concert.

Watch: Andrea Pfeil (Goethe-Institut UK) and Helen Gardiner (Great Park Academy) talk about the Festival and the opportunities it provides to inspire language learning.

Carl Amadeus, Basti, Michie, Kurt, Stevie and Shirin – the Munich Supercrew getting ready for the event at Great Park Academy

Munich Supercrew is a unique concept that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. We write lyrics that are very easy to understand for people who don’t know any German. I started learning German when I was ten. I came to Germany as an immigrant child and I couldn’t speak German. I just had a grammar book. When I grew up I knew that we need to provide children with a concept that’s fun and makes them love the language. That’s why we came up with the Munich Supercrew.

I think it’s the best way to get people to feel the magic of the language – through culture and humour. We’ve had so much feedback from children all over the world writing to us that they love our songs, that they keep singing them every day. What’s also unique with our songs is that they come with a whole lot of material for the teachers to use in their lessons at school. So the fun part is for the children… some music to dance to and to sing along with and then the teachers have lots of exercises and materials that they can use in their lessons.

Shirin – Lyricist, music video producer, creator of education materials, film and photography with Munich Supercrew

I think the Festival of Languages is an amazing opportunity to celebrate all languages. The Goethe Institute fosters all cultural encounters and we love to support initiatives, especially grass roots initiatives in cities to promote language learning

I think it’s fantastic to involve all the students to practice day to day language with music. So all the students were able to sing along to practice words they’ve already learned, but also learn new words and see how language comes to life.

I think today’s event was a fantastic opportunity for students to listen to the language, but at the same time to get some cultural knowledge about Munich, about musicians, about hobbies, about all the things we do in our day to day lives and it connects students and it connects our different worlds. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity to use music and other events to help young people realise how important languages are.

Andrea Pfeil, Deputy Director and Head of Language at Goethe-Institut UK

What a brilliant way to start our live Festival events. The Munich Supercrew were absolutely fantastic. They engaged the young people immediately and made the workshop and the concert so much fun. Even pupils who didn’t speak any German were able to participate fully – that is music and education in action!

We were really privileged to work with Goethe-Institut UK and the band to include the North East as part of their UK-tour and are so grateful to everyone involved for making this happen.

We are grateful to Helen and the team at Great Park Academy, who hosted the event and welcomed the band and schools from the region to their school. I also want to thank Gareth Miller and Georgina from Newcastle Music Service and Sarah Edgar from Newcastle City Council, who supported the Festival in preparing and putting this event on and B7 videographers, who filmed the event and interviewed participants – we will have a short filmed case study available soon to share.

Finally, a huge thank you to all the young people who engaged so enthusiastically and I hope that they consider learning German or continuing with German and other languages as they progress through school.

Declan Baharini, Festival Co-ordinator and Chief Executive Officer, International Newcastle