Thanks to funding from the Gothe Institute, students in David Blumerg’s German classes viewed  the film Lauf Junge Lauf, or Run Boy Run, at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, on January 30.

The movie is about a Jewish child, named Srulik, who escapes from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II.

“It is interesting that in this film, the filmmaker was German, and there is some German, but the film was mostly Polish,” Blumberg said. “He wanted to make a film about this Polish boy, who escapes from the Warsaw ghetto. He wanted to make it in the original language. In Hollywood, they will often create these films that are set in a historical time, but they are not accurate because the people are speaking English. He wanted to be really true to the story.”

According to Blumberg, the entire trip was funded by the Gothe Institute, which sponsors global German language studies. “The Gothe Institute is an international organization, funded by the German government, and they have language and culture schools around the world. There is an office in San Francisco, and they have funded many of our field trips as long as I have been teaching German here,” he said.

Blumberg said that the Gothe Institute was especially helpful on this field trip. “Every aspect of this field trip was funded by the Gothe Institute. They paid for the screening of the film at the Castro movie theater. They paid for our lunch for 500 kids; over 100 were from Campo. They also gave us a $500 check to pay for our transportation. There was even a raffle, and students could get raffle tickets online, after the screening. One of the students won a professional soccer jersey at the raffle,” he said.

Sophomore Chris Felming said, “I think that it is awesome how the whole trip was paid for. It is really great how they are getting students out to these events.”

According to Blumberg, field trips reinforce both the German language learning and understanding of world history. “It is really valuable to see a German film, not only for the language, but for German culture. For this film that we saw, it was a really important chapter in Germany’s history, a pretty ugly chapter. It dealt with the Nazi period, but it is really important that we do not forget what happened during this period,” he said.

“I enjoyed this movie a lot. I thought that it was a pretty good film. It really brought a wide ray of emotions,” Sophomore Evan Riedel said.

Blumberg said that it is important that students are exposed to a variety of German speakers. “It can become one-sided if the only person you ever hear speaking fluently is your teacher. Students get used to the way teachers speak. Which is great, as they will pretty much understand everything that I say. Sometimes it can throw them off when someone else speaks, and they have their own way of saying things,” he said.

According to Blumberg, students were also allowed to ask questions of the director after the screening. “He was a really open individual. He likes talking with kids, and I was able to talk with him personally. He was very friendly, and was interested in the questions that we had,” he said.

Fleming said the field trips like this one are what make his world language course enjoyable. “They are some of the most fun field trips that I have been on in my entire life. They are different than other field trips for school, such as going to see a movie, or going to a concert,” he said.