2017
Each year, pupils of all 9th grade classes at Johann-Winklhofer-Realschule in Landsberg work for three weeks in groups of three and four on a project presentation that replaces a test in the subject German. The teams are allowed to select a topic from a selection offered by their teachers. In this subject, the students also receive an oral grade.

The highlight is the “Best of Project Presentation Evening”, during which the best seven groups present their results to a large audience.

Around 200 guests attended. These included 9th grade students who wanted to see the results of their classmates again, many 8th grade students who wished to see what awaits them the following year, and parents who came to see what their children had achieved. Representatives from the team at the Augsburg-based training, coaching and seminar company, 360 Kompetenz, who headed the presentation training, also took up the invitation to see and hear the results from the rhetoric seminar.

The costs for the presentation training were assumed by The Frank Hirschvogel Foundation.

2015
A project presentation is held by all 9th grade students at a certain type of high school (Realschule) in Bavaria. At Johann-Winklhofer-Realschule in Landsberg am Lech, this presentation replaces a test in the subject German. For four weeks, the pupils work in small groups on a topic which they select themselves and which they then need to present in front of the whole class.

At the beginning of the project phase in the 2014/2015 academic year, trainers from the Augsburg-based training, coaching and seminar company, 360 Kompetenz, came to the school and trained all 250 pupils of the 9th grade for one day per class in the areas of rhetoric and presentation techniques. The pupils practiced how to stand, what to do with their hands, how to use their voice effectively and how important eye contact is during a presentation. Besides this, they discussed how to structure a presentation and how to use various media.

The best six teams then had the opportunity to hold their presentation in front of the public. This whole project involved a lot of work for the students. However, they all tackled it with great motivation. And they held their presentations in a creative, entertaining way using lots of different media. The presentations covered German literary history and included brief acting performances. Sensitive historical topics such as World War One and the Holocaust were very professionally prepared. And technical topics were also covered. One group dealt with the combustion engine, while another presented the future of a car driven by hydrogen.

The Frank Hirschvogel Foundation was glad to provide financial support to the project.