Lynne Brackley

I’m Lynne Brackley and I’ve worked all my life as a freelancer in the arts and education, often in Germany.

I love Germany and its language and I feel very privileged to have been adopted by Goethe-Institut London to run projects and activities with young people. From my first contract in the early 1990s directing a group of Exeter school students in a film to my more recent trips to Schwäbisch Hall with young people for work shadowing, I have had the best time. I’ve worked with some great colleagues and I owe a particular debt of thanks to the amazing Karl Pfeiffer who always supported my sometimes unconventional approaches and made me feel like an honorary German.

When the men’s football World Cup was held in Germany in 2006, Karl Pfeiffer, Katya Wostradowski and I ran a ‘German for Football fans’ course at the institute. With the aim of breaking down barriers and stereotypes, we set up model football pitches, football accessory stalls, role plays and – of course – an offside rule demonstration/discussion with German condiment bottles. We just wanted to get people talking and we attracted quite a bit of media attention. It felt like press people outnumbered students in some of the classes! The chant, Der Schiri braucht einen Blindenhund appeared in practically every report, along with Fūnf zu eins! In the end, our nations were united in defeat (OK, one of us did take third place and it wasn’t England). I hope that those who went to Germany in 2006 had some kind words for their hosts. And the referees!