Bayfield High School German teacher Sarina Zinke yesterday took her group of year 11 German students to Vitalis, a new Health and Fitness studio which has recently opened in Dunedin.
Vitalis, uses Gravity Strength training machines which consist of an adjustable glide board and cable pulley system, and a person's own weight to achieve firm muscles, weight loss and to assist in rehabilitation.
Ms Zinke and fellow teacher Lynda Scott Araya enjoy their regular workouts there so much that Ms Zinke decided that it would be the perfect place to take her class so that they could experience German outside the classroom as the owner operator Mr Daniel Sela is German.
Asides from the safety instructions, Mr Sela spoke to the students in German throughout the 30 minute workout, and this provided an additional challenge to the punishing workout regime that he put the students through.
The students even were able to listen to German background music.
The girls used the machines first and giggles soon turned to puffing as they did their best to follow the instructions, sometimes forgetting the names of basic body parts or even confusing their left from the right.
Next, it was the boys' turn to sweat and Mr Sela raised their gliding boards to provide them with even more of a challenge.
At the end of the session, all of the students had a push up challenge, first facing the machines and holding onto the glideboard, and then upside down with their feet on the board.
All of the students came away from the session sweaty, happy, and proud that, on the whole, they had managed to follow the German language.
- Lynda Scott-Araya
