FISH – Frankfurt International School Herald The Student News Site of Frankfurt International School Sun, 16 Dec 2018 20:25:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 A Look Into Hanukkah Sun, 16 Dec 2018 20:25:43 +0000 December is a very stressful time of the year. It feels like all assignments are due at once, and to make things more stressful, there seem to be tests in every subject. But there is one thing that keeps everyone going — the fact that it’s holiday season. Everyone is counting down the days until they can finally relax and be stress-free. A few weeks to get away from everyone and be able to celebrate the holidays. But what exactly does this mean?


For me, the holiday season means celebrating Christmas with my family. Feeling joyful and giddy while opening presents, that have been patiently lying under the Christmas tree. Eating delicious plätzchen while listening to Christmas carols.


There are, however, other celebrations taking place at this time of year, such as Hanukkah. The first time I learned about Hanukkah was back in 2nd grade, when my friend’s father came to school to teach us a little more about this celebration. I was fascinated by the games we played, which were so different from my own culture. But what exactly is Hanukkah? And what does the word Hanukkah mean?


The Hebrew word Chanukah (pronounced: kha-nu-kah) means “dedication”, and is the name of the Jewish winter-time “festival of the lights”, and lasts for eight days.

Hanukkah started being celebrated back in the second century BCE. In this era, the people of Israel were forced to adopt Greek customs and beliefs, as the Holy Land was ruled by Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks). Because of this a small group of Jews, led by Juda and Maccabee, fought against and defeated one of the greatest armies of that time. They reclaimed the Holy Temple and rededicated it to G-d, which is their God. They lit the temple’s candelabrum and the oil that was supposed to last for one day, lasted for eight. This remarkable event had to be honored, and that is how Hanukkah was born.


Hanukkah starts on Kislev (the third month of the civil year, in the Hebrew calendar) and lasts for eight days. Families come together to celebrate; they light the menorah, (which is then placed by a window or doorway) play dreidel and receive gifts (gelt).


Menorah lighting:

The menorah lighting plays a central role in the celebration of Hanukkah. It has eight candles, and on the first night one is lit, then on the second night two, and by the end, all eight of them will be glowing.



The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top, with Hebrew letters on each side (shin, hey, gimel, and nun). If the dreidel lands on nun, you get nothing. Shin means you have to put something in. If it lands on hey, you get half the pot and gimel, the whole. Any number of players can play, and to begin with, everyone puts something (it can be money, nuts, raisins, etc.) into a pot. When the pot is empty or has only one piece left, all players add one piece again. The round is over when one player has all the pieces.



Gelt is traditionally money given to children on Hanukkah. However, there is also chocolate gelt.


In Israel, Hanukkah is a national holiday, and people decorate their homes, exchange gifts, and come together. It is a holiday that celebrates Jewish strengths, perseverance, and continuity.

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5 Tips For Planning the Perfect Vacation Tue, 20 Nov 2018 16:11:51 +0000 The holidays are just around the corner, so it’s vacation season! Everyone wants to have perfect memories of a trip abroad, but the truth is, a lot of the things people do while planning make this dream impossible. To help you out, here are five tips to remember while your vacation. 


1.  The Most Popular Attractions Are Not Always Worth it

I know, I know, it seems really tempting to go to the place that everyone recognizes. But trust me, there’s millions of other people just like you, trying to get a picture at that special place and getting disappointed when they realize it’s too crowded to enjoy anything. Instead, look for things that you know you will enjoy for sure, even if they aren’t as famous. 

2. Whatever the Public Transportation is, Use it

The best way to immerse yourself in a new city or country is to travel like everyone else is. You’ll get to see so much more of the place and the people that inhabit it, and you can learn so much about a country’s culture by observing the people who live there.

3. Don’t Overcrowd What You Want to do in a Day

Imagine the top three places you want to visit are all close to each other. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you can see them all in a day. Don’t do it! It’s more important to take your time wherever you go than to see a million things. Having a tight schedule of moving from attraction to attraction will just make you tired, stressed, and disappointed if you don’t get through everything. 

4. Block Out a Day for Shopping

Shopping is vacation kryptonite. You start out in one store in the morning, just browsing, and all of a sudden it’s 7 p.m. and you don’t know where the day went. To avoid this, make one day of your vacation a designated shopping day. That way, you don’t have to worry about shopping while you’re sightseeing and you can still have a good amount of time to figure out exactly what you want to buy.

5. Don’t Make a Daily Schedule

Perfectionists will hate this, and I know that because my own sister makes vacation itineraries, but daily schedules are 99% of the time doomed to fail. Instead, stick with a list of places you’d like to see during your vacation from most-excited-to-see to least, and figure out the dates and times for those places. That way, spending a little more or less time in one place or another won’t ruin your plans for the day.

With all that planning done, there’s only one thing left to do: go on your vacation! Have fun!

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FIS Internship Programme: What You Need to Know Sat, 03 Nov 2018 13:48:43 +0000 The internship program was recently announced during an extended homeroom session for the tenth and eleventh graders. This lead to a lot of ambitious students signing up and additionally created many confused students. What is an internship? What do you do in an internship? What are the benefits of an internship? These are the questions I have heard in the hallways and classrooms after this announcement was given. Hearing all these questions, it even made the students in the lower grades curious. To answer these pressing questions from our student community, I decided to write a compact summary of an internship.


An internship is defined by the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) as “a carefully monitored work or volunteer experience in which an individual has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience”. To put it more simply, an internship is an opportunity offered by an employer or company to potential employees, called interns, who are often high school or college students. Interns work at the firm for a fixed period of time, which can last from two weeks to two months. It can be either paid or voluntary.


Other than the fact that internships are a great asset in college applications, they also provide you with insight into a professional workplace. You usually choose an industry in which you are interested in and have an internship in a firm within that industry. Although this is recommended, many students also try to have internships in fields, where they aren’t very experienced in. This allows them to find their passions and experience something new. Having an internship in the firm, lets you get to know the professionals in the field and their everyday work. This can be done by shadowing a professional there and doing small tasks for them. If you become very close to them, you might even get to eat lunch with them and hear how they achieved this career. In conclusion, it gives you practical skills, workplace experience and greater knowledge of that industry.


This is where FIS internship program comes into play. When you take part in the internship programme at the school, you need to attend meetings in preparation. The meetings take part on Saturdays early in the morning. There are many guests from Accenture, a global management consulting and professional services firm, who help prepare you for your internship. The guests teach the students about internship applications, business etiquette. and digital navigation in the workplace. During the internship programme around December and January, Ms. Wood then sends you suggested firms based on the industry you are interested in. Most applications should be sent around January or February (sometimes the companies specify an exact date, but even if they do, it is usually within this time interval).


Having done this internship programme last year with my peers, I thought it was very rewarding and helpful. The guests from Accenture gave advice that was useful before and during my internship. While preparing for my internship was interesting, I also believe that it felt exciting to come to school and see all your friends in formal wear. Year after year, this programme allows students to experience a professional workplace and find their passions. It is clear that FIS really is a World of Opportunities.

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Cultural Recipe of November: Brigadeiro Fri, 02 Nov 2018 11:14:36 +0000 Made in 3 quick steps and with only 3 ingredients, brigadeiros (a.k.a Brazilian truffles) are an incredibly popular and easy to make Brazilian sweet. There are many variations of it: spoon brigadeiro which is soft and gooey, beijinho which is made with coconut, or even whisky brigadeiro. But none are more beloved (or delicious) than the traditional one.

When I think about brigadeiros, I think of my family, parties, and fun. Usually, when brigadeiros are served, you are surrounded by your family, your friends and it is a happy occasion. There is no children’s birthday party in Brazil without it. No family reunion without it. It’s a big part of our culture, but it started in quite a peculiar way.

As crazy as it sounds, the first brigadeiro wasn’t made with lots of love, by someone’s mom or for a birthday party. It was first made in 1945, for the presidential candidate Eduardo Gomes’ electoral campaign. Gomes was a brigadier in the army and was very popular amongst the ladies, his slogan even being “Vote no brigadeiro, que é bonito e solteiro.” This loosely translates to “Vote for the brigadier, who is good-looking and single.” Some of his very devoted supporters thought about making sweets to boost his campaign. This was a very challenging job though, due to the fact that this was in the post-war and there was an immense shortage of fresh milk and sugar. The solution was using condensed milk. It was then mixed with chocolate and butter and the brigadeiro was born. They were a huge success, despite the fact that Gomes ultimately lost the election. Today, they are still extremely popular in Brazil and around the world.


Ingredients (for 30 brigadeiros):

1 can of condensed milk

1 tablespoon of butter

4 tablespoons of powdered chocolate

1 pack of chocolate sprinkles



Step 1: Add condensed milk, butter and powdered to a big pot on low heat. Start mixing

Step 2: Keep mixing, until the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot anymore.

Step 3: Once it’s cooled down, put a little bit of butter on your hands, and start rolling small chunks of the brigadeiro into small balls.

Step 4: Roll them on the chocolate sprinkles, and put them in small, paper wrappers.


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Black Lives Matter: Hashtag to Organization Fri, 02 Nov 2018 10:47:23 +0000  


Five years ago, BlackLivesMatter was just a hashtag on Twitter about the death of Treyvon Martin by the hands of a police officer. Today, the movement has developed into a global organization that has been recognized and there have been more and more protests each year. What started as a few protests, turned into a movement and now has focused on influencing politics and policy. This movement focuses on the liberation and equal rights of the African-American community and stop systematic oppression that has been faced in America. The main core of the BlackLivesMatter movement is to prevent racial profiling, police brutality and racial inequality in the United States Legal Justice System.



The movement became recognized in the United States as protests broke out over the nation to get justice for Trayvon Martin. Later on, there was Michael Brown and Eric Green that were killed at the hands of a police officer. Even in the 2016 Presidential Election, there were Black Lives Matter activists who became involved in the election and encouraged all people to vote for Hillary Clinton. Despite all the unity, love, and education this movement stands for, there has been a lot of varied reactions. Soon after Black Lives Matter was formed, All Lives Matter was formed in response to Black Lives Matter. Which has caused a lot of controversy surrounding the movement and what it stands for.  In the history of the United States, there have been similar movements that never really finished. For example, the Black Power movement, Civil Rights movement, and the Black Feminist movement of the 1980’s and these movements are what inspired the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement because all of these movements meant well but were put on the back burner and racism was never really solved, it was silenced. This movement has transformed into a political and global organization and is now recognized in other parts of the world.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that Black Lives Matter created divisions which couldn’t be further from the truth, it unites the African-American community and it isn’t just African-Americans that join the protests and support the movements, there are all different types of races that join the movement and support it. The demonstrations that the Black Lives Matter organization participates in is meant to educate people and say that racism still exists, people are being murdered because of it and it is time to stand up for what is right. This movement isn’t about one against the other, it’s about unity and equality and the demonstrations might be uncomfortable to hear but in today’s day and age, they need to be seen and heard because being silent about an issue isn’t an option. Recently, a book has been turned into a movie and it is based on a real story.  ‘The Hate U Give’ by Angela Thomas, it touches on police brutality and racism as the main character, an African-American teenager,  watches her friend get shot by a police officer and everything around her changes and she starts to speak up for herself and her murdered friend. This book is another example of the intent of the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial profiling African-Americans face in America. If you think about it, if black lives really matter, why is there still systematic oppression? If black lives really matter, then AllLivesMatter wouldn’t be needed to respond to BlackLivesMatter. 

Overall, the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t about one versus the other, it is about unity, love, and liberation. The Black Lives Matter movement only wants equality, justice, and unity for the African-American community and in no way is saying one life is more valuable than others. So when you hear the words ‘Black Lives Matter’, understand it for what it is. It is an outcry to make a difference and prevent injustices, you can either support the movement and commit yourself to the social, systematic and economic liberation of African-Americans or you can choose to stand on the side but do not silence the words of people who want to make a difference and create a liberated world. 


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