A brief exchange between Liudmyla Mashkova and her pupils, in which she asks them in German to open a window because the classroom is stuffy, illustrates how far they have come. “Ja klar,” Artur Ivanov responds in the same language, and there’s a collective sigh of relief as everyone enjoys the fresh breeze.
The secondary school teacher, from Kyiv, has been leading a class of Ukrainian students, aged 12 to 17, since April. They are in Potsdam, a German city just west of Berlin, where the Helmholtz Gymnasium, or secondary school, has given them space and resources.
