In his 13 years as a teacher at the Joseph-Haydn-Realgymnasium, where 95 percent of the children have a migration background, Christoph Heher has heard many extraordinary stories. Last year he started the podcast project “Only Three Things” in his free time.
The title says it all. The interlocutors each bring something with them that stands for the past, present and future. For example, Tala, a student who came to Vienna six years ago, had a notebook with her. “I bought it in Syria and I wanted to take it with me and write down the route and everything, but unfortunately nothing came of it,” explained the girl.
Podcast regarding migrants and teachers
The teacher Christoph Heher invites a student every month to discuss topics that concern young people. These include topics such as origin, family and flight. The podcast is titled “Just Three Things”.
Break down clichés and tell what you have experienced
When her German teacher asked her if she would like to tell her story in the podcast, Tala didn’t think twice. She fled Syria with her parents when she was ten. “A lot of people may not yet know exactly what’s going on, what people are experiencing and the difficulties they’re having,” Tala said.
Arghavan, another student, is from Iran. In the podcast she mainly talks regarding her two passions – film and music. Like her teacher, she finds multiculturalism in Vienna particularly exciting. “Vienna is very international, there are a lot of people from different backgrounds, and I think that’s a good thing. I like that – because you also learn from it,” explained Arghavan.
“I had the feeling that more people should hear what students still have to deal with. Whatever else they have in mind, while we only ask them to take school exams and everything else,” says Heher regarding his idea. His goals are to break down clichés and to offer young people a platform to tell what they have experienced. A new episode of the podcast appears every month, always with a different student as a guest.