国际英语新闻:Merkel resumes election campaign, teaching history class in school

BERLIN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel resumed her election campaign from her summer break in the Alps by filling in as a school history teacher on Tuesday, which marked the 52nd anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall.

"It was 1961, the same year I started school," she said at the Heinrich Schliemann secondary school in east Berlin, sharing her personal experience with excited students of the day when the border was closed.

Merkel is the first chancellor who grew up in the then East Germany.

It was her first public apperance after returning from her holiday, indicating that the final phase of the election campaign has started in earnest with less than six weeks to go until the September 22nd vote.

Recent surveys have showed that Merkel's coalition government has enough support to win a governing majority in September's election when she will seek a third term as chancellor.

A recent poll issued for state broadcaster ARD showed a 68-percent approval rating for Merkel, meaning that she is the most popular politician in Germany.

Merkel's domestic popularity owes much to sticking to principles in dealing with the eurozone debt crisis, including pressing indebted eurozone members to carry out austerity measures and reforms.

Gravity-defying German economic performance during the crisis also helped to boost support for the Merkel administration.