Lessons of a Dream is a German drama film directed by Sebastian Grobler, loosely based on the life of late-19th-century football pioneer Konrad Koch. In the film, Koch is one of the first English teachers in the German Empire, in Braunschweig. He introduces his students to the new sport of football, completely unknown outside of England at the time, to get them interested in English culture and language. In the film, Koch's liberal teaching methods upset his conservative colleagues, the students' parents, and local dignitaries.

Plot

In 1874, fresh Oxford graduate Konrad Koch is hired by headmaster Prof. Gustav Merfeld to teach English at the strictly run German boys school of Braunschweig. Everything the boys know about England and its culture are common prejudices handed down from their teachers and parents. The boys, led by class prefect Felix, habitually bully the diminutive Joost, whose mother is a proletarian, a social class deemed unfit for secondary education.