Background
How it all started
The Goethe-Institut launched Project Engage in Autumn 2005 as a long-term, sustainable partnership initiative aimed at developing stronger links with its partners in the education and business sectors. The project has now on account of its long-term success been renamed 'Engage with German'.
Objective
To support and provide the education sector with reasons why learning languages (and German, specifically) is vital to the national curriculum.
Engage Aims:
- Raise awareness of the German culture and language – and project a positive, modern image.
- Raise awareness and involvement of businesses and enable direct access to a live and receptive audience through the Cluster Model, which concentrates on the – some 200+ – specialist languages colleges in the UK and which provide the main conduit for business involvement. Business support is encouraged – both from a financial and resource perspective and this is facilitated through Sponsorship and encouraging Direct Contact with the local school as described on the Business page. Also refer to Case Studies.
- Link closely with partner Agencies, such as CiLT – and the Regional Language Networks, Routes into Languages, Links into Languages, BITC, IEBE, Young Enterprise and those agencies which recognise languages as an essential life-skill. Importantly, Project Engage was endorsed by the Department for Education and Science (DfES) in 2005
