Launch of the Diploma Programme „Teaching German as a Foreign Language“
The diploma programme „Teaching German as a Foreign Language” has been launched in the end of September 2010. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is offering this programme via the distance learning mode through their Indian wide network. The programme has been jointly developed with the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and the University of Vienna.
There is a great demand to offer a nationwide professional German teacher training in India. Through the PASCH-initiative (Schools: Partners for the Future) Indian students of selected schools were given the attractive opportunity to learn the German language at an early stage and to get an insight into the German culture. This created great interest among young people, India however lacks well-trained German teachers.
The diploma programme “Teaching German as a Foreign Language” is the first German teacher training for the secondary level in India and is very well attended. In the first year (2010) already more than 300 students signed up for this new study programme. The training takes place at six different locations in India: Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune.
The diploma programme consists of four courses with different emphases. Courses 1-3 focus on didactics and methodology in an intercultural context, working with large groups, German culture and civilization and the teaching of German grammar and vocabulary. Whereas courses 1-3 provide a thematic input, course 4 will focus on practical teaching experience. Students will have to prepare and complete several sessions of classroom teachings and thus gain valuable practical teaching experience.
Despite the fact that it’s a distant learning program, students have the opportunity to engage in personal interaction . The so-called contact classes form an integral part of the diploma programme, since they will give the students the chance to speak German, to form groups of learners, to share experiences among themselves and with the tutors, and to build a network of future German teachers in India. The Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan has also launched an internet platform which ensures the online -availability of study material. This platform aims to facilitate the communication between the students and the tutors and thus forms a virtual classroom.
For more information on the diploma programme "Teaching German as a Foreign Language", please contact the language department at +91 9823234624 or send an e-mail to Dusmanta.Chakra@pune.goethe.org
