Longtime friend and partner of the Goethe-Institut Washington, Dr. Mohamed Esa, receives the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
by Pepe Gomez
Dr. Esa received this honor in recognition of his contributions to promoting the German language. In addition to his tireless work as a German professor and department head, Dr. Esa also finds the time to serve on the board of many service and professional organizations, such as the German Society of Maryland, the North Eastern Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) and the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), to name just a few. He also regularly presents papers and workshops at regional, national and international professional conferences on topics as diverse as “Islam and Muslims in Europe," "Rammstein in the German Classroom," "Rap Music and Fairy Tales" and "Homodigitalis and iPodomeniacs: Student-Produced Film Projects."
Originally conceived of by Dr. Esa in 1995, the German-American Day celebration hosted by McDaniel College each October regularly draws 1000+ area high school German students to campus for a day of workshops, games, musical performances and fun, focusing on the German language and the cultures of German-speaking countries. The Goethe-Institut Washington has worked closely with Dr. Esa for many years, organizing the annual joint AATG-Goethe-Institut Fall Immersion Weekend for area German teachers.
Ambassador Klaus Scharioth presented the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Dr. Mohamed Esa on Monday, 12 October 2009.
