Amman- 2 January 2019
Universität Bremen was hosting the members of the DaF Network on 20th and 21st of December 2018 in the wintry north of Germany. Prof. Claudia Harsch, Professor for Language teaching and Language Learning at Universität Bremen and also the Director of the Fremdsprachenzentrum der Hochschulen im Land Bremen presented her Foreign language center to the participants.
Followed by Dr. Dorothea Jecht, Director of the German Language Center (GLC) at GJU who informed the network members about recent updates and changes at GLC such as further opportunities for personel development and research for GLC staff at any German partner university and its language centers in particular. About 50% of the GLC teachers graduated with a MA DaF from GLC, others applied from third countries or Germany (recruited as native speakers).
The network meeting aimed to discuss further developments within the Master DaF at GJU and
the German language center so two groups were built focussing on their respective topics in parallel workshop sessions. Results were presented to the audience by Dr. Gerhard Jaiser stating that his Master DaF needs a preparation course for students as their Bachelor level of linguistic and technical skills is not sufficient yet.
It was also decided that the Bachelor study German/English for Business and Communication (GEBC) must be included in the network and a GJU competence center "German in the MENA-Region" should be established. Dr. Jecht summarized the results of her language center group discussion and emphasized the aim of a closer collaboration and integration of staff and students into the language centers in Germany.
Test development, certified traineeships and self-lern consultation can be jointly elaborated. All in all the second network meeting „Deutsch als Fremdsprache (DaF)“ was well mapped-out as important benchmark decisions have been made. The next network meeting 2019 will take place at Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg.
