German DAF/DAZ Conference 2019

On March 11 & 12, the School of Applied Languages and Humanities (SAHL) held its first international conference at the German Jordanian University (GJU) in Madaba. The conference represents a global network of 20 countries that place high importance on German as Foreign Language and as a Second Language (DAF/ DAZ).

This conference was under the patronage of Prof. Dr.Manar Fayyad, President of the German Jordanian University, and funded by the university. Among the attendees and participants were the Germany Embassy, German Exchange Service (DAAD), Goethe Institute, and representatives from partner German Universities, German teachers and Master's DAF students.

With around 100 attendees, SAHL has successfully organized an excellent conference with keynote speakers and leading professors in the field of German as a Foreign Language: Prof. Karin Aguado/Universitat Kassel, Prof. Karin Kleppin/Ruhr Universitat Bochum, Prof. Kathrin Siebold/ Phillips Univesritat Marburg, and Prof. Jorge Roche/ Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen.

Moreover, their dedicated work in the DAF field together with their expertise and knowledge has been imprinted and practiced by many of the teachers and students at GJU and other German universities and institutes in the world.

Furthermore, the representatives from the 20 countries were able to present their unique views on teaching German and their local perspectives in this field.

As Prof. Dr. Fayyad said, "the German dimension is one of the cornerstones of GJU and the DAF program at the School of Applied Humanities and Languages and the core of the German development of GJU. Being the only program of its kind in the Kingdom, it has provided the university but also the region with highly qualified German teachers while functioning as the knowledge hub for teaching professionals".

In addition, the outcome of this conference shall be in the form of a publication published by GJU with a selected number of papers from the conference. As a result, this puts the participants in the focus of international research.

Hence, the conference strengthens GJU's place on the international DAF agenda and its outcome has far more exceeded expectations. To see its graduates and students receive international recognition among the distinguished scholars is what GJU stands for in terms of providing high- quality education that reflects its mission to advance Jordan and the region.

Lastly, this conference is the milestone for many conferences to come that will be incorporated as one of the primary contributors in improving the future teaching research trends in DAF/DAZ in the international research environment.