Every year in India, German Teacher Conferences are held in various parts of the country. These conferences bring together German teachers from schools, universities, colleges, and other institutions to update their knowledge of foreign language teaching methodologies, as well as their understanding of the culture and civilization of German-speaking countries.
These conferences are organised by the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with the Indian German Teachers' Association, InDaF.
In cooperation with the Indo-German Teachers' Association InDaF we are organized the German Teachers' Conference for teachers from North India and Nepal from 28.07. to 30.07.2023.
Around 270 German teachers from North-India and Nepal participated in our annual German teachers' conference (DLT) from 28.07. to 30.07.2023. This conference was, as every year, a cooperation of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi and the Indian German Teachers' Association InDaF. This year the conference once again was held in a hybrid format. All German teachers in North India and Nepal were invited and encouraged to participate.
Our topic for the conference this year was: "DeutschSoft – Soft-Skills for German Teachers."
In addition to didactic knowledge and expertise in the use of language, teachers today also need other competencies, the so-called Soft-Skills. Strong communication skills, intercultural competence, the ability to work in a team, empathy, creativity, media competence and much more is required. It is precisely these "atypical" topics, which are often neglected in teacher training, that we wanted to address at this years' DLT.
Through informative lectures, interactive workshops and other activities we wanted to explore this topic together with you. Of course, we also informed teachers about the current programmes and activities of the Goethe-Institut and InDaF like German courses and advanced training seminars in India and Germany. In addition, there was also a colorful cultural program and other activities.
On Friday, 28.07.2023, we launched the conference online. On Saturday, the programme was held in presence for all participants at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Bhikaji Cama Place. On Sunday, we offered additional sessions for selected teachers at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi.
At the opening, Marcel Hinderer, qualified pedagogue and speech educator, gave a lecture on the topic "Skilling me softly - Why we actually talk about soft skills". You can download the lecture here:
Dr. Alexandra Mittler, Director Language Programmes South Asia and Deputy Director Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi, presented the current programmes offered by Goethe-Institut.
As representative for the Swiss Embassy Simon Sevan Schäfer, Second Secretary, Head of Culture, Human Security and Legal Affairs Section, joined our opening ceremony.
We were happy to have Rolf Hermann, Swiss Author, present at the conference to read from his book "Flüchtiges Zuhause" and present a Spoken-Word text in his regional swiss dialect. We would like to thank the Swiss Art Counsil Pro Helvetia and the Embassy of Switzerland in India and Bhutan.
In addition to an interesting programme during the opening, teachers were able to participate in over 20 workshops and lectures and immerse themselves in various topics.
We would like to thank all the speakers, the German Embassy, the DAAD, the University of Cologne, the FU Berlin, the RWTH Aachen, the University of Heidelberg, Goyal Publishers, Langers, Klett, Hueber, Cornelsen, the ZfA and all those involved in making our conference a success.
