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Concordia College becomes one of nine schools locally to offer German as a foreign language

Concordia College becomes one of nine schools locally to offer German as a foreign language

Concordia College Windhoek is now one of nine schools in Namibia and more than 2000 schools worldwide that provide German as a Foreign Language to more than 6000 learners with support from the ten-year-old global network.

The Goethe-Institut Namibia on 20 November welcomed Concordia College Windhoek to the PASCH (Schools: Partners for the Future) network.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Minister of Education, Art and Culture, Faustina Namutenya Caley explained that while every school is important, the ministry recommended Concordia for the PASCH programme because of its UNESCO affiliation and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through education.

Delivering her address, German Embassy in Windhoek Chargee d’Affaires, Ellen Gölz clarified how discussing recommendations with the ministry earlier this year was interrupted by the pandemic but despite the challenges, what they had envisioned was achieved.

“I remember when in February this year we had a meeting with Deputy Executive Director, Ms Edda Bohn and discussed possible candidates for the extension of the network. That the whole process to include the schools in the network could be completed in less than a year, and particularly in a year like this, is a living proof of the excellent cooperation between Germany and Namibia in education matters,” Gölz said.

Concordia has a total of 1,026 learners and Principal Mary Uanguta said the school has identified the benefits of learning more than one language.

“We believe that learning a variety of languages, of which one of them is German, have many cognitive benefits for the learners. People who speak more than one language have been proven to have improved memory, problem-solving and critical thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and have better listening skills. This is why at Concordia College we encourage learners to take learning other languages, including German, very seriously,” she said.

The German classroom at Concordia was renovated with more than a lick of fresh paint and is fitted with a touchscreen board, while an extension to the school library was converted into a PASCH-Room where learners and teachers have access to laptops and other educational resources.

“This a great teaching tool for us because it is possible and easier to apply multi-media pedagogies when helping learners experience more than understanding a foreign language,” said German teacher Jackey Tjikumise. She has over the years attended training in Germany and has admission to an annual German as a Foreign Language teachers’ conference in Namibia.

PASCH is an initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad, the Goethe-Institut, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Culture. The initiative supports schools all over the world that offer qualified German-language tuition by providing modern teaching materials, teacher training, student exchanges and scholarships.


 

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Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys