Seminar on updating language skills of teachers

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 16

The two-day international symposium on “Inter-culturalism in the context of German speaking countries” was inaugurated by Prof AS Brar, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), here today.

The symposium is being jointly organized by The Indo-German Teachers Association (InDaf) in collaboration with Goethe Institute, New Delhi, and the Department of Foreign Languages, GNDU.

As many as 70 teachers of German from various institutes of North India as well as a few from neighbouring country of Pakistan are participating in the seminar.

In his inaugural address, Prof Brar felicitated teachers on behalf of the university. Laying emphasis on the ever-increasing significance of foreign languages in the current global scenario, he said it was one of the best modes of ensuring eternal peace in the world. The cultural exchange amongst the people of diverse nationalities, ethnicities, races, geographical and linguistic backgrounds would have to be strengthened to promote world without conflict, he added.

He said, “The intelligentsia cutting across all the barriers will have to take lead in this regard. There is no better mode to establish rapport amongst various cultures than through the languages.”

Puneet Kaur, vice-president, InDaf, briefed the gathering about the academic and other activities undertaken by the association to promote German as a foreign language amongst the younger generation.

Claudia Maul, director, regional languages (South Asia), Goethe Institute, New Delhi, emphasized on improvement of pedagogical skills of foreign language teachers in the country, which in her view needs to be further refined.

She urged universities to take the lead in this regard to overcome this handicap and equip teachers with the latest pedagogical skills.

Carl-Jochen Dill, head, education services, Goethe Institute, New Delhi, appraised the participants’ about opportunities of higher education at par with the global standards in Germany.

Describing German educational institutes as one of the major destinations for youth of the world, he exhorted the participants to make optimum use of it.

He also announced to set up a prize for the best German teacher in the country in the near future.

Faculty members of the university, including Prof Gurpreet Kaur, head, Department of Music, Prof Sukhdev Singh, Department of English, Dr Manjinder Singh, School of Punjabi Studies, Harkamaljit Singh, Department of Food Technology, research scholars from the Sanskrit Department and many students participated in the seminar.

Dr Mohan Kumar, Head, Department of Foreign Languages, proposed a vote of thanks.