Goethe Institute Sample Clauses

Goethe Institute. The Goethe Institute has also reaffirmed the high level of interest in the German language in Ghana. According to the Head of the Language Department, 750 A1-level exams are taken at the institute annually – “this makes us the record holder in the whole region”. While the desire to work in Germany is among the motivations for students who take this exam, the most common motivation is marriage or family reunification in Germany. At this initial A1 stage, more female than male students are taking the course with around 60 percent of the participants being female. Furthermore, at the A2 level, an equal number of males and females participate, and from B1 onwards more males are taking the exams. According to the respondent at the Goethe institute, B1 would be the minimum requirement for students to participate in vocational training in Germany— although B2 may be preferred. Currently, B1 courses at the Goethe Institute are offered four times a year, with 10 students in each course. The number of B1 exams administered is significantly higher with 160 per year, which is due to the fact that some of the students have studied German independently or with private tutors. The Head of the Language Department attested to Ghanaians’ proclivity for languages – which is not surprising in a country with more than 80 official languages, where it is normal for children to speak three languages, with many adults speaking five or more languages. The Goethe institute also oversees the above-mentioned XXXXX programme for secondary schools, and usually offers six annual stipends for students to go to Germany; in 2020, these had to be changed to online programmes. Naturally, the institute would like to expand German training at the secondary education level, but has observed that other languages, in particular Chinese, are being given higher priority. Due to the limited pool of teachers to choose from, the Goethe Institute employs some creative approaches to recruit trainers – including recruiting promising students as volunteer trainers or cooperating with former migrants who have returned from Germany and may want to give back to the community. The institute would be very open for cooperation in vocational training, and has previous experience with such partnerships, including providing training for staff of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (Interview AHK Ghana, December 2020). When asked about the demand for a skills partnership program, the respondent s...