Member Event Fund Report: IH DaF Training Days

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“GLS/IH Berlin was very happy to welcome so many colleagues from all over Europe (Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Czech Republic). We enjoyed the workshops, the discussions nad the exchange of information very much.”

Approximately 75 teachers and trainers from 8 countries met for the IH DaF Training Days 2018 in Berlin. In 17 workshops a large variety of topics were discussed.

In his opening presentation, Stefan Deinzer (Hueber Verlag) talked about neurological basis of learning and ways of using these insights for teaching.

Irmgard Geyer (Klett-Langenscheidt) gave a talk about writing, especially concerning the preparation of exams like telc, TestDaF and the Goethe Institute certificates.

Several workshops were concerned with ways of using digital media in language lessons. Karen Kölling (Cornelsen) talked about “Learning and Teaching in the Future”. She presented a variety of tools and pointed out how to integrate them in teaching. Sebastian Nothhelfer (GLS / IH Berlin) offered two practical workshops about the use of QR codes and about the platform learningApps.org.

Even if digital media is becoming more and more an essential part of teaching, traditional tools are still useful. Rahel Meyer (IH Baden) offered some very great ways of using flipcharts.

The special needs of young learners were the subject of Natalie Miller’s workshop (GLS / IH Berlin). She offered a wide range of activities to motivate this special target group.

Another special target group are French-speaking students from Switzerland. Their specific problems were addressed by Doris Backhoff (GLS / IH Berlin).

In the workshop of Christina Schmidinger (GLS /IH Berlin), the participants learnt how to create authentic contexts and situations to introduce grammar.

Jana Kirchberger (GLS / IH Berlin) talked about useful phrases and how to enable learners to use them in an effective manner.

Other topics were “Phonetics” (Karin Kölling, Cornelsen), “Inclusion” (Annette Igel, IH World), Music in Teaching German as a Foreign Language” (Stefan Deinzer, Hueber), “Minimal Resources”(Katarina Witt, IH Köln)  and “A Picture Speaks more than a Thousand Words  – Pictures in German as a Foreign Language (Marielle Auriga and Eva Dvorak, IH Heidelberg).