German teaching institutions in Qatar joined
hands to showcase the final exhibition of their 2014
language project at Sharq Village and Spa.
By Umer Nangiana
The idea was to give the students what they like best, the fairytales. In the process they learned the language and exhibited their interest and command in it through art and culture besides theatrical performances based on the fairytales’ themes.
A network of German teaching institutions in Qatar, under the umbrella of the German Embassy in Doha, recently organised the final exhibition of their 2014 language project at Sharq Village and Spa. The German International School & Kindergarten Doha, The German Language Center and the Tariq bin Ziyad Independent School Doha have been working on the project for the last two months.
During the course of the project, students from Germany, Qatar and many other nationalities came together to give vent to their creative instincts besides experiencing the cultural diversity and joy of the language.
The final exhibition gathered everyone, including the students’ parents, involved in the project to witness and appreciate demonstrations of creative writing, artworks and performances realised in the context of the fairytales project. Ambassador of Germany to Qatar, Angelika Renate Storz-Chakarji, was present at the occasion.
“The idea of this event was to show the results which have been accumulated over the period of these last two months and also to get together all the people involved to acknowledge their hard work. It was also to provide them with the opportunity to have an exchange with other languages and cultures,” said Brigit Graumann, Deputy Director, German Language Centre, while talking to Community.
The project’s idea, she said, was to get to know the tradition of German fairytales and expand it to other cultures. “At the language centre we have a lot of learners from other cultures particularly from Arab countries, Qatar especially, and they all bring their fairytale heritage,” added Graumann.
The project revolved around the notion of having a dialogue between the cultures besides learning about the fairytales through an exchange of cultures.
Most children participating in the project came from German kindergarten and German International School besides from the young learners in the language institute. The project helped them learn cultures not only through German language, which was of course a part of it, but also through art, theatre and drama.
The students enthralled the audience with their drama and theatre skills besides the showcase of their artistic talents.
“For the young learners, and for adults as well, we co-operated with the Qatari partner school, which is the Tariq bin Ziyad Independent School for Boys, located to close to the German school. So there have been exchanges between students, for example, the visit of the Heritage Collection and the Qatar National Library, particularly on the topic of Alif Laila, the 1001 Nights,” said Graumann.
The visits were aimed at not only collecting information but also to get the two groups together, the Qatar and the German schools. The language centre, in fact, has the role to coordinate between different institutions, she added.
“We, the Learning Centre are related to the Goethe Institute in Abu Dhabi, which is officially in charge of the partner schools. But they are obviously not here so it is our task to take care of the partner schools,” said the deputy director of the Learning Centre.
Based on their ages, children were made to work with multiple mediums. There have been pin points, cuttings, use of text and pictures, models and moulds. The idea was for the children to make the story live. It was not just to hear the stories but also to see and “then make them (children) talk again about it again, and in the process learning the language as well,” said Graumann.
She said it is the attraction of the language. The language used in fairytales is sweet and nice language so it was important to bring it forward. “For the older children, there were not just sweet fairytales. For instance, there was one teacher she did criminal fairytale story as well, using the main characters of fairytales and then to have the plot based on and playing with the stereotypes,” said the language centre’s deputy director.
She said the centre has also put together a calendar, based on the results of the project, which is being sold at the school to cover some of the cost that they had on the project besides providing for education.
She also thanked Sharq Village and Spa for their co-operation in hosting the exhibition where the guests had a joyful evening with lovely presentations and proud children, parents and teachers, in the presence of the German ambassador.
GRAND FINALE: Children presenting a theatrical performance at the final exhibition.
