From 23rd to 25th October, 2019, Penza State University hosted events under the international project called “German step (S-A-G)” – days of German-speaking countries. The project was initiated by Interregional Association of German Language School and University Teachers, which offered the University to act as a platform for conducting such a large-scale event.

International experts Maria Anna Hartmann-Widmer (Switzerland), Clemens Tonsern (Austria), and Martin Harold (Germany) conducted workshops for 60 school and university teachers of the German language from Penza and the Penza Region. Professor Manfred Peters (Belgium) delivered open lectures for students of the Faculty of History, Languages and Literature. Irina Korneva (Deutsche Welle, Germany) presented projects by the media company Deutsche Welle on teaching and learning German. Tobias Studemann, official representative of Freie Universität Berlin in Moscow (Germany) told the students and schoolchildren about the conditions of entering German universities, and gave practical recommendations on how to prepare Research Proposal and how to find a research partner in Germany.

Besides, at the meeting with O.P. Surina, Director of the Institute of Teacher Education, E.Yu. Aleshina, Head of Department “Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages”, T.A. Razuvaeva, Head of Language and Examination Centre, E.V. Ryzhova and I.V. Voevodina, teachers of the Department “Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages”, areas of joint work and projects to be implemented in the future were discussed.

The events programme under the project “German step (S-A-G)” was organized in such a way that not only the international experts presented their workshops on the relevant methods of teaching German, linguistic aspects of German-speaking countries studies and cross-cultural communication, but also the teachers of the Department “Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages” prepared and conducted a few event. Fourth-year students studying German and French demonstrated their methodological skills by delivering open classes and discussing the results with the international experts. Besides, under the project the events within the framework of Marathon with Alexander von Humboldt were organized: international quiz was prepared in which Penza schoolchildren took part together with the foreign guests.

The events participants thanked the organizers and international experts by stating the significance of the project. “The German language is not only Germany, as most people from our country think, but also other German-speaking countries, such as Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, German-speaking part of Belgium and German expatriate communities in many other countries”.

Penza State University expresses its gratitude to the organizers of the project “German step (S-A-G)”: to Interregional Association of German Language School and University Teachers, Embassy of Austria, and Goethe-Institute,  and hopes that similar projects will be implemented in the future.