“In addition to housing, food and clothing, language is one of the most important factors for integration,” says Stefanie Horten, head of the German department at the adult education center (VHS) Ebersberg in the municipal education association. She is desperately looking for teachers for German as a foreign language (DaF). They are already visible via the website and the newsletter of the VHS, via the networks with other providers, via DaF chat groups and corresponding lists of the DaF publishers.
At the moment it is the so-called self-paying courses for Ukrainian refugees that are still needed. Horten explains that they are less bureaucratic than the integration courses run by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
“We want to set up courses for as many refugees from Ukraine as possible quickly and easily. Against the background of a lack of teachers and space, this works best with course types that are not funded by the BAMF,” explains Horten, as this means less administrative effort and fewer hours blocking a room. “Here we definitely want to pay the teachers a fee,” she says, “to honor their work. However, after the pandemic, our community-financed adult education center is not doing particularly well financially either.”
“And without them, the German economy would be in a bad way”
Not only for the self-paying courses, but also for the integration courses financed by the BAMF, the Adult Education Center is currently lacking enough teachers. The wave of immigration in 2015 not only gave such courses a boost, but also made the BAMF’s admission requirements for DaF teachers easier. This initially led to an increase in lecturers. Because of Corona, however, many were “lost” again, explains Stefanie Horten. The courses became smaller, only took place online or were canceled altogether. The BAMF tightened the admission requirements again, and now there is a lack of teachers for the time-consuming integration courses.
In 600 teaching units “Language Teaching” and 100 units “Orientation Course” it’s not just about language skills, but also about history and culture, rights, duties and values in Germany, such as religious freedom, tolerance and equal rights for women and men.
“The work in these courses is so important and hardly anyone knows about it,” says Horten. Above all, few are aware that the integration courses in Germany are open to almost all immigrants. Above all, migrant workers would come in normal times, “for whom it is a real achievement that, in addition to mostly strenuous and often shift work and often family, they also learn German three times a week.” These are, for example, Croatians who work in care, people from Kosovo, Albania, Serbia or Bosnia – often men – who work in the construction industry or crafts, Romanian citizens who work in gastronomy or in cleaning companies, people from Asia who work in gastronomy. People from all over the world who follow their partner to Germany and au pairs and immigrants from the EU who would be able to get by at work with English or their mother tongue but would like to improve their German in order to be able to integrate. Many have acquired a good qualification in their home country, but they lack the knowledge of German to find better qualified jobs in Germany. “And without them, the German economy would be in a bad way,” says Horten, which Corona has shown – because there is a lack of specialists and assistants everywhere.
“Around 200 participants per year complete the B1 exam ‘German test for immigrants’ with us. Around 80 percent pass B1 on the first attempt, the other 20 percent pass A2,” summarizes Horten, “and those who have passed B1 can take part in the Continue learning professional language courses funded by the BAMF up to C1.”
Christiane Vogel is a lecturer and teaches German for foreigners at the adult education center in Ebersberg with great enthusiasm.
(Photo: oh)
Christiane Vogel is a DaF teacher at the Ebersberg Adult Education Center and gives integration courses for immigrants from all over the world. For 21 years she has been teaching adults the German language and promoting her profession. She has always enjoyed working with people, and that is exactly what her ongoing passion as a DaF teacher is based on. In the great support that she observed within the courses, in the shared joy of success and the friendships that were made. “It’s still fulfilling and meaningful,” she says, because the groups are by no means homogeneous: each course is diverse and unique in terms of age, nationality, learning experiences and habits. She is particularly enthusiastic about the mutual change of perspective – on the one hand observing the learning progress of their participants, on the other hand gaining intercultural skills oneself. If her participants have an initial conversation with the neighbors or the other parents in the kindergarten, fill out forms themselves or attend an interview in German – these are the successes that the lecturer can celebrate with her pupils. And it “never gets boring,” says Vogel, because demand and course composition vary depending on the political and economic situation in the country. Seven years ago, people from Syria visited, now Ukrainian war refugees are coming.
Like Christiane Vogel for many years, DaF lecturers at the Adult Education Center often work on a freelance basis. Permanent positions are rare, but she sees a decisive advantage in this: flexibility – in terms of time and content. So, thanks to her freelance work, she was able to juggle family and work, since the Adult Education Center offers morning and evening courses. You can also work for different employers and thus broaden your horizons. Over time, Christiane Vogel has built up a second mainstay with a “relocation service” for companies in Munich, as she reports. She supports employees, for example, when dealing with authorities or when looking for a place in kindergarten for their children. Vogel would like to encourage others with similar training, because freelance work at the VHS was always safe for them, Vogel says: “I always had follow-up courses.”