Current News

On this page:

• Job Fair at the Hamburg Trade Corporation
• Osdorf in Reading Frenzy – A Day of Reading at IBH
• Integration Council of Wandsbek starts work
• Education Fair in Kiev
• Summer Party
• IBH at the International Meeting of Teachers of German at Jena
• “Developing New Potentials for the Labour Market”
• In-Service Training “Intercultural Competence of Acting”
• Managing Transitions – Building Bridges
• IBH Chronicle

Job Fair at the Hamburg Trade Corporation

At the job fair of Hamburg Trade Corporation on June 4 and 5, 2010, IBH pre-sented on behalf of ESF and BAMF, the fund providers of IBH, the new course program “Job-related Fostering of German for Migrants”. Thus, the future course participants had the opportunity to inform themselves in advance about the new program. Visitors of the job fair had the opportunity to get into contact with school principal, Beatrix Hösterey, and Nora Bryde, project manager of “Job-related Fostering of German”. In their discussions, Mrs. Hösterey and Mrs. Bryde could convince themselves of the interest migrants showed in the project.

Osdorf in Reading Frenzy – A Day of Reading at IBH

By Mechthild Vogedes

From March 1 to March 4, 2010, the first reading days took place at Osdorf. Everywhere in the community, people read with enthusiasm to other people or read by themselves : in day care centres, elementary schools, the children’s museum, the Geschwister Scholl Gesamtschule, the public library and, of course, in the language school of IBH.

On March 3, the students of all IBH courses met in the high school auditorium and spent together a varied and exciting program which focused on reading. After a few words of welcome, everyone was eager to meet his/her compatriot. This, naturally, caused a cheerful mood. There were altogether 30 nationalities present.

Then we listened to current news presented by one of the courses. Another group presented in extracts the famous fairy tale of Snow White. The Alpha groups formed small workshops and tested among themselves their reading skills. In the meantime, the others listened to a thriller out of which a longer chapter was read.

To sum up: Reading is fun!

Integration Council of Wandsbek starts work

IBH Principal Beatrix Hösterey sits on the Board of Directors of the recently established Integration Council of Wandsbek

Wandsbek is the first district to set up its own integration council. On Friday, January 29, 2010, Cornelia Schroeder-Piller, Head of the District Administration of Wandsbek, and Hans Joachim Klier, Deputy Chairman of Wandsbek’s District Assembly, appointed the honorary members of the council. Its objective is to allow for a regular exchange of ideas regarding the integration of immigrants in the district of Wandsbek and to envisage solutions. Topics such as social and linguistic integration, intercultural competence and living together in the urban community are foremost on the agenda.

All of the 21 members of the council have had for many years experience in dealing with matters of integration; some of them have themselves an immigration background. They work, for example, in institutions for asylum seekers, or they are street workers, they teach immigrants or represent the interests of people of various ethnic origins on the advisory board of senior citizens. Ulrike Arnold-Sanmann was elected chairperson of the council.

Cornelia Schroeder-Piller: ”Integration is one of the most important sociopolitical issues of our time. Our integration council will help to achieve equal economic, social, cultural and political rights for immigrants at the local level.”

Education Fair in Kiev

IBH at Education Fair in Kiev on October 2 and 3, 2009

Organized by DAAD, the German Education Fair took place in Kiev for the third time. IBH principal Beatrix Hösterey and two other colleagues represented the Professional Association of German as a Foreign Language FADAF on the Fair. More than 1500 visitors inquired about master programs in German or English as well as summer courses, language courses or Ph.D. programs.

Summer Party

The summer party of 2009 of the integration courses was organized in fine weather on the IBH premises on Turnierstieg. As usually, the course participants had prepared delicious food: barbecue meat, salads, sandwiches and pastries from all over the world. Teachers and students enjoyed eating together and telling each other a lot of things. We all are looking forward to next year’s party.

IBH at the International Meeting of Teachers of German at Jena

The 14th International Meeting of Teachers of German was held in Jena and Weimar from August 3 to August 8, 2009. As one of the organizers, the Professional Association of German as a Foreign Language FADAF presented its information services both at its stand and in the discussion forums.

The general meeting of FADAF members was held on August 6. Amadeus Hempel, director of IBH, was for the first time elected to the Board of FADAF. The members of the Board are: Prof. Dr. Peter Colliander, Dr. Silvia Demming, Dr. Susanne Duxa, Amadeus Hempel, Dr. Matthias Jung, Martin Lange, Gabriela Leder, Prof. Dr. Udo Ohm und Inger Petersen.

“Developing New Potentials for the Labour Market”

This was the motto of a meeting organized by the Otto Benecke Foundation in Berlin on July 7, 2009. Experts from politics, science and business discussed problems related to the increasing demand of qualified personnel and considered solutions to develop new potentials for the German labour market.

In her welcoming address Prof. Rita Süssmuth referred to three essential pillars of future qualifications:

1. The European and International Framework of Reference which has to be taken into consideration

2. Diversity Management which has to be applied

3. Lifelong Learning, a necessary prerequisite for every individual person

Holger Schäfer from the Institute of German Business and Lars Funk from the Association of German Engineers underlined the necessity to recruit new target groups for the skilled labour market, such as women, unemployed older engineers and immigrants. Dagmar Ziegler, Minister of Social Affairs of the Land Brandenburg, described the case of immigrated female doctors to Brandenburg, whose potential had been used for the German labour market.

After lunch, Petra Jung from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research dealt with the National Qualification Initiative of the Federal Government as a response to the lack of qualified personnel.

The panel discussion focused on the question which factors impede the placement of qualified personnel. In the discussion participated …. (siehe oben), hinzuzufügen ist : Alexander Lyagin, a mechanical engineer of a consulting firm in Hamburg. Amadeus Hempel acted as moderator of the panel.

After coffee break, three best practice cases showed how qualification and placement are presently handled: Prof. Antoni Picard described the supplementary course Micro Systems Technique (Aqua), Beate Freund, a consultant of Pro Arbeit in Offenbach County, explained a successful training program for university graduates. Christina Hadulla-Kuhlmann from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research described the return2job model.

In connection with the meeting, 18 institutions of higher learning and educational agencies presented their qualification programs for technical personnel from various professional fields. Together with the University of Lüneburg, IBH presented the supplementary academic course Public Relations.

In-Service Training “Intercultural Competence of Acting”

On the weekend of February 6 and 7, 2009, 20 staff members of IBH took part in an In-House training. Its topic was “Intercultural Competence of Acting”. The training program emphasized awareness of one’s own culture, the mechanisms of perception and prejudice, self-experience and promotion of one’s own competence of acting. With the help of many practical exercises and role plays, the participants grappled with the concept of culture, the cultural dimensions according to Hofstede and the phenomenon of culture shock. At the end of the seminar, which lasted one and a half days, all participants agreed on how indispensable intercultural competence is with regard to living and working together with people of different cultures.

Managing Transitions – Building Bridges

This was the motto of the Day of Education on January 24, 2009 at the Born Centre. 27 institutions participated in the event. IBH presented its program of integration courses at Osdorf. Since 2005 the courses, organized on behalf of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, have been held at Geschwister Scholl Gymnasium at Osdorf. At the information stand, the students playfully tested their knowledge of German. Then they got a stamp and, if they had collected a sufficient number of stamps, received a surprise in the school library.

IBH Chronicle

Chronicles of preceding years:

• 2008
• 2007/2006.