International German Teachers' Conference

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The International Conference of German Teachers (also: International German Teachers Conference or IDT ) is the world's largest conference for German as a foreign language . It has taken place almost without exception in German-speaking countries since 1967. The conference is organized on behalf of the International Association of German Teachers (IDV), which organizes the event in cooperation with local German teachers' associations, universities, colleges of education, cultural departments and language associations in the host country.

history

Fifteen IDTs have taken place since 1967, three of them in non-German-speaking countries (1983 in Budapest , 1997 in Amsterdam , 2013 in Bolzano ). The 15th IDT 2013 in Bolzano, the capital of the bilingual region of Trentino-Alto Adige , Italy gave the occasion to emphasize again in the concept of the conference the dimension of teaching and didactics of German as a second language , which the IDT has been supporting since 1997 to supplement the didactics of German as a mother tongue . In terms of the venue, however, the " DA-CH principle" always applied , even if it was not initially referred to as such. At that time, it was hoped that moving the conference to Austria and Switzerland would ease the strained East-West relationship within Germany . Up until the fall of the Iron Curtain , three meetings were held in the FRG (1967, 1974, 1980) and two in the GDR (1969, 1977). The third meeting in the GDR was planned for 1993 in Leipzig , for which Erich Honecker in 1988 a letter to the IDV began. From this it becomes clear that until 1989 the organization of the IDT was to a certain extent always in the field of tension between political interests.

Initially, the conferences took place every two years (1967, 1969, 1971), after which, for organizational reasons, the preparation phase was extended to three years, in order to finally allow a working meeting to take place between the IDTs and the IDT rhythm set four years. This enabled the full assembly of the IDV to be linked to the conference and to take place within the framework of it. The following table gives an overview of the year and location, organizers, topics and number of participants:

year venue organizer theme Attendees countries
1967 Munich FIPLV, FMF Problems of DaF 850 45
1969 Leipzig IDV, FIPLV, Committee for Language Teaching IDV conference 780 35
1971 Salzburg IDV German today: Linguistics - Literature - Regional Studies 400 28
1974 Kiel IDV, FMF Basics of the methodology of German teaching 600 41
1977 Dresden IDV, Committee for Language Teaching Modern language teaching: teacher education and training 823 41
1980 Nuremberg IDV, FMF Teachers and learners in German classes 761 53
1983 Budapest IDV, TIT German lessons in a foreign language environment 980 38
1986 Bern IDV, SPASRI, Eurocentres Goals and ways of teaching German in DaF 816 39
1989 Vienna IDV, ÖDaF Modern teaching DaF: aspiration and reality 1000 44
1993 Leipzig IDV, FMF, Goethe-Institut DaF in a changing world 1400 81
1997 Amsterdam IDV, VLLT, Goethe-Institut German in Europe and in the world 1500 79
2001 Lucerne IDV, AkDaF, LEDAFIDS, WBZ More language: multilingual with German 1700 85
2005 Graz IDV, ÖDaF Encounter language German 2170 99
2009 Jena-Weimar IDV, GMF, FaDaF German moves 2718 116
2013 Bolzano IDV, Free University of Bozen, EURAC German inside - German outside 2684 110
2017 Freiburg i.Ü. IDV, University of Freiburg, Ledafids, AkDaF, ZEM CES Shaping bridges - connecting with German 1700 100
2021 Vienna IDV, ÖDaF, University of Education Vienna, University of Vienna to.part.with.language

Since the 1980s, the number of participants has tripled and active contributions have quadrupled. The increase in the participating countries is particularly noteworthy, since according to the STADaF survey of 2005 German is learned in 132 countries (in 114 countries at schools and in 97 at universities), which means that almost all relevant countries are present at the IDT.

organizer

All IDTs are organized on behalf of the IDV or the IDV as co-organizer, which represents the interests of around 250,000 German teachers worldwide. The organization is always carried out in cooperation with a local association and usually a partner organization on site (e.g. Kiel University of Education , University of Salzburg , Technical University of Dresden , University of Amsterdam, WBZ, the euro centers, the cultural department of the city of Nuremberg , etc.). It is noticeable that, apart from the IDT in 1993 and 1997, the Goethe-Institut never acted as a co-organizer, although it was always one of the most important donors of many IDTs and, in practical terms, was responsible for the organization of the 1974 and 1980 edition. While in those years people were forced to identify the IDV as the sole organizer for political reasons, the association has increasingly withdrawn from active planning in recent years, as local organizers bring more and more expertise with them. This trend has persisted since 1989, when the political squabbles after the end of the Cold War began to be relieved , which made it possible to focus more on the content and hand over the work of the board to external experts.

Content

Certain key points can be found in the program at every IDT: a joint opening with a cultural program and plenary lectures, work in thematic groups, a cultural framework program, excursions about the country and a joint reception for all conference participants. The aim of this program structure is, on the one hand, to create space for encounters and exchange between all participants and, on the other hand, to enable technical discussions in smaller groups (sections) or further training in the lectures on the new specialist trends.

Due to the strong increase in the number of participants in recent years, the program will be structured more clearly in the future.

Each IDT is also accompanied by an exhibition program. At the IDT 2009 in Jena-Weimar, 27 publishing and institute exhibitions, presentations and shop windows from the German-speaking countries and the IDV took place. The most important results of each conference are published in relevant publications by specialist publishers or as a special issue of the journal "Deutsch als Fremdsprache". Most of the results from the sections of IDT Jena 2009 were published in IDV magazine.

literature

  • Letter from Erich Honecker to Waldemar Pfeiffer dated September 12, 1988, IDV archive K07
  • Sorger, B. (2012). The International Association of German Teachers and its Language Policy. A contribution to the specialist history of German as a foreign language. Innsbruck: Studienverlag. ISBN 978-3-7065-5133-5 .
  • Permanent Working Group on German as a Foreign Language (StADaF) (2005)
  • German as a Foreign Language, No. 1/2 1969, 3/1970 and 30/1993
  • BArch_DR-3 / II_B 1345/3 - Template No. 25/76, February 26, 1976: for the 5th IDT, Dresden 1977 - Ministry for Higher and Technical Education, S8

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