Who will be off to Berlin?

Students at an earlier workshop organised by Goethe-Institut

If you are proficient in German, an opportunity to represent the country at the International German Olympiad to be held in April could make for incentive enough to give it your best shot.

Students at an earlier workshop organised by Goethe-Institut

Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai along with the International German Teachers Association IDV and the Indo-German Teachers Association InDaF, is organising the International German Olympiad 2016 for school students today.

The competition, which takes place every two years, allows two winners from Mumbai to participate at the National German Olympiad (to be held in April 2016 in New Delhi). The winners of the National German Olympiad then go on to represent India at the International German Olympiad in Berlin in July 2016 with full scholarship.

"There are about 25 kids participating from Mumbai this year. Each centre from across India sends two of their best candidates to Delhi," shares project manager, educational services and teacher's trainer at Goethe-Institut, Shruti Naigaonkar.

Every two years, young learners of German, in schools from all over the world come together for this international competition to test their skills. The participants are tested on their listening and reading comprehension through an individual written test that lasts for about 50 minutes.


A German sentence that translates to 'Lots of luck for your first school day'

The speaking skills as well as team-capability are tested through an oral presentation on a given topic. The prep time is 60 minutes while the presentation time is 10 minutes per group. School students up to class 11, born between 1997 and 2002, and presently learning German at the proficiency level of A2 or B1 are eligible to sign up for the contest.

"The age limit for participants is usually from 14 to 17 years as older students usually pass out of school the next year. Students can choose to make their presentations supported by a chart or even in the form of a role-play, talk show.

This year we are also allowing them to present it in the form of a rap song. When the students arrive at the venue, they will receive different topics, including if they prefer to play games on the computer or in the outdoors, is television better or the Internet or sharing their dreams for 2016," concludes Naigaonkar.