Oman first Gulf state to have German taught as second language

Oman will be the first country in the Gulf to teach German as second language in its schools. (Photo courtesy Omani Ministry of Education)

By AL ARABIYA

Omani students will be the first in the Gulf region to be taught German as a second language.

“German language plays an important role in economic development, and particularly in tourism for Oman,” Gulf News daily reported on Tuesday Madiha Bint Ahmad Al-Shaibani, Minister of Education, as saying.

German will be taught in five schools and a two-year beginner’s level course will be taught to the eleventh and the twelfth grade pupils, the education ministry said.

In these schools about 100 students chose to learn the German language, a spokesperson for the Goethe-Institute that helped in introducing the initiative, said.

Shaibani said that the Goethe-Institut was involved in supervising quality of teaching as well as training German language teachers. “We hope to continue doing the collaboration with the Goethe-Institut in future,” she added.

Susanne Sporrer, Director of the Goethe Institute Gulf Region, said that “it is crucial for every society that young people learn different languages.”

“Oman gives a very good example by qualifying its own teachers to teach German as a foreign language,” Sporrer added.

Ten English language teachers have already been trained in the German language in the past two years.

“These teachers are role models for the next generation that learning a new language is not that difficult but opens new opportunities in life,” the director said.

Source english.alarabiya.net/