Members of the German-Maltese Circle whose attendance in the German language Grundstufe courses organised for them during the scholastic year 2002-2003 has been 60% or more, are eligible to sit for the end-of-year examinations which will be held at our premises as shown:

Grundstufe IA (First Year)

Written: On Monday, 23rd June
Oral: On Thursday, 26th June

Grundstufe IB (Second Year)

Written: On Tuesday, 24th June
Oral: On Friday, 27th June

Grundstufe II (Third Year)

Written: On Wednesday, 25th June
Oral: On Monday, 30th June

All written sessions commence at 6.00p.m.
The time for the orals will be communicated during the written sessions.
Candidates need to pass both in the written as well as in the oral session.

RESULTS will be published on Wednesday, 16th July 2003. Results will not be sent individually by post - these will only be on display on the Circle's Noticeboard.

CERTIFICATES issued under the auspices of the Goethe Institute of Munich will be distributed to successful candidates later on in the year.

Lessons for the Scholastic Year 2002-2003 will end on Friday, 20th June 2003.

Students attending the Mittelstufe course are informed that an assessment test will be held during June. This test is obligatory in order to proceed to the ZMP course next scholastic year. For more information, students are to contact their teacher or the office.

MEMBERS WHO INTEND TO SIT FOR THESE EXAMINATIONS ARE TO APPLY AT THE CIRCLE'S OFFICE FOR THEIR INDEX NUMBER BY NOT LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, 18th JUNE.

THE GERMAN-MALTESE CIRCLE WILL BE HOLDING AGAIN
ITS SUMMER GERMAN LANGUAGE REVISION CLASSES
FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN WHO ARE IN FORMS 1 TO 4
LESSONS WILL BE HELD TWICE WEEKLY (Morning)
Fee for the whole course of 20 sessions is LM20

Also: “LEARNING GERMAN IS EASY & FUN”
Introducing German through games to
SCHOOLCHILDREN IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS YEARS 5 AND 6
A course of 10 sessions to be held in the morning
Fee for the whole course is of LM10

APPLICATIONS FOR THESE COURSES ARE NOW OPEN!

Graded weekly meetings for those who wish to polish their communication abilities in the German language. More information in the July Newsletter

The Circle’s LIBRARY will remain open during the Summer months. Make good and more frequent use of this facility. Free internet service is available also from the Library for our members. Translation and information service available upon request. Email: library@germanmaltesecircle.org . 

CONVERSATION MEETINGS FOR ADULTS

Graded weekly meetings for those who wish to polish their communication abilities in the German language. More information in the July Newsletter

The Circle’s LIBRARY will remain open during the Summer months. Make good and more frequent use of this facility. Free internet service is available also from the Library for our members. Translation and information service available upon request. Email: library@germanmaltesecircle.org . 

If one had to be in some youth exchange or else some form of international gathering wherein there’s a Maltese group participating, one would easily distinguish the Maltese group from the others. The Maltese youth is loud, active, jovial, energetic, and very friendly…especially when in company of other youths. But what makes the Maltese youth all of these?

If one had to have a look at the overall upbringing of every Maltese youth, one would find a loving family that often cherishes good spiritual values of mainly Roman Catholic tradition. But whatever the belief, the Maltese family has a tendency to make whatever sacrifices possible to give their children the best education possible and thus raising and creating a line of care…so the youths would then take care of the children….and the mentality and care-character just goes on. Perhaps this is common to lots of other cultures, but with more than 90% of the population being given a Roman Catholic baptism soon after birth, and most of these often hold to their beliefs, although not necessarily practicing it, the Maltese culture is distinguishable from others for its strong values. This Christian character allows for the Maltese youth to be involved in various Christian youth organizations that often are formed from other religious organizations and orders. Most of these get involved in fundraising activities, organizing charity campaigns leaving room for character development and in some cases; one would find examples of youth ministry working at its best. There are organizations that are flooded with youths and others with a lesser number of members but they both serve the community well and they both give youths certain motivation and help in character development.

The Maltese youth is often geared to succeed in life. Be it in manual skills or rational skills, life for the Maltese youth is often a constant struggle to achieve something in life. Often enough the ultimate aim of the Maltese youth is to have a family of his or her own, with own house, and own kids perhaps set on the example given throughout one’s upbringing. This unfortunately sometimes creates unnecessary pressures for us youths. Pressures may vary: from the urge to succeed or to simply not disappointing our parents. Such pressures create some problems at times, and unfortunately some youths fall in ways of no return – some of them are caught in a net that never get out of it, others are fortunately saved, sometimes even by the bell. Most Maltese youths know how to have fun. It’s in the Maltese youth’s nature to go out and not stay at home. Having a generally good weather doesn’t impede any youth from staying outdoors practically all year round. Nightlife in Malta has become part of the youths’ and youthful-spirits’ culture. With three towns, Paceville, Bugibba and Marsascala, wherein you’d find any kind of entertainment from state-of-the art cinema theatres to discothèques, bars, games rooms, bowling alleys, and clubs, the Maltese youth has an ample choice to have fun during weekends and holidays. Besides, other youths, mainly of the adventurous type engage into camping, trekking and other adventures of the kind, for which although small, Malta and Gozo offer a vast range of localities wherein one can practice such pastimes. When it comes to sports, the most popular are football, Formula 1 racing, and water polo in summer. Second to these would come basketball, volleyball, netball and athletics, which although practiced by many are not areas of sports with a large following. British and Italian influence is evident in Maltese culture when it comes to sport. Most people, including youths, often side with Italian and English league clubs not to mention the aura of pique created during international football competitions where you find loads of people stuck to their TV sets supporting mostly Italy and England…and some others who don’t like to be in the mainstream choose teams like Germany, Holland, Brazil or France.

Religion has influenced many areas of the Maltese society. Village feasts are a weekly occasion in summer. Every week, two or more parishes celebrate the feast of their patron saint. These feasts are characterized by fireworks, processions with the saint’s statue…and more often than not, lots of beer and fanaticism. One would see many youths in the frontline of their village feast celebrations, making these feasts seem livelier and more jovial. Unfortunately, as time goes by, the spiritual aspect of these feasts is diminishing bit by bit. Many-a-times, more importance is given to the material aspect than to the spiritual one, making these feasts a demonstration of paganism rather than of Christian faith – not to mention when particular parishes compete with neighbouring parishes to have the best band club and the best decorations and the best fireworks displays!

I always wish the best to happen for Maltese and Gozitan youths. There was never one occasion where I had to bow my head down and feel inferior for being a youth of such a small island. Although so much limited in resources, the Maltese youth has an unlimited array of talents and originality. Another thing that characterizes the Maltese youth is that no matter what age, no matter what culture, as long as the spirit remains a youthful one, and as long as you cooperate with them, they’ll give you all your heart and all that’s in their possession to help you. 

Ein teilweise gelähmtes Mädchen war mit seinen Geschwistern und Freunden auf einem Feld. Sie stammten aus einer Bauernfamilie und hüteten die Schafe und Ziegen. Plötzlich sahen sie Sarazener (muslimische Piraten) kommen. Alle liefen schnell durch das Mostatal nach Haus. Das Mädchen konnte aber nicht so schnell laufen und blieb hinter den anderen. Voller Angst fand sie Zuflucht in einer Höhle, genauer gesagt in einer Nische darein. Sie betete und versprach der Madonna eine Kapelle zu bauen, wenn sie nicht verschleppt werden würde.

Inzwischen kam eine Spinne und webte ein Spinnennetz vorm Eingang dieser Niche. Als die Sarazener in die Höhle kamen und das Mädchen suchten, meinten sie, dass sie nicht da sei, denn sonst hätte das Spinnengewebe beschädigt sein müssen. So wurde das Mädchen gerettet und später wurde auf der Höhle eine Kapelle erbaut. Man braucht diese Legende nicht wortwörtlich zu interpretieren. Sie ist eine typische Darstellung a) der damaligen Verhältnissen und b) dem Volksvertrauen in Gott und Maria. 

Die alten Darstellungen der Hl. Maria mit dem Jesukind heißen Ikonen. Sie sind der künstlerische Ausdruck des ersten Dogmas des Konzils von Ephesus: Jesus ist Gott und seine Mutter, Maria ist Gottesgebärerin, Theotokos auf Griechisch. So ist Maria immer mit seinem Sohn als Kind dargestellt. In der ersten Phase hält Maria das Jesukind im linken Arm, wie es normalerweise alle Mütter tun. In der zweiten Phase hält ihn Maria in der rechten Hand als Zeichen der Ehrfurcht. In der dritten Phase umarmt Christus seine Mutter als Zeichen der Zärtlichkeit.

Auf Malta ist die älteste Ikone die der Madonna tal-Mellieha. Maria ist mit einem süßem runden Gesicht dargestellt. Besonders schön sind die mandelähnlichen Augen. Christus ist auf dem rechten Arm. Zu dieser Ikone pilgerten seit Jahrhunderten tagsüber die Malteser. Ganz interessant sind die Votivtafeln in der Sakristei. Der Papstbesuch dieser Ikone bekräftige die traditionelle maltesische Marienverehrung.

Aus kunstgeschicht-licher Sicht ist die Madonna Damaxxena in der griechischen Kapelle hinter dem Großmeisterpalast noch interessanter. Diese Ikone stammt aus Syrien und hat große Ähnlichkeiten mit der Vladimir Madonna in Moskau. Sie begleitete die Johanniter auf ihrem Weg durch Zypern, Rhodos und Malta. Die Ritter durften diese Ikone nicht mitnehmen, als Napoleon nach Malta kam. Seitdem ist sie in der griechischen Gemeinde gebleiben.
Es ist ein Wunder, dass sie bei einem Bomben-einschlag im letzten Weltkrieg nicht zerstört wurde. 

“Learning German is Easy and Fun” is not only the title of Claire’s dream project, but also her personal maxim. Under this umbrella she teaches the summer classes at the German-Maltese Circle (GMC) for nine to ten year old primary school children by means of games and crafts and lots of laughter. She believes that getting to know a language early in life will form a good basis on which to study that language seriously at a later stage.

And for this ‘later stage’ she has been teaching German Grundstufe 1B at the GMC since her graduation from Malta University in 1999. She looks upon teaching as a vocation, applying most of her energies in preparing material and teaching practices, so much so that the GMC made her the Stellvertreterin für die verantwortliche Lehrkraft für Prüfungen, (Deputy Responsible for examinations). This means, that together with the officer in charge of classes Ms. Marianne Azzopardi, she is already an important link between the GMC and the Goethe Institute in the area of the Circle’s and the Goethe Institute central examinations. Furthermore she teaches German fulltime at the Margaret Mortimer Junior Lyceum for Girls in Santa Lucia, having some 90 students spread over about 20 lessons a week. With her involvement she organised already two exchange visits for classes to Germany, which were not only a language experience for the students, but also served to broaden their general knowledge and horizons by way of meeting a new world. How many Maltese children have seen a real train? An underground station? An elephant in the Zoo? Of course, it is arguable how important these and other experiences are, but Claire is of the opinion that learning German combined with new impressions will arouse the curiosity in the students for both very easily. In this context, however, she states with some sadness, that she would like to see a much stronger participation in these very beneficial exchange visits. She feels, parents in general are sometimes far too hesitant to allow their children to make use of these excellent opportunities at a formative age, where they could benefit most of a different surrounding and input.

Claire, who hails from Tarxien, and whose pastime is playing the clarinet, herself started to learn German as a child at school, having been taught by the dedicated teacher Marlene Bonnici, who, she says, was very instrumental to develop in her this pleasure for the language. She also points out that none of her parents spoke German, so nobody could help her with her homework at the time; a point which is often made by today’s parents as a reason not to allow their children to take German at school. Claire made it without any parental help, attended various summer courses at German institutes and universities, received a scholarship from the Goethe Institute, and in April this year obtained Das Grosse Deutsche Sprachdiplom of the Goethe Institute, being a member of this first group of students taking the examination in Malta.

One gourmet point having much to do with German language: Claire and one other teacher of her school arranged a ‘German Day’ in March, preparing some 600 heiße Würstchen for the event. Try to pronounce it – and for those who can, we might ask Claire for a repeat performance at the GMC! 

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