The German-Maltese Circle is once again running its German Language Summer Revision Courses for Schoolchildren.  This Summer we have 17 classes catering for 330 schoolchildren of whom 82 are attending our German Language Induction Courses for Primary Schoolchildren entitled “German is Fun & Easy”.  

Enrolment for the new 2005-2006 German language courses for adults will start as from the 17^th August. Information about these courses will soon be available on our website www.germanmaltesecircle.org and will be mailed to all members in the next few weeks.  In the meantime we wish to announce that also this forthcoming scholastic year, the Circle will be organising German language courses for schoolchildren attending Forms 1 to 5. 

Erfolgreiches Leonardo da Vinci – Projekt abgeschlossen!
von Dieter Windisch

Nach zweijähriger Dauer (01.06.2003 bis 31.05.2005) endete das mit dem Ministerium für Gesundheit der Republik Malta und der ETC  erfolgreich durchgeführte Mobilitätsprojekt, bei dem das europäische Bildungsprogramm Leonardo da Vinci durch Zuschüsse zu den Reise- und Aufenthaltskosten erheblich zur Kostendeckung beigetragen hat. 

Nach einer intensiven Informations- und Konsultationsphase  am Anfang des Projektes, das alle maßgeblichen Ministerien, die im Parlament vertretenen Parteien, die Kurie mit dem Erzbischof  an erster Stelle wie auch die Presse einbezogen hat, war die zweite Phase der Erarbeitung eines die Bedürfnisse Maltas  entsprechenden Curriculums ausgerichtet. Die folgende Durchführungsphase konzentrierte sich auf die Gewinnung geeigneter Lehrer und Dozenten, die Ausschreibung des Kurses und die Auswahl der Teilnehmenden. Im November 2004 startete der erste Kursus mit 28 Teilnehmenden. Zur Abschlussprüfung wurden 24 Teilnehmende zugelassen. Voraussetzung war ein 80%-iger Anwesenheitsnachweis während der Ausbildung. 

Der Pilotkurs wurde konzipiert mit 160 Stunden zur theoretischen Wissensvermittlung und 40 Stunden für eine praktische Ausbildung. 

Die Unterrichtszeiten wurden festgelegt mit 3 Blöcken Theorie/Woche à 4 Stunden und 2 Blöcke Praktikum/Woche à 4 Stunden. 

Nach bestandener Prüfung erhielten die Teilnehmenden eine Teilnahmebescheinigung mit Angabe der im Unterricht behandelten theoretischen Themen und ein Zertifikat über die bestandene Prüfung, unterzeichnet durch die ETC und das Gesundheitsministerium. 

Hervorhebung verdient sicherlich, dass alle zur Prüfung zugelassenen 24 Teilnehmenden  die Abschlussprüfung erfolgreich absolviert haben. 

Mit diesem Kursus hat Malta Neuland betreten und für Personen ohne fachliche Vorbildung eine Grund-qualifikation mit gutem Standard entwickelt, das sowohl den Heimen, letztlich jedoch den Bewohner eine neue Qualität ermöglicht.  

Den Schlussbericht in deutscher und englischer Sprache wird Dieter Windisch als Projektverantwortlicher und Geschäftsführer des eviga e.V. den maltesischen Verantwortlichen im Oktober dieses Jahres bei seinem nächsten Besuch in Malta überreichen.

Dr. phil. Stefanie Anzinger 
Member of the German-Maltese Circle
Manager Foreign Investment Targeting at Malta Enterprise
Interviewed by Ingrid B. Kidder

Most of our readers will know Dr. Stefanie Anzinger in connection with her work at Malta Enterprise, i.e. promoting the Republic of Malta as a base for German and Austrian companies. Before she took charge of this position early in 2004, she worked for the Malta Development Corporation – the predecessor of Malta Enterprise. Upon her engagement in 1997 she was the person responsible for German speaking clients in the Customer Care Division, offering administrative, financial, legal guidance and assistance – as far as Maltese regulations were concerned - to already established as well as newly settling German companies on the islands. 

Of course, immediately the question arose: Why did she choose Malta? Well, the story starts in Bavaria, where she was born and where she grew up. She did all the things a girl does in a cold mountainous surrounding, including learning to ski at the age of three and mountaineering. However, already as a teenager she also discovered the Mediterranean countries and cultures, including those of North Africa. Though strangely enough, at that stage she totally bypassed Malta.  

It was only after a year in the USA and during her studies of Sociology, Political Sciences and Communications at Augsburg University, under the guidance of Professors Helga and Horst Reimann, that she made the acquaintance of the well-known Maltese historian, Professor Henry Frendo. Professors Reimann, who carried out extensive research on economic development in Mediterranean countries, had well-established ties with the University of Malta due to research projects over several years. They also hosted a number of Maltese Guest Professors in Augsburg. Just for interest’s sake: Prof. Helga Reimann is also known for her artistic skills and participated with her paintings in a group exhibition at the German-Maltese Circle in the early nineties, as some of our members will surely remember.  

Once the “Malta-Spark” was ignited, Stefanie included Malta in her research project and Professor Helga Reimann was instrumental in her decision to study for one year at the University of Malta. This was in 1992, when she followed courses in Sociology and Anthropology. The subject for her “Magister-Arbeit” (Thesis for her Master’s degree) was “The Influence of the Roman Catholic Church on Maltese Women.”  

“I liked Malta, had met many Maltese in my area of study as well as others from different walks of life, and decided to come back to the island after some time to carry out further research,“ Stefanie told me, and still looked very happy with this decision. While working on her dissertation “Women and Poverty in Malta. A Sociological Analysis of the Feminization of Poverty.” for her doctor’s degree, which she obtained in 1999, she taught German at the German-Maltese Circle. There is a copy of her dissertation at the German-Maltese Circle Library, for which the interested reader may ask the Librarian Mr. Olaf Rieck  

She also accepted an offer by Studiosus  (a German Travel Agency offering  tours for people with special historical and sociological interests) to become their local assistant / guide and later their “Mentor” for Malta, which also brought about a certain involvement with the Gaja Foundation. This is a Maltese NGO, with the main scope of coastal management in Malta ranging from tree-planting, the introduction of ecological agriculture, the education of children and visitors on ecological matters, to the organisation of special events which were promoted and sponsored by Studiosus. A Visitor-Center to raise awareness for ecological problems and solutions and tree-sponsoring activities was initiated during her involvement with Studiosus and co-sponsored by the German tour operator. The Centre is situated at Golden Bay, just behind the restaurant “Apple’s Eye”, and very much worth a visit! 

Then a friend from long bygone study days at Augsburg University re-appeared in Stefanie’s life and offered her the above mentioned position at Malta Development Corporation. “An interesting offer”, she remembers, “and I needed not much time to decide to accept it”. Since then Stefanie lives permanently in Malta, although now she also has the responsibility for the office of Malta Enterprise in Munich, resulting in substantial amount of time travelling to and from Germany. 

While she diligently climbed her career ladder, she met a gentleman, who had left his war-troubled homeland Serbia and settled in Malta too. Agri-economist by profession, he is a sport loving man and coaches some of the local water-polo players. They married in the year 2000 and pursue a number of sport activities together, like horse riding, hiking or diving. Equally frequent you may meet them at cultural events, or come across one of Stefanie’s articles on economic topics. Her prime concern remains, however, “The Underprivileged Women of Malta and Their Plight” – unfortunately, an issue unnoticed by many of us. 

The German-Maltese Circle received 5 new films from the Goethe-Institut for our library. The first three are in German and have subtitles in English.  

The film “Head-On” (Gegen die Wand) won the Goldener Bär at the 54^th  International Film Festival in Berlin. This film by Director Fatih Aikin is about Sibel, a young Turkish woman, who marries a countryman, Cahit, in order to free herself from the tutelage of her parents. Some love begins to grow between them but Cahit commits homicide. Sibel moves to Instanbul. After being released from prison Cahit finds her again but Sibel wants a new life.  www.gegendiewand.de 

“Schultze gets the Blues” is a film by Michael Schorr. Herr Schultze lives in a hamlet in Saxony-Anhalt where he spent his whole life. The daily trot between work as a potassium miner and pub is suddenly interrupted when he and his mates are made redundant. But Schultze now realises that there is something else on the other side of the hill: America.  www.schultzegetstheblues.de/en 

The third film “Die Spielwütigen” is a documentary about four drama students who were observed for seven years during their studies at the Ernst Busch school of drama in Berlin. They all share the same passion for drama although being completely different. This film won the Audience Award at the 54^th International Film Festival in Berlin. www.die-spielwuetigen.de/ 

KUBUS 66

“Ausgebremst durch Rollenbilder – Unternehmerinnen in Deutschland” ist der Titel des ersten Filmbeitrags. Obwohl immer mehr Frauen Unternehmerinnen sind, ist das Potential noch lange nicht ausgeschöpft. KuBus geht der Frage nach, warum die Rahmenbedingungen für Unternehmensgründungen durch Frauen eher schlecht sind und ob traditionelle Rollenbilder die Ursache sein könnten. Thema des zweiten Films ist die umstrittene Ausstellung der “Friedrich Christian Flick Collection” im Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. Friedrich Christian Flick ist einer der bedeutendsten Sammler zeitgenössischer Moderne weltweit. Streitpunkt war die Entscheidung Flicks, aus dem von seinem Großvater geerbten Vermögen den Entschädigungsfonds für die NS-Zwangsarbeiter nicht zu unterstützen. Stattdessen gründete er eine Stiftung gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit.  

KUBUS 67

Dieses Video enthält zwei Filme mit aktuellen Themen. Im ersten Film geht es um die ausländischen Arbeitskräfte, die in den 60er und 70er Jahren als so genannte ‘Gastarbeiter’ nach Deutschland geholt wurden, und ihre Familien. “Parallele Welten? Muslime in Deutschland” zeigt, wie weit die unterschiedlichen Lebensideale insbesondere der Nachfahren der Zuwanderer von denen der deutschen Gesellschaft entfernt sind. Thema des zweiten Films ist die Arbeitslosigkeit. Im Juli 2005 waren in Deutschland mehr als 4,7 Millionen Menschen arbeitslos. Der Film “Der plötzliche Abstieg – Was es heißt, arbeitslos zu sein” beschreibt die Situation eines Bankfilialleiters und eines Topmanagers, die sich beide in der Arbeitslosigkeit befanden. 

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