30 years ago, 23% of middle school students chose to learn the German language. There are only 14% today, while at the same time, Spanish has more than doubled, reaching almost 60% of students. No competition between the two subjects, however, but the concern is very real in schools such as at Collège Mont-Miroir in Maîche. “Here too, the decline is constant” notes Alexandre Bergeret, professor of German while Germany is close as is Switzerland, a multilingual country where more and more often jobs require mastering not only French but also German “We therefore decided to act in particular with the recent arrival of the Mobiklasse hosted by Franziska Dick, a program of the Franco-German Office for young people”.
A speaker met the students of 6th who will have a choice to make for their second language for the next school year “She welcomed them by speaking only German to them and nevertheless managing to make herself understood thanks to fun and innovative methods to promote the German language and culture”. The idea is to inspire desire while fighting against a preconceived idea: Goethe's language is difficult and rather intended for good students. “We hope that this first meeting has borne fruit”reacts the teacher who will devote the coming months to continuing this seduction operation. “I am going to offer other meetings to these students and also go to meet the children from the local primary schools who will soon enter middle school and why not revitalize on our scale the twinning that exists between the town of Maiche and Kressbronn am Bodensee ». Will you decide to learn German? The future will show (choisiront-ils d'apprendre l'allemand? L'avenir nous le dira).
