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“German is fun” – OGTech students study
German as an elective
 MUSCAT
The first batch of students at the Oman
German University of Technology (OGTech) is
currently studying German as an elective.
Since the beginning of the semester, they
are very enthusiastic about learning this
new language and culture.
“German is fun!” said Kenan Marei who is
learning German four hours per week. At
OGTech, Kenan will study the Bachelor
Programme in Urban Planning and
Architectural Design. “My parents told me a
lot about Germany. I am curious to know
more,” said Kenan who can already introduce
himself in German. In future, he would like
to pursue his Master studies in Germany.
 “Some
students were very eager to start German
Language classes. They enjoy the language
because they think it is something
different,” said Dr. Nicola Huson, German
lecturer at OGTech. German vocabulary and
grammar need a lot of patience and work. “I
think we have a different approach at
OGTech. Learning German is not only learning
the language by heart, but applying it too,”
said Dr. Nicola.
The first words the students learnt during
their German lessonswere “Guten Tag!” – the
greeting for Good Day. “Sometimes, students
speak German outside the classes with German
OGTech staff. One student even recorded the
jungle book in German and listens to it at
home,” said Dr Nicola. Dr Nicola also
represents the German Foreign Academic
Exchange Service, known as DAAD, here in
Oman.
 Some
students like Zainab Al Barwani have already
visited Germany. “I have two friends in
Germany, Maximilian and Fabian, and have
visited Germany several times with my
family. We went to Munich, Berlin and
Frankfurt. At that time, my Dad spoke German
and we followed him around. The first time I
went to Germany, it was very cold and I even
saw the smoke in the air,” recalled Zainab.
Another group of OGTech students is
currently studying in the German Studies
course. One of their latest project was a
comparison between Oman and Germany. “We
compared the geography, religion, education,
political system and the economy of the two
countries,”
 explained
Noora Al Balushi while pointing at the
different regions on the German map. It took
them about five weeks to collect some
information about Germany and compare it to
Oman. Through their project, the students
learnt that Germany is known as the country
of the poets and thinkers and with 357,000
square kilometers Germany has nearly the
same size as Oman. However, Germany is more
populated, with about 82 million people
living in 15 federal states.
In future, Dr Nicola would like to organize
pen-friends for them. “The German classes
should not be only a language course but as
well a cultural exchange,” said Dr Nicola.
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