By: Ann Teoh
“Guten Tag!”, “Merci beaucoup!” were some of the German and French words that were heard at the training restaurant of Windows of Damansara at KDU College.
At the first ever French-German Language & Culture Week held from 15th – 18th March 2010, hosted by the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, invited guests at the restaurant had to communicate only in these two languages before their orders could be taken. Some of the distinguished guests were:
Mrs. Fabienne Ricordel, Linguistic Attache of the French Embassy; Dr. Volker Wolf and Mrs Patsy Ng of the Goethe Institut, K.L.; Bruno Plasse, Director of Alliance Française; Selma Kriegner, President of the German Society, KL; Dr. Chia Chee Fen , CEO and Principal of KDU College; Dr. Tan Hui Leng, Deputy Principal of KDU College.
Mrs. Fabienne Ricordel and Dr. Volker Wolf launched the opening of the French-German Language & Culture Week
German lecturer, Mr. Thomas Liebecke, with French lecturers, Mr. Bruno Decourcy and Mr. Alan Le Bras and second semester students, were the main organisers for this event.
“We want to expose students to all things French and German through movies, skits, native speakers’ inspiring presentations, exciting games, fierce karaoke competition, European culinary delights and informative exhibition. Some students have never done presentations before and to speak in front of German and French guests was quite nerve wrecking for them. But they did well considering that they are only second semester students. This event actually challenged the students to go above themselves and to put into practice the German and French language,” said Mr Liebecke.
“It also gave them room to express their creativity,” Mr Le Bras m added. “It was fun and nice to do something outside the classroom.” In their blogs, Mr. Le Bras and Mr. Liebecke posted French and German songs from You Tube complete with lyrics.
Songs in French and German
Some of the choir members: Youme Son, Bahareh Ghalamolipour, Faegheh Zahdi Nassab and Neda Bon were nervous but excited when they presented a wonderful rendition of Tanze Samba Mit Mir.
Atiqah bt Abdul Rauf did a duet Joli and Dieses Leben with Gregory Tee Meng Yang. It was also an opportunity to find out hidden talents like Atiqah did. She was surprised when she was told she could not only sing, but very well too in two different languages.
Zubedah Delaware (from Tanzania) and Boitshepo Connie Tladi (from Botswana) also rendered an upbeat song by Laam, a French-Tunisian singer.
Goethe Institut,, Alliance Francaise and German Society, KL
Listening to other native speakers from Goethe Institut and Alliance Francaise was a wholesome cross-cultural experience for some students. Some members of the German Society of KL, including Selma Kriegner, its President , were delighted with proper French-German buffet served at the Windows of Damansara.
“We love the food: the spatzle and veal kidneys.” “We love this place: the Windows of Damansara”. "The menu is wonderful!" . “We’ll be back!” Their compliments were highly regarded as the German Society of KL have a monthly outing, the Gourmet Whispers ,where they would savour food delights in KL.
German History Speaker
Dr. Torsten Schaar who is an expert on German history and also a lecturer in German at INTEC-UiTM, Shah Alam, was delighted to present slides and share his knowledge with the students. They came away from his presentation more enlightened about the history of Germany.
Dr. Torsten Schaar, the expert on German history.
Informative exhibition
You could get an insight about the peaceful revolution of East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Civil Rights Activism which was the driving force behind the GDR’s democratization, the dissolving of the Stasi, the debut of the Deutschmark in the east via monetary, economic and social union from the exhibition of posters (with information from the Federal Foundation for the Critical appraisal of the SED-dictatorship in cooperation with the Hertie foundation – supported by the Federal Foreign Office).
Besides posters, various types of newspapers and books in both languages were on display, giving the students an opportunity to know the various publications that are available.Many of the posters and other information were extended with tremendous support from the French and German embassies as well as Goethe Institute, the German Cultural Centre.
Deriving satisfaction from the success of this event, Mr. Thomas Liebecke, Mr. Alan Le Bras and Mr. Bruno Decourcy are cheerfully looking forward to the next Language Week: French, German and English which will be held on a larger scale next semester. “It has been fun,” they said. “Thanks too to the second semester students who have put up a good show and support. They said they have thoroughly enjoyed the food, be entertained by French and German movies, winning the competitions and most of all, they appreciated that the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts has indulged time and the fund to give them this opportunity to interact with French-speaking people. They have learned a lot, in good fun, and that’s what matters.”
Ms Kitty Lee presented prizes to winners.
Au revoir!
Auf Wiedersehen!
