On 15 October 2024, an event for German language teachers and their students called “Deutsche Sprachtage” (German Language Days) took place at the UPJŠ Faculty of Arts, which was organized within the cooperation of the Department of German Studies of the UPJŠ Faculty of Arts and the Goethe Institute in Slovakia with the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bratislava and the Volkswagen Slovakia Foundation.
The opening ceremony of the event was attended by the Vice-Rector of UPJŠ for Internationalization assoc. prof. Silvia Ručinská, Dean of the UPJŠ Faculty of Arts prof.
Renáta Panocová, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bratislava, Dr. Thomas Kurz, German Honorary Consul for the Košice and Prešov regions, Ján Bodnár, Director of the Goethe Institute in Slovakia, Markus Huber, and Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Sandra Diepenseifen.
The programme opened with a panel discussion with representatives of renowned companies who stressed the importance of German for success on the labour market both domestically and internationally. This was followed by a lecture and a follow-up workshop on the use of artificial intelligence in German language teaching led by Goethe Institute lecturer Christiane Bolte-Costabiei.
At the same time, model lessons for teachers and students were held, combined with a visit to the Komplett Kafka exhibition, which is installed in the Cultural and Educational Centre of the State Scientific Library in Košice on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka’s birth.
The afternoon block of the programme included an interactive lecture by the Head of the Department of German Studies at the UPJŠ Faculty of Arts, assoc. prof. Ingrid Puchalova, on the historical importance of the German language in Slovakia and a geocaching tour of the city in the footsteps of Germans and Austrians led by Dr. rer. pol. Michaela Kováčová from the Department of German Studies at the UPJŠ Faculty of Arts.
