German for Newcomers is a German language project and workshop concept by Danish artist Stine Marie Jacobsen organized in collaboration with Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani and Mirella Galbiatti from the German streetwork organisation Gangway, with participants from BBZ and supported by Aktion Mensch Berlin. Over the course of one year several workshops were taking place and a film and a publication were produced.
The role of the student and teacher is shifted in German for Newcomers, where expats, immigrants, and refugees improve their basic German language skills by collectively writing useful teaching material for themselves and others. The teaching material is inspired by their own experiences with German culture, experiences of identifying with or translating oneself into German language, and bureaucracy. The idea for the publication (teaching book) German for Newcomers (Broken Dimanche Press, 2016) came after writing German for Artists, a hybrid pocket grammar book containing reflections on philosophical aspects of the German language in relation to art (hierarchy).
Working with film as a participatory tool, Stine Marie Jacobsen designs educational projects that deal with ethics, identity, control, fear and trust and aim to raise solidarity and civic engagement through community involvement.
Proceeds from the book sale go to the German Social Streetwork in Berlin Gangway e.V.
Softcover, perfect-bound, b/w