Many more Ghanaians are successfully learning the German language and culture in recent times with ease and alacrity, the head of the language department at the Goethe Institute in Accra, Hanna Schlingman told the Ghana News Agency last Friday.

She said patronage of the Institute’s flagship event, the national annual German Cultural Festival, had grown significantly from 250 to over 600 participants in five years.

The 5th National Annual German Cultural Festival, brings to together German students and teachers from all levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary, to participate in stage performances in the German language.

This year’s event saw students and teachers from 14 different schools from Accra, Kumasi, Ho and Winneba coming together to perform in categories of competition that they have prepared for under their teachers’.

“The University of Winneba in the Central Region hopes to establish a German Department to further promote the language and meet the needs of Ghanaians who wanted to deepen their understanding in the language.

Besides, she added: “Several schools mainly primary and secondary have expressed interest and have approached the Institute to support them to establish German clubs in their schools”.

The festival of German culture, she said, aims broadly to promote networking among all Ghanaian students, clubs and departments of German language, as a way of promoting it in the country.

Two major performances earmarked for this year were – a competition in German Azonto Dance and lyrics and a competition in famous German fairy tales.

Other activities included spelling bee contest, face painting, children games, karaoke, treasure hunt and guided tours through the Institute’s library.

Every year the best performing student is sponsored to study the language in German.

The Ghana Association of Teachers of German (GATG) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) support the Institute in the organisation of the festival every year.**