Modern High girls to represent India in contest with learners from 72 countries

Ballygunge:

Two students from Modern High School for Girls have German television soaps and pop music to thank for topping a national-level language competition and earning the opportunity to represent India at the International German Olympiad in Freiburg this July.

Yukta Raj, a student of Class XII, and Mayukhi Ghosh, who is in Class X, have been learning German for many years. But the fluency they needed to compete with other learners in a language Olympiad came as much from following popular culture as from classroom lessons.

“I started watching German TV shows like Jojo sucht das Gluck and Tyrkisch fur Anfanger to prepare for the competition. It was basically learning while enjoying oneself,” said Yukta, who is the president of her school’s Deutschind club.

For Mayukhi, who inherited her love of German from her mother, pop music has been an unlikely learning tool. Her favourites include the rapper Cro and fellow artiste Namika.

Mayukhi was in Class I when she heard her mother speak a smattering of German and tried to emulate her. A decade later, it is the teenager who insists that her mother converse with her in the language and “keeps correcting her”.

“My mother is not fluent now for lack of practice. I ask her to randomly have a conversation with me in German,” Mayukhi said.

She and Yukta see the chance to compete with learners from 72 countries in the IDO – Internationale Deutscholympiade as an extension of their future plans. Both girls are looking at Germany as an option for their undergraduate studies. Yukta is fascinated by German “discipline” while Mayukhi loves the concept of artists’ colonies, of which that country has several.

For now, Yukta and her junior teammate are focused on enhancing their ability to not just speak and write German but also think in that language. “It’s started happening a lot. Since I started practising for the Olympiad, thinking in German has become a habit,” said Yukta.

Bina Ghosh, who teaches German at Modern High, said inter-school events and an exchange programme with a school in Germany had helped increase her students’ proficiency. “Even communicating over WhatsApp and Skype helps,” she said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Jhinak Mazumdar / April 25th, 2018