The Session started at 10.50 AM (March 15, 2009). The dignitaries present were
- Ruediger Punzet (Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai)
- Dr. K. S. Divakaran Nair ( Regional director IGNOU kochi)
- A. Achuthamenon ( Lecturer in German CUSAT )
- Henry Cleetus (coordinator IGNOU study center - Head of the department Zoology St.Albert's college)
- Fr. Clement Valluvassery (Manager of the St.Albert's College)
- Prof. Robert Stanley (Principal of the St.Albert's College)
- Ms Priya Suresh (German academy Kottayam)
There was around 25 learners gathered in the session.
The coordinator Mr. Henry Cleetus started the session and welcomed all those gathered. He briefed about the course timing and the importance of attendance for the course. 75 % attendance is compulsory to apply for the examination.
Fr. Clement Valluvassery the manager of St.Albert's college who did his higher studies in Germany gave an inaugural address to the gathering. He reminded the resemblance of German language words to Sanskrit words. He also mentioned about the work needed from the part of learner to learn a new language. Generally a small child takes around 2 years to learn his mother tongue. He thanked IGNOU for choosing this center for the delivery of the CGL course. He Inaugurated the course, congratulating the learners who took the advantage IGNOU's distance mode.
Prof. Robert Stanley mentioned about the culture and heritage of a language. He also remembered the dignitaries visited the college from Germany.
Dr. Divakaran Nair thanked Goethe Institute for introducing such a course. He also mentioned about the attendance part. In his short speech he described about the 2 million students university IGNOU. He also mentioned that St. Albert's college is the study center with largest enrollment in the region.
Then Mr. Henry Cleetus announced that the study materials will be delivered after the session. And the learners have to sign on an attendance sheet.
The CGL progam coordinator from Chennai Max Muller Bhavan introduced us to the Goethe institute. Only in India Goethe institute is known as Max Muller Bhavan. Around 100 million people are using German as their means of communication in Europe. The institute started the CGL programme via IGNOU in Tamilnadu. Most of the learners joined there in this program for their carrier prospects. In Kerala lot of tourists are coming from Germany. The german language skills can also used in the tourism field. He also mentioned about the academic exchange programmes between the Indian and German universities. He described about the course structure.
CGL is a 6 month course.
It consists of 3 courses
CGL 1 - 2 month course
CGL 2 - 2 month course
CGL 3 - 2 month course
There will be 13 contact classes in total, each of duration 5 hours.
Attending these classes is very important.
There will be one assessment and one assignment to each of the CGL1,2and 3.
Thus a total of 3 assessments and 3 assignments.
The learner is expected to work at least 10 hours a week at home.
The exam will be held at June. It will of 2 hours duration. And there will be no oral test. Only written tests will be there.
Each student will get a study material book,one CD and an information brochure.
Mr Punzet also mentioned that Indian students are more concerned with the marks. He preferred students with less marks but with skills to use the language than the students with more marks who could not use the German language.
The exam at the end of the course contains only 50% wightage. The other part is for the assessments and assignments.
75% attendance is compulsory for the course.
Originally the 13 contact classes were planned to be held on alternate Sundays.
As the course get delayed due some reasons, there will be classes on every Saturdays and Sundays.
The first contact class will be held on Saturday 21st march. The detailed schedule of classes will be published on the notice board on 21st.
The course registration is valid for two years. Those who cannot attend the classes can join the classes in the next batch.
with this note the inaugural session ended.
Later the study materials were distributed.
