The Goethe-Institut: Looking ahead together

Modern societies are changing faster than ever. And, the 60-year-old tradition of the Goethe-Institut’s cultural, educational and language-learning activities in Thailand is moving with the times. The forward-looking nature of recent events bears testimony to this: In the areas of music, literature, film and the visual arts, bilateral partnerships have been fostered by artists from both sides. The focus of the Goethe-Institut’s activities has shifted to include modern performance art and theatre, urban media art, creative industries and contemporary music, in response to a growing interest in these experimental fields. In the field of education, subjects like Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics are key for future success. Since 2008, the Science Film Festival of the Goethe-Institut Thailand has brought this aspect of our lives closer to youngsters across Thailand with over 545,000 spectators last year. With the same aim and in cooperation with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, we are promoting a platform for teachers to facilitate teaching and l earning through digital technologies in the ASEAN community. At the same time, the ability to communicate in several l anguages will become ever more important. Therefore, the Thai Ministry of Education is promoting the teaching of 12 foreign languages, including German. The required teachers obtain the necessary qualification through a five-year training programme, i n which the Goethe-Institut, as firm promotor of plurilinguism, conducts six of the 18 training months.