MUNICH (dpa-AFX) – The Goethe-Institut registers an enormous demand for German courses for Ukrainians. After the range of new courses for almost 1800 participants was fully booked within 48 hours last week, more are expected to follow in mid-April, according to a spokeswoman for the institute in Munich. Due to the war in Ukraine and the flight of many Ukrainians from the country attacked by Russia, the language courses are available at a symbolic price of 7 hryvnia (0.25 euros).
The four to ten-week online offers are aimed both at Ukrainians who are already in Germany and at interested parties who are still in Ukraine.
The people are taught by teachers from the Goethe-Institut Ukraine and by individual experts from a network of 15 accredited language learning centers in Ukraine. Some of them are still working from the Kyiv region, but some have already fled to places further west or to Germany, the spokeswoman said.
Thanks to the support of teachers from Ukrainian language learning centers, the Goethe-Institut is currently able to offer more courses than usual. “The need and the corresponding demand are huge. The offer was fully booked within 48 hours of publication. As an institute, we have never experienced such a demand.”
Regarding the situation of the institute’s employees in Ukraine, the spokeswoman said: “Fortunately, everyone is unharmed.” 57 colleagues are now abroad, a large number of them in Germany. 35 were most recently in western Ukraine and 17 were still in Kyiv. “We are in close contact with everyone and support them where possible.” It is admirable how committed they continue to work despite the great danger and the high level of stress to which they themselves or their family members are exposed./fuw/DP/zb