deutsch.info Erasmus Project

Project Title

deutsch.info

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Since 2011, the language learning platform deutsch.info has been developed within different partnerships and funding programs by the European Commission. Steady exchange and communication within the partnerships, allocation of resources and competencies of participating institutions lead to the last version of the deutsch.info portal, which was extended by new content in the sections courses, grammar and useful information as well as by new language versions and a new design and interface. The project was elaborated by 10 European institutions from 8 European countries.

2015 the platform was labelled as “best educational website of the year” in a people’s chice award and a closer look into statistics shows the ongoing success of deutsch.info: more than 450.000 registered users worldwide are using the platform constantly. The website records over 8000 visits daily, with maximal peaks of over 18.000 visits, per day! In average over 7500 registered users daily are learning online. In social media deutsch.info is one of the most popular German language sites and has over 100.000 Facebook followers. (Data from Sep. 2017)

deutsch.info is a free platform for learning German, focusing on self-learners and providing the possibility to train and enhance one’s vocabulary and grammar skills as well as reading and listening competencies by providing full online courses on the levels A1-B2. All content is available in 19 languages and learners have the choice to see translations of texts, words and exercises into their chosen language. This way motivation of self-learners on a basic level is preserved and they are given assistance in the learning process. The modern platform was conceptualized and programmed using the newest technical features and methods and is compatible with all gadgets and operating systems.

deutsch.info offers four courses on levels A1, A2, B1, B2, based on the European Framework for Languages. The focus on beginner’s level (A1) and on moderate advanced level (A2) lies on everyday language, that allows for first communication in different surroundings. The advanced B2 course covers situations, that are of special interest for migrants and people living and working in Germany and Austria. It transfers learners into fictional situations dealing with administrative issues, job interviews and visits of authorities. The B2 course goes one step further and trains rather professional vocabulary that should help in getting along in professional situations like in the job, at the university or other formal contexts as well as train to understand authentic and difficult newspaper articles. The texts and exercises of all courses incorporate specifics of life in Germany and Austria and moreover deal with different varieties of the German language as spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in order to be as authentic as possible. The courses comprise 31 topics, 129 lessons and over 1187 learning units. The courses were elaborated by professionals and tested directly with the target group in different European countries, in order to guarantee the quality and the correspondence of courses and levels as well as the relevance of topics and subjects covered for an international learner’s audience.

Moreover, the platform provides a media library with authentic audio, video and text files, a broad grammar section with rules and examples and additional practical information about living and working in Germany and Austria. A special feature is the quiz section, where learners can test their general knowledge, based on questions from official naturalisation tests from Germany and Austria. In order to increase the learning effect, test are not only showing rights and wrongs but are providing additional explanations for every question. The tests are available in 15 languages at the moment.

The main target group of deutsch.info are people that are learning German or wanting to improve their skills, workers, students and pupils already living there or planning to do so, as well as migrants, refugees, inhabitants of border regions, tourists etc.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 338799 Eur

Project Coordinator

STUDIO GAUS GMBH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Fundacja Novinka
• E@I
• SINIRLI SORUMLU BILIMSEL ARASTIRMA VE UYGULAMA EGITIM KOOPERATIFI
• INTER-KULTURO MEDNARODNI KULTURNO IZOBRAZEVALNI CENTER DOO
• Österreich Institut GmbH
• WBS TRAINING AG
• Fundatia Centrul Educational Spektrum