Adult education centre: Summer semester 2020

The Chemnitz Adult Education Centre's summer semester starts on 2 March 2020 and the new course programme will be published online on 9 December. From then on, all courses can be booked at www.vhs-chemnitz.de. Course bookings can also be made at the service counter in the Adult Education Centre from this date. Vouchers for the new course programme can also be purchased. The course catalogue will be available to take away from 27 January 2020 at the adult education centre, the citizen service points and at all known locations.

100 years of Chemnitz Adult Education Centre in retrospect
The Adult Education Centre ended its anniversary year 2019 with a special tribute: a stumbling block was laid for former Adult Education Centre lecturer Gertrud Stern on 5 December.
As one of the first female lecturers, she played a key role in establishing women's education in Chemnitz. From 1922 to 1933, she gave excellently attended lectures on various topics for "the woman of today": non-violent child-rearing, career prospects for single mothers to secure their livelihood and women's rights. As a reform pedagogue, she also led the "Community for Women" working group. A staunch social democrat, Gertrud Stern was imprisoned several times from 1933 onwards due to her political commitment. The adult education centre is the patron of her stumbling block.

To mark the centenary, the Volkshochschule organised a series of lectures with high-calibre guests. With around 700 participants, the lectures and readings as well as the exhibition "Mission Education - 100 Years of Chemnitz Adult Education Centre" were a complete success.

Under the heading "Visions: What kind of society do we want to live in?", activist Raùl Krauthausen spoke about inclusion in practice and its opportunities. Journalist and author Petra Gerster talked to Chemnitz residents about the role of journalism, including in the new media. Television correspondent Jörg Armbruster spoke about developments in Syria. He reported on the challenges of providing authentic reporting. With Peter Sloterdijk, the adult education centre brought one of the best-known and most renowned philosophers of our time to Chemnitz. Sloterdijk concluded the lecture series with a total of two readings, calling on people to pause for thought, actively scrutinise political developments and social situations in Germany and the world and look for their own as well as common solutions and goals.

Engaging in dialogue and building bridges
The Adult Education Centre is taking up Sloterdijk's ideas and the Visions series in the new summer semester and deepening them with new and current content and formats. The VHS would like to enter into dialogue with the people of Chemnitz about current issues relating to democracy and security. Inclusion is also a central point of discussion for the adult education centre. According to recent studies, almost one in five people in Chemnitz is directly affected by disability. "We want to build bridges with the help of education, bridges across the rifts that have arisen in urban society," explains Grit Bochmann, Director of Chemnitz Adult Education Centre. With its range of courses, Chemnitz Adult Education Centre aims to contribute to understanding and mutual exchange between the people of Chemnitz. Accordingly, the new programme booklet bears Isaac Newton's quote "We build too many walls and not enough bridges". ("We build too many walls and not enough bridges").

Information and active dialogue about democracy are fundamental building blocks for bridges. To mark the mayoral election next year, the event "An-KREUZEN für Chemnitz! Worth knowing about the mayoral election" will provide information about the formal requirements, the election procedure and the areas of responsibility of the person elected. Presentations and discussion formats on the party system in Germany and parliamentarianism are also planned.

The topic of "security" is the subject of much and controversial discussion in the media - a reason for the adult education centre to address it. In a three-part series, the adult education centre informs and discusses with all interested parties the legalities and the contradiction between perceived insecurity and the statistically recorded decline in crime. Basic digital rights, data protection and false reports will also be discussed. The events are organised in cooperation with the Chemnitz Municipal Prevention Council.

GDR history and reunification
To mark the anniversary of reunification, the adult education centre is also going into historical depth. It is offering a multi-part discussion format that provides time and space to deal with the upheavals and demolitions of the last 30 years in a smaller group. All interested parties are cordially invited to share their personal experiences from the last 30 years on urban development, work and labour, family and education. These events kick off with the exhibition "Umbruch Ost", which was conceived by the Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung and the GDR historian Dr Stefan Wolle. It will be on display at the adult education centre from 24 March 2020.

The VHS is also focussing on GDR history with another exhibition: the adult education centre is showing 18 panels on the architecture and history of the Kaßberg memorial site, which is currently under construction. The stories of the prisoners - from the Nazi era to the GDR - are also presented in the exhibition. Wolfgang Lötzsch from Chemnitz, a former cyclist and contemporary witness, talks about his very personal history in the Kaßberg prison. He was imprisoned here in the mid-1970s. He is committed to coming to terms with the eventful history of this prominent place in Chemnitz. Wolfgang Lötzsch opens the exhibition on 6 March 2020.

Basic ecological education
Basic ecological education is another central theme of the 2020 summer semester and aims to impart knowledge about the natural foundations of life. "Climate protection, resource conservation, the preservation of diversity in flora and fauna and their protection are fundamental topics for the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre," says Grit Bochmann. For this reason, the successful "Living Consciously" course series will be continued and supplemented with additional programmes. In addition to shade plants for gardening in the city, anyone interested will learn more about berries as snack fruit and how to mow with a scythe. Regional cooperation partners, such as the Chemnitz gardening and exchange platform "Frisch vom Beet" and the "Hof zur bunten Kuh", will also be presenting themselves and their concepts. Workshops on planting butterfly meadows and sustainable fertilisation are also planned, for example.

These will combine interesting facts with practical sessions and an opportunity to exchange ideas.

Bees will play a prominent role in basic ecological education. The five-part course series is entitled "The fascination of bees". Bee protection as well as beekeeping and beekeeping will be at the centre of the course series. A lecture by the Chemnitz Veterinary Office will provide information on bee habitats, honey and bee mortality. The protection of the animals will also be discussed. In workshops, the keeping of bees will be explained and demonstrated directly at the beehive. Great emphasis is placed on practical tips and dialogue. This series is aimed at both experienced beekeepers and interested "bee novices".

Tip: Environmentally friendly and sustainable production of clothing is the subject of the interactive exhibition "Tuchfühlung". Information about fabric production can be read in a wardrobe and visitors can "get up close and personal" with various fabric samples.

Experience old craft techniques in a new way
Fabric production will also be addressed in the new art and culture courses. From 2020, anyone interested can learn or relearn how to crochet. Nuno felting is also brand new to the course programme. This is a special form of felting. Wool and fabrics, for example silk or cotton, are combined to form a new fabric by so-called felting. This creates unique patterns. The adult education centre has been presenting old craft techniques for several semesters.

Foreign languages and ...
The adult education centre is combining its creative courses with a foreign language course in the summer semester. Two photography courses are being offered in English: "Creative Compositions in Photography" and "Street Photography". The aim is to take a practical approach to photography and discuss the subject, motifs and experiences in the group. "Many photography tutorials on YouTube are in English. We build on this and combine photography with the English language. In this way, we enable the course participants - unlike on YouTube - to work together on photographs and share their results," explains Grit Bochmann. A 10th grade level of English is sufficient for participation in these courses.

The successful "Italian with all the senses" course series will also be continued in the 2020 summer semester. This combines language lessons with typical local cuisine. Participants will learn the basics of Italian cuisine while cooking and find out more about the food culture in Italy. Ravioli, spaghetti and lasagne will be cooked this term.

Fans of Italian literature and music will also get their money's worth in the new semester. The adult education centre is expanding the course series with two additional courses. Learning with music - Italian song lyrics are translated into German and combined with vocabulary and grammar revision. The novels by the author Andrea Camillieri about the detective Montalbano will also be read and discussed in Italian.

Tip: Two new foreign languages can be found in the course programme for the summer semester Catalan and Hindi/Urdu. Hindi is learnt in Latin letters, very similar to the way it is taught in the motherland of the language, India.

Breaking down barriers
In the new semester, there will be a yoga course for people with visual impairments and visual impairments at the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre for the first time. "Although the course is designed for people with visual impairments, we would be delighted if sighted people also attended this course," says Grit Bochmann. "We want to strengthen the participation of Chemnitz residents with disabilities in further education and at the same time promote the coexistence of people with and without disabilities."

Information about the VHS
The Chemnitz Adult Education Centre is located in the heart of the city of Chemnitz, right next to the central bus stop at Moritzstraße 20. As the largest municipal education provider (as a department in the cultural operations of the city of Chemnitz), the Adult Education Centre occupies the fourth and fifth floors of the TIETZ with a total of 33 mostly multifunctional, ultra-modern course rooms. Chemnitz Adult Education Centre has 24 employees and more than 350 teachers from more than 30 countries. Last year, the adult education centre recorded around 31,750 teaching hours and around 14,000 participants. (Total annual figures for 2018).

This means that the adult education centre is roughly the size of a three-form grammar school.