Center for Integration and Multilingualism (ZMI)
The Center for Multilingualism and Integration (ZMI) was founded in 2008 by the Cologne District Government, the City of Cologne and the University of Cologne. Its aim is to support educational institutions in implementing the promotion of the German language and multilingual education in the long term and with a practical focus.
The focus is on projects and offers in the following areas:
- Elementary sector
- School and extracurricular education
- Parent education
- Adult education
- Teacher training and further training
The ZMI sees multilingualism as a valuable resource for living together in Cologne's diverse urban society. The steering group and management are made up of representatives from all three partner institutions, while the Municipal Integration Center is responsible for coordination.
Further information and numerous materials (also in various languages) can be found on the ZMI Cologne website.
- Elementary education,
- school and extracurricular educational work,
- Parent education,
- Adult education,
- Teacher training.
Center for Multilingualism and Integration Cologne
Initiatives and projects
The ZMI is currently working on the following topics in particular:
- Implementation of key issues paper on the integration of newly immigrated children and young people in Cologne schools
- Promotion of multilingual education at extracurricular learning venues such as museums and libraries (in cooperation with the Cologne Museum Service, the Cologne City Library, the education authority and teachers of heritage languages)
- Annual training day German
- Interlocking multilingualism and digital education, including transition phases
- Promotion of the Multilingualism in Cologne daycare centers
- Association of Cologne European Primary Schools,Cooperation partners: Education authority for the city of Cologne, 15 Cologne elementary school
- Information and support for heritage language teaching (HSU)
- Qualifications for teachers on the use of racism-critical teaching materials
- Development of multilingual and competence-oriented language diagnostics