The school authorities in Cologne are looking for a teacher "for the Kirmanci-Zazaki language". The position is for twenty hours per week and the teacher is urgently needed. The job advertisement states: "It is the task of the native language lessons to maintain and expand the written and spoken language skills of immigrant children and young people."
Application requirements are teaching and language qualifications as well as intercultural and methodological skills. The assignment will involve different schools in Cologne and the lessons usually take place in the afternoon. According to the job advertisement, the most comprehensive range of courses is to be set up in accordance with the curriculum of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for native language teaching at primary schools, special needs schools and secondary schools. However, the employment relationship is limited. The application deadline is September 24th.
Campaign for the preservation of Kirmanckî in Kurdistan
According to UNESCO, Kirmanckî is one of the languages threatened with extinction. This variety of Kurdish, which is also called Zazakî, Dimilkî or Kirdkî, is anchored as the main dialect in Dersim and the provinces of Erzincan, Bingöl and Muş. Even if some linguists do not regard Kirmanckî as a Kurdish dialect, but rather as a language of its own, the majority of those who speak identify themselves as Kurds.
It is estimated that this variety is spoken by only about two million people today. This is due to the particularly heavy assimilation pressure of the Turkish state in regions with an Alevi-Kurdish majority and genocides such as in Dersim in 1937/38. A campaign was launched in North Kurdistan at the beginning of the year to promote the preservation and further development of Kirmanckî.