How has my own family experience been impacted by responses to minority language and cultures?

The Experiences I have made growing up, belonging to a minority group , are not the same many newcomers in Germany are having now. Things have changed and the German government is trying to respond to the steady influx of immigrants coming Germany.

When I grew up not a lot of services for minorites were provided. I was lucky, because I learned German at home, my mom could speak it and my German grandmother always gave us private coaching in writing and grammar. Other foreign children that didn´t have the same opportunites that I had were often underachieving in German language classes. One good thing the government was able to help us with, was pay for Arabic classes that I took twice or sometimes three times a week with my brother. The grades I got there would also be listed on my school certificate so my teachers were kept up to date about my process. My family was very happy about that fact. I know about one school that had special classes for children with a migration background. They would get special support in German but also would have math, science and other classes in English or other languages. This school is only of very few in Germany. Nowadays you can find more of those schools. My little brother for example attended a school with a Portuguese focus, because many portuguese- speaking children attend this school.

Another point my family was not happy about was religious education in school. In elementary school my parents had a long argument about me not attending catholic or evangelic classes, because islamic classes were not offerd. As a matter of fact the were´nt offered in any school district in the whole state, to my knowledge nowhere in Germany. Teachers wanted to force me to be a part of religious education, but in the end I didn´t have to. That has changed in secondary school, there we were at least offered to opt out of all religious classes and be part of ethics classes instead. Now actually there are schools, even though not many, that offer islam classes, because the Muslim community in Germany is growing pretty fast. This generation can benefit from those changes.

The situation outside of school was different. The area I grew up was very multicultural. Many foreign associations and clubs provided cultural and religious activities for their members. Those institutions were not supported by the government. Now what the German government requires from people who want to immigrate into Germany is to obtain a German language certificate before they can enter the country. That makes it harder to immigrate into Germany when your not a refugee.