Currently

• Sprachreisen (im Moment keine)
• English B1+ - Mid-week! Everyday Conversation for Enjoyment 50 + Begin : 11 September 2024
• English B1+/B2 - Good Afternoon! Conversation & Discussion 50+ - Begin : 12 September 2024

Personal Details

• Born and raised in Germany
• Studies in Social Science, as well as English Language and Culture, French and Russian, Iranian Studies.

Current work

With Corona and the conversions at Berlin adult education centers, additional online teaching in the subjects English as a second language and politics and society.

Since 2020 voluntary work in the board of the non-profit Jemal Nebez Foundation as well as active support of foundation tasks (archive work, inventory, e-publications).

For the work in the foundation I benefit from my pronounced interest in the Kurds and Kurdistan, which I already expressed in my dissertation in 1978, and which I deepened again and continuously after an extensive information trip to Syria and Syrian Kurdistan in 2002.

The resumption of work on the subject resulted in a publication in 2011.

Career

• Studied English in Germany and Canada with Bachelor of Arts (soc.) degree in 1968, after further studies in sociology, journalism and Iranian studies at the FU Berlin graduation as a sociologist.
  
  My FU Berlin diploma thesis dealt with various concepts of identity formation.


• Doctorate as Dr phil. Journalism at the Freie Universität Berlin 1978 (Rating: summa laude).
  
  My dissertation explored the self-image of the Kurds as public opinion on the subject of we and included a theoretical and exemplary applied part.


• Followed by a period of language study and research at the Pushkin Institute, Moscow in 1980/1.


• Building on contacts made during my studies, I became a freelance science journalist.
  Key activities included:


• Being a member of the editorial team of several ARD broadcasters/public radio stations.
• Multiple trips for journalistic purposes to the Soviet Union and Russia, also to Canada, the USA and within Europe.
• Journalistic reporting on the transformation of the two science sectors in Germany at the time of Germany’s reunification.
• Special interest and event related contributions on contemporary affairs concerning Kurds and Kurdistan among others for the educational programs of several ARD public radio stations.


• When back in Berlin during my studies I became an English teacher and have been since:
  Key activities
  
  
  • In-Company Business English and English for Professionals.
  • Continual teaching at Volkshochschule VHS since 1978, the leading German adult education center.
  • Regular organization and realization of educational trips to Great Britain.


• Training in Transactional Analysis
  Key activities:
  
  
  • Education and Communication Consultancy
  • Trainer/facilitator since 1998 for people with communication problems
  • Conception and realization of seminars for teachers aiming at quality development in adult education.


• Speaking Engagements

Links/References

• recent publication
• an interview in the context of a Master’s thesis – April 2014

Memberships

• English Language Teachers Association Berlin-Brandenburg ELTfromB
• Ver.di, previously RFFU, Media Section of a larger Trade Union in the Service Sector