SPECIALIST GERMAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE FOR ADULT STUDENTS
Aiming to fill Adelaide’s need for a specialist German Language Institute for adult learners, the German Academy was established in late 2016, striving to provide high quality, professional and enjoyable German language classes for adult students – from beginners to advanced levels.
With our 2023 German Language Programs and thereby our seventh year slowly drawing to another successful close (please see Testimonials for students' feedback), we are proud to present the first half of our 2024 Course Schedule - with our Semester 2 course offerings to be released around early June.
The combination of small class sizes, carefully selected workspaces and highly qualified and experienced teaching staff is designed to ensure a pleasant and effective language learning experience.
MA (University of Tübingen, Germany: Japanese Studies and German Linguistics)
Goethe-Institut certified Examiner (Goethe-Zertifikat A1-C2)
During her studies of Japanese and German linguistics, Hildegard already worked as a tutor at Tübingen University's Department for German as a Foreign Language in several programmes aimed at Japanese and other international students. After completing her studies, she continued to teach German including Business German (‘Deutsch am Arbeitspatz’) with a private education provider in Tübingen for a number of years.
Seeking a new adventure overseas in the middle of the pandemic, Hildegard came to Australia and Adelaide in 2020 and joined our team not long thereafter. Ever since, she has been greatly enjoying teaching her native German language and culture to students across all levels - at the Academy as well as at the University of Adelaide.
MA (equiv., University of Göttingen, Germany: German and English Linguistics & Literature, Pedagogy, Pedagogical Psychology);
Goethe-Institut certified Examiner (Goethe-Zertifikat A1-C2) - Chief Examiner ('Prüfungsverantwortliche') for South Australia
A native speaker, Frauke brings to the German Academy her previous experience in lecturing in German Studies at Adelaide University (School of Humanities) as well as in the University's Professional & Continuing Education’s former German Language Program. Prior to that, she taught at the Goethe Institutes Sydney and Melbourne, and has also worked at the University of Potsdam, Germany.
For many years by now, Frauke has been assisting the SACE Board (South Australian Certificate of Education) in a number of roles involving her German language expertise.
MA (Potsdam University, Germany: Foreign Language Linguistics for German & English as a Second Language)
Having come to South Australia before in 2020 to assist and teach at the German Department at the University of Adelaide (as well as us), and having found refuge in Adelaide in the midst of the pandemic, Vanessa has now returned from her native Germany for a PhD scholarship position in Linguistics and Language Teaching at the University of Adelaide - and we are delighted to welcome her back!
With over 7 years of experience at private language institutes and schools across Berlin and her ongoing involvement at the German Department at the University of Adelaide, Vanessa has taught adults and children of various backgrounds and ages from beginners to advanced levels.
She has a keen interest in language acquisition, is deeply committed to teaching German language and culture including lots of conversational practice - and loves the challenge of making complex grammar accessible to all learners.
MA (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany)
Being a native speaker, Hedwig contributes to the Academy more than a decade of experience in teaching German as a foreign language at the Goethe Institute Sydney, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the University of Adelaide as well as at WEA in both Sydney & Adelaide.
Her deep passion for language teaching and the immersion in different cultures stems from having learned various languages herself (at native level as well as later on) and her fascination with the manifold ways of language acquisition across a broad spectrum of students.
Hedwig has taught German at multiple levels from beginners to advanced, as well as in specialised classes for individual learners.
After her studies of Linguistics & Latin American Studies as well as German as a Second Language at Berlin’s Free University & Humboldt University, Germany, Iris undertook an internship with the Goethe Institut in Indonesia and subsequently taught German at Connecticut College, USA, as well as various language institutions in Germany and Australia.
Her own love for learning various languages as part of her university studies led to a lasting passion for teaching her native German to students of numerous ages and backgrounds, from beginners to advanced levels, and in classroom, group and individual settings alike.
For more than 20 years by now, and counting, Iris has loved to motivate her students to converse in German - and to show them the fun side of the language.