I was born and raised in Germany. For as long as I can remember, I have always been curious to see what is behind the horizon and especially - what languages do they speak there?

In school studied Latin, English and French for several years. I studied English and French and graduated with the degree of 'Foreign Language Correspondent in English and French' and worked for several years in the pharmaceutical field.

After moving to the Bay Area with my husband, I went back to school. I graduated with a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. For my foreign language requirement I had chosen Mandarin, which I fell in love with while traveling in China and Taiwan. After the study of Romance and Germanic languages, I enjoyed this completely different structure of a language. But Chinese is very work intense. Believe me, it takes much less effort to learn German!!

Being a language student practically all my life, helps me a lot in my teaching. I feel that I can sympathize with my students while drawing on my own experiences or finding different ways to explain new concepts or materials. I like watching my students gain knowledge and improve their language skills. I also try to convey as much German culture as possible in my classes, because culture is a very important part of the language! Have you ever had a slice of bread with NUTELLA while studying new vocabulary?

I have been teaching German at Language Arts since the Fall of 2007. I have also been teaching German for adults at the German American International School in Menlo Park since the Fall of 2008.

My latest endeavor is to learn Hindi - at Language Arts, of course!