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My first name is Irish (Gaelic) and is pronouced Koyt. My hometwon is Waterford, in the sunny South-East of the Repbulic of Ireland. I have been teaching English as a foreign language in Germany for over a decade. After a year-long Erasmus exchange in Kassel and Göttingen while studying German and Linguistics in Dublin, Ireland, I was so smitten by Germany that I moved to Göttingen, then Hannover, after graduation in 2000. Over a decade later I'm still here. Munich and Bonn were added to the ever-longer list of German cities I lived in until I moved to Cologne in 2005. Cologne captured my heart and is now my home. I've become an Irish kölsche Mädche, but will always stay a Déise girl.
Teaching, training and academic qualifications
Teaching highlights
... teaching Intercultural Communication and Business English to first year business students at the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in Rheinbach
... teaching Academic English among other courses at the Applied Language Center of the University of Hannover for several years
... reading an Irish short story by candlelight at midnight to visitors of the VHS Köln's Bildungsnacht (education open night)
... accompanying new exchange students in their first weeks in Germany in my course Developing Intercultural Awareness at the University of Cologne
... preparing German students for studying in an English-speaking country and hearing from them how it all went
... holding pub quizzes for the very international participants in the qualification course for peace and conflict consultants at the Academy for Conflict Transformation of the Forum Civil Peace Service in Bonn (where I also worked for a few years)
... offering a teacher training workshop in the Ukraine for English teachers on how to teach pupils for about the European Union
... running a simulation about the European Union in Macedonia for students from all over the Balkans
International student coordinator
In addition to freelance teaching and training, I am an international student coordinator (wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin) at the International Relations Center (ZIB-WiSo) at the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Science of the University of Cologne (part-time).
Working in a bilingual office environment helps me keep what I teach relevant to the needs of Germans using English in an international work environment. Meetings, presentations, team work, project work, entertaining visitors and small talk are very much part of my own working life- not just something in the textbooks I use or part of my professional past. Having to write e-mails, reports etc. in German myself on a daily basis helps me to help my students do the same in English. The academic environment keeps my grasp of academic English up-to-date- not to mention that it keeps me in touch with life as a student or an academic. Working with students from all over the world gives me insights into cultural backgrounds and differences that I work into my teaching and intercultural trainings.
Random facts
- I've climbed the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain- 2964 metres above sea level.
- I look like a stereotypical Irish woman, but only around 10% of Irish people have red hair.
- My Irish is embarassingly rusty- don't ask me to teach you Irish! English is very much my first language.
- My life improved noticeably when I bought a decent bicycle two years ago and I cycle nearly everywhere.
- Sometimes I bring baked goods with me to class. I have an odd passion for baking bread.
- Polish is a lot harder than German. That's why my German is much much better than my Polish. Mówię tylko trochę po polsku.
- Guinness is not my favourite drink (shock, horror!). I much prefer German beer. Good job I live in Germany.
- One of my favourite books is about an Irish man solving a murder mystery in Cologne: "Lautlos" by Frank Schätzing.
- Someday I want to hike up the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. In 2010 it stranded me for 5 days in Dublin when there on a business trip as the volcanic ash cloud put a stop to air traffic in Europe. I don't know whether I want to kiss or kick it!
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