Nebraska Welcomes New German Language Advisor

Recently, Nebraska welcomed a new German Language Advisor of the Central Agency for Schools Abroad in Nebraska, Leeni Martinkari will be taking over the role of Irene Mrázek, who has returned to Germany.

Could you please describe your background?
After graduating from Freie Universität Berlin and obtaining my teaching degree in German and English, I later added Theatre Studies and received my teaching certificate for School Theatre as well.

My latest teaching post was at an Upper Secondary School in Berlin-Weissensee, where I taught German, English and Performing Arts for eleven years, often adding some spark to my language classes using theatre methods. From 2014, I also taught refugee-classes, which were established in many Berlin schools that year. I was also responsible for the school’s contacts abroad and coordinated the students’ annual study-trips and internships to various European countries. I left the teaching profession in 2016 to work as a German Language Advisor in the region of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky.

What is your role as a language advisor?
I offer guidance for schools that wish to establish a DSD-program (German Language Diploma). I provide professional development workshops for teachers, workshops in cooperation with AATG, professional coaching in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, fun German workshops for students, information on studying in Germany, and every now and then workshops for students with German artists (music or theatre), when these are funded by the German Government. I am looking forward to working together with colleagues in Nebraska, promoting and supporting German language programs.

What is your contact information?
columbus@auslandsschulwesen.de