I am perfectly trilingual. I grew up in a Bavarian village and at the age of 7 I moved to Rome, Italy, with my family.

My first language was German, which I spoke with my siblings, and English, which we spoke to our parents, was a close second. In Rome I continued attending a German school even as most of my friends were Italian. Our Italian became excellent very quickly, and all three languages were spoken on a daily basis: German in school, Italian on the streets, and English and German at home.

Not too surprisingly, when I moved to New York at the age of 20, I completed my BA in Comparative Literature (English, German, and Italian) at Barnard College, and then went on to get my MA and my Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at NYU. I have many years of teaching languages under my belt.

My BA, MA, and Ph.D. are in Comparative Literature (English, German, Italian).

I have been an academic and have been teaching languages and literature for twenty years. I have taught at Yeshiva University since 2000; since 2010 I have been an Associate Professor of English there.

Before 2000 I taught at Barnard College, Cooper Union, and NYU.

From 1991 to 1997 I was Adjunct Assistant Professor of German, at the Foreign Language Dept., School of Continuing Education, New York University, New York City.

I love teaching language at all levels and am returning to doing so in fun ways now.

I teach languages in a variety of ways and at a variety of levels, depending on the needs of the student/client.

All revolve, in differing ratios, around Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing.

Language-learning approaches are custom-made for individual clients:

GERMAN:

I. BASIC COMMUNICATION/SPEAKING BASED. BEGINNING GERMAN. This means learning to navigate not only everyday situations, encounters, and practical needs and resolutions, but also an introduction to German culture, geography, even provincial dialects.

II. FOR STUDENTS WHO WISH TO GAIN A DEEPER GRASP OF THE GRAMMAR AT ALL LEVELS, that is, understand the language more profoundly, I am very comfortable approaching the language from a more formal point of view. Beginner’s, Intermediate, Advanced.

III. INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED: GERMAN THROUGH STORIES AND MUSIC

This is an approach the melds reading comprehension with speaking (reproducing the narrative, analytical commentary, both oral and in writing). Reading materials can include reading relatively simple narratives, such as German fairy and folk tales, poems, and plays as well as listening to German lieder and operas (Bach through Mozart, Wagner, and Schoenberg).

IV. ADVANCED: GERMAN LANGUAGE THROUGH READING CLASSIC GERMAN STORIES, NOVELLAS, PLAYS, NOVELS.

V. GERMAN FOR READING KNOWLEDGE: ideal for philosophy and comparative literature students at all levels: reading difficulty from German fairy tales to Nietzsche and Heidegger.

ITALIAN:

I.BASIC COMMUNICATION/SPEAKING BASED. BEGINNING ITALIAN.This means learning to navigate not only everyday situations, encounters, and practical needs and resolutions, but also an introduction to Italian culture and geography.

II. INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED: ITALIAN THROUGH STORIES AND MUSIC

This is an approach the melds reading comprehension with speaking (reproducing the narrative, analytical commentary, both oral and in writing). Reading materials can include reading relatively simple narratives, such as Italian poems and plays as well as listening to Italian opera.

III. ADVANCED: ITALIAN LANGUAGE THROUGH READING STORIES, NOVELLAS, PLAYS, NOVELS.

IV. ITALIAN FOR READING KNOWLEDGE: ideal for literature students at all levels. Readings in Italian literature and history.