About us

1. About us Sixpack Miriam Kämmerer Anna Luisa Alecu  Julia Exler  Susanne Kämmerer Rachel Parrish  Mutsumi Hirai

2. This is who we are... Anna: G’day! Kia ora! Buna ziua! Hello! My name is Anna Luisa Alecu and I am 22 years old. I was born in Bucharest/Romania but I have also lived in Germany, New Zealand and Australia. I study Modern Foreign Languages and TEFL in Giessen/Germany and I am in my 4th year and I plan on doing a postgraduate degree somewhere in Australia or the United States. I love travelling as this enables me to get to know as many cultures as possible, dancing and reading.........And what I love most of all is poetry.............And here are one or two of my favourite poets:

3. The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had really worn them about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day: Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and I I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. (Robert Frost) Der Panther Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehen der Stäbe So müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält. Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe Und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt. Der Weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte, Der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht, Ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte, in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille Sich lautlos auf – dann geht ein Bild hinein, geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille und hört im Herzen auf zu sein. (Reiner M. Rilke)

4. Julia: Hi, I´m 26 years old, married , German and I have a little daughter who is one year old. We have three dogs and two cats as well. I study English, Didactics and Economy, and I hope to graduate in 2004. Four semesters ago I changed from Spanish, which I did for nine semesters, to Didactics. In addition to that I have been working in my dad´s company for 8 years. At the moment I´m not quite sure about my future job, but I think I will go into business (eventually human resource management) if that ´s possible. I won´t have the chance to get a fulltime job because of my child and I would like to have another one. In my free time I like reading, being outside, horseback riding and travelling, but unfortunately I don´t have enough spare time. I think people that do not like animals are kind of intolerant and I don´t get along with them. Perhaps we will go abroad for a couple of years even if it is very difficult to move with kids and animals. If not, I really want to have a house of my own one day... Miriam: Hi! My name is Miriam and I’m one of the members of ’Sixpack’. I’ve been studying here at the University of Giessen for 9 semesters and my studies combine ‘English language and literature studies’, ‘Spanish language and literature studies’, ‘TEFL – Teaching English as a foreign language’, and, for 3 semesters, also ‘Teaching German as a Foreign language’, which I enjoy very much. I am 24 years old and in my spare time I like doing sports (cycling,…), going out with friends, going to the movies, travelling- especially to England  I don’t know what it is but this country attracts so much- like magic I enjoyed working on this project – our web site for teachers-though it was an awful lot of work sometimes, but I think what we got as a result pays of for it in the end I hope you all enjoy it and can use it somehow.

5. Mutsumi: I am from Japan, and I am in the TFL MA program (Japanese). Hopefully I can graduate in December 2003. I have taught Japanese to foreigners living in Japan for four years. I taught in beginner and intermediate levels. I really enjoyed teaching there, because I could get to know many interesting people from different places of the world through teaching. My interests include listening to music and cooking (only sometimes though). Professionally, I am interested in curriculum ans syllabus designs. Rachel: I am from the United States and am in the MATESOL program. I should graduate i n May 2003. I taught business and general English in Vienna, Austria for two years, working with multinational children, teenaaers, and adults. I´ve been teaching private clients through MIIS for about one and a half years as well as teaching and coordinating larger programs of Japanese and American college students. If I have free time, I love to go horseback riding, rollerblading, and to knit and quilt. Professionally, I´m fascinated by everything. At the moment, I´m really focussing on student centred classrooms and student autonomy.

6. Susanne: I’m Susanne, or “Susi” for those who want it short  I’ve been living in Giessen for about 15 months now. It’s quite nice. I’m 24, I’m studying English, Spanish, German as a Foreign Language and Didactics. I also studied Business for 3 years, but changed it as I found out that I’m not the one that wants to work with numbers and tables all the time, but with people. I hope, I made the right decision. But I like it. Actually I’m a private teacher teaching English, French and Maths. It’s one of my hobbies. Other things I like: sports, music of almost all kind, open-minded people, going out, meeting friends, computer games, fast food (who doesn’t?) , taking photos of trees, sale, travelling, The Simpsons, Austin Powers, beans on toast, puppies, writing (poems) I’ve already published some poems of mine in anthologies and I’m writing an English grammar book, a book on Shakespeare and some other things. Hope to get them all done in the near future. I hate reading books, spiders, being alone, Jazz and Country music!, traffic jams, Tom Jones, narrow-mindedness, ignorance and arrogance of any kind. Job situation right now: I work for a psychiatrist and for the uni as an assistant. My main function is taking care of the computers, assessing CALL software, “propaganda” and many other things. I also work in a factory now and then. My job plans for the future: going abroad. Though I don’t know where to exactly. I hope I can work at a university somewhere. Perhaps at Sheffield Hallam. That would be great! Sheffield, here I come…