Wendy Hillier
-
+44 (0) 118 378 5043
-
Lecturer
-
Lecturer, German
-
IWLP Module Convenor and Course Tutor for LA1PG1 and LA1PG3
-
IWLP German Language Lead
-
IWLP Student Engagement Lead
-
IWLP Assessment Team member
Office
Miller 112Building location
Miller buildingAreas of interest
- Teaching and learning of German as a foreign language and English as a foreign language
- Culture of German-speaking countries, cross-cultural comparison, cultural stereotypes, culture shock
- Sociolinguistics – accents and dialects, varieties of German and English
- Pragmatics – politeness and indirectness, language transfer in language learning
- Learning other languages (when time permits!).
Teaching
Institution-Wide Language Programme within the Department of Languages and Cultures.Background
I grew up in Reading and studied English and German in Nottingham, which gave me the opportunity to spend a year abroad in Tübingen, in the South of Germany, as an Erasmus student and Language Assistant in a Kindergarten.
I enjoyed my Year Abroad in Tübingen so much that directly after graduating, I went back to this picturesque university town and lived there for a further four years, mainly teaching English as a Foreign Language to German adults and university seminars in Old and Middle English. I also worked as a proof-reader of academic articles and a translator. All this gave me a fantastic insight into the differences between English and German and the ways in which languages can be taught and learnt.
In 2012, I began working at the University of Reading on the Pre-sessional English programme in ISLI, and was delighted when the opportunity arose in 2013 to combine this with teaching German on the Institution-Wide Language Programme.
I now enjoy teaching German to Beginners and Intermediate students on the IWLP, and academic and general English in ISLI to visiting students spending their Year Abroad in Reading.
Academic qualifications
- MA Applied Linguistics (University of Nottingham)
- BA Joint Hons English Studies and German (University of Nottingham)
- Cambridge CELTA.