Vera V. IRwin
 
“A different language is a different vision of life” – Federico Fellini My passion for entering a language classroom is motivated by one simple belief: as a teacher, I believe that learning a language goes far beyond being able to conjugate a verb or to use an appropriate adjective ending. In my eyes, it is a way to rise to a new level of appreciation for the diversity of the world we live in. A new language opens doors to new experiences, new worlds and new visions of life. I see my main role as a teacher in helping students to take their first step through this door into the world of new discoveries about others as well as about themselves. My goal is to support and develop my students’ natural curiosity - inherent to every person and the catalyst for every learning process – as they discover new languages and through them new visions of life. COURSES TAUGHT University of Michigan: Beginner’s German (German 101, German 102) Intermediate German (German 231) Themed Intermediate German (German 232): Brothers Grimm, their lives, work and the collection of Fairy tales. First Year Russian (Russian 101, Russian 102) Second Year Russian (Russian 201, Russian 202) Third year intensive Russian (Russian 303) Introduction to Language (Linguistics 211) University of Northern Iowa: Second Year German TEACHING AWARDS Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, 2003 Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan Award for excellence in teaching, 2003 Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan