Katrin Vaikmaa

I graduated from the University of Tartu with the degree in Germanic philology. I have also participated in various continuing education courses at the German Cultural Institute, the Goethe-Institut and the Estonian Business School. I am a member of the Estonian Richard Wagner Society and the Tallinn Guides Association and participate in the work of the Baltic German Cultural Association. I summer, I also work as a tour guide, and I often stay in Germany.

Since 2002, I have been teaching German at Multilingua to adults to groups and individual learners. Using interesting and motivational learning materials, we communicate a lot in the classes. The role of the teacher is to inspire learners to speak in German right from the start. On choosing the topics, I will be guided by the learners’ needs and interests.

German is the language of Gothe and Kafka, Mozart and Bach. Learning German and getting to know German culture and customs will expand our world-view and facilitate communication with more than 100 million Europeans with German as their mother tongue.

As an adult educator, I: 

• identify the needs and expectations of the study group; prepare training content and select methods based on intended learning outcomes and previous feedback; 

• introduce the curriculum and training objectives to learners; take learners’ needs into account, adapt the stages of study or working methods when necessary; support the learners, notice changes in the learners’ development; respond to situations in the learning process in a supportive manner;  

• analyse the learning process and assess learners’ learning outcomes; 

• analyse and evaluate my own performance in the learning process; recognise my strengths and development needs, engage in continuous professional development; update the learning content and methods by modernizing them when necessary;  

• am able to search for information online using a critical approach to evaluating sources. 

I participated in an Erasmus+ learning mobility programme in April 2024 in Konstanz, Germany, at the Humboldt-Institute language school.