Staff
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Lynn Ries, School Director, Teacher
I'm from Wisconsin and was first given German lessons by my 3rd/4th grade teacher. I received a B.A. in German from Iowa State, and M.A. and PhD. in German lit from the U of O. While working on my degrees, I spent time working in Mannheim and studying in Hamburg. I taught everything from conversational German through third year and on to co-production of a German play (Woyzeck by Georg Buechner) in Eugene. I've also taught at Western Oregon and Chemeketa Community College. I do freelance translations and have even worked as an interpreter in pretrial hearings.
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Susan Schlesinger, Substitute Teacher
I grew up in a small town in Eastern Washington State and my passion for German began in high school. I went on to combine studies in Economics and a BA in German from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington which included a study abroad program in Germany and Austria. After graduation, I married my husband and worked both in the States and several years in Stuttgart, Germany as an accounting manager for a publishing house.
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Claudia Werner, Teacher
Born and raised in Germany, I was bitten by the “travel bug” at an early age. After graduating from High School in a small town near Hannover I went to the US to work as an Au Pair for a year. Among many things I learned this: Being away from your home country definitely makes you appreciate all the things you take for granted. I had not realized how much I liked German language and culture. Therefore, upon my return, I decided to study German and English at the University of Cologne. I remember my eight years in Cologne as one of the best times in my life.
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Daniela Barack, Teacher
I am a native of beautiful Innsbruck, Austria. I always liked to travel through Europe and learn new languages, but when the big “Wanderlust” came over me I moved to San Diego, CA as an exchange student. I liked it there so much, that I accepted the offer to stay as a live-in Nanny for a wonderful host family, where I met my husband 17 years ago. After living in different places we choose to live and raise our 2 children in Vancouver, WA, since it reminded me most of the area where I grew up.
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Angelika Gorman, Teacher: Adults
When I was a teenager, a distant cousin from Canada visited my family in our small town in Southern Germany. I decided then that I, too, wanted to see the world and spend time abroad. I traveled to many countries and, while studying German and history at the University of Stuttgart, became an exchange student at Oregon State University in Corvallis, where I graduated with a MA degree and met my eventual husband. A year later I was back at Portland State University as teaching assistant instructing First Year German, and discovered how much fun it is to teach the language.
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Bianca Kallai, Teacher
I was born and raised in beautiful Mannheim, Germany, where I enjoyed living the first 21 years of my life. Marrying a US Army sergeant in 2004 eventually brought me to Portland, Oregon, in June 2006. That’s when I started going to Mount Hood Community College to work on my transfer degree in business. I am transferring to Portland State University in the fall of 08 to work on my Bachelors and Masters in Business.
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Carola Case, Teacher
I was born in West Berlin, Germany and was raised between Germany and America for the first 20 years of my life. My family traveled and moved back and forth several times to Germany throughout these years in addition to several moves around the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area. The East Coast in general has a huge German-American population and it was a very comfortable place to be if you were growing up with a foreign culture.
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Nadja McConville, Teacher
I was born in Darmstadt, Germany and grew up in the Frankfurt, Mainz and Wiesbaden area.
I moved to Hood River, Oregon from Germany in 1994 and then to Portland in 1999. I always enjoyed working with kids prior to being a mother and taught 4-H horseback riding for many years. I discovered a passion for teaching German when I assisted in the classroom at Portland Kinderschule (German Immersion Preschool) for the past 4 years. |
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Alex Sorenson, Substitute Teacher
I first began learning German in the 4th grade in a once-a-week after school class taught by Susan Schlesinger. I took to the language immediately, and continued to study German with Susan all through my middle and high school years. I am currently working towards a Bachelor’s degree in German (minor in History) at Portland State University. I plan to enter graduate school immediately after this in order to pursue a Ph.D in German language and literature. To this end, I am also in the process of learning Italian for my graduate reading exams down the road.
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Denise Crabb, Teacher
I was born and raised in Saarbruecken Germany, a French- German border town which is situated at the heart of the Saar-Lor– Lux region in Germany. After High School, I graduated with an Associates Degree in Arts and Design. In 2002 my life brought me to Manhattan Kansas where I attended Upper Iowa University graduating in 2004 with a BA in Human Resources Management and a Minor in Psychology.
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