Teaching Assistant – Apply Now

Get to know a new culture, improve your language skills, and gain teaching experience by becoming a teaching assistant in one of ten exciting countries. France, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Russia, and Hungary are partner countries to Austria in the teaching assistant programme and one of them could be your new home for 7 to 10 months. As a teaching assistant, you get the opportunity to teach German as a foreign language for 12 to 16 hours per week in cooperation with the local German teachers, which gives you a chance of observing and acquiring new teaching practices while improving your own language skills and exploring a new country and culture outside of teaching hours.

For more information and your application, visit www.weltweitunterrichten.at/sprachassistenz, and if you are interested in any informative events, visit www.weltweitunterrichten.at/infoveranstaltungen.

Apply by January 12, 2021, if you would like to participate in the programme for the school year 2021/2022.

Studying English and American Studies: “I feel like I am part of a huge university family!

Tamara Urach from Wolfsberg is about to complete her teacher education programme in English and History. She is so enthusiastic about the English language and culture that she decided to do an additional Bachelor of Arts in English and American Studies. In this interview, she tells us what she likes about the University of Klagenfurt and why freshers should dare to do something.

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Students Participate in Debating Workshop at The British Embassy

 

At the beginning of this semester, two students from the University of Klagenfurt participated in an English-language debating workshop at the British Embassy in Vienna. Alexandra Weiss and Lukas Salbrechter share their experiences.

On the 29th of September, the British Embassy in Vienna hosted a debating workshop for young adults from all over Austria. Lukas Salbrechter (BA International Business and Economics) and I, Alexandra Weiss (BA English and American Studies), were invited and gladly attended the event.

Nerys Jones, the British Deputy Head of Mission, and Giuseppe Abignente, from the Italian Embassy in Vienna, opened the workshop with speeches on the topic of climate change in light of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference that they will host together. This was followed by an introduction to British Parliamentary style debating given by Joy Edobor and Miri Muntean, who are both professional debaters in Vienna’s debate club. During this, we learned how a debate is structured, different debate rules, what techniques we can use to improve our speech, and how to properly prepare and organise our notes.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch and then the debating started. We were split into two different debating teams, a small one with just four people and a larger one with six debaters. This was the perfect opportunity to put our newly acquired knowledge to the test. The motion we debated was “This house believes that the government should adapt to climate change, rather than trying to prevent it.” This motion was well-suited to the theme of the day which was climate change. The debates where fiery, passionate as well as a lot of fun.

My colleague Lukas Salbrechter described his experience as follows: “Throughout the event at the Embassy, I learned so many valuable lessons, such as the ability to convince people of my ideas and arguments, which is an important skill in life, and it is useful for a successful business career. The trainers, Joy and Miri, explained to us the foundations of debating excellence as well as some techniques for speaking confidently in public. We met exciting people who share similar interests, were given a fascinating tour through the historic building and enjoyed delicious food. Overall, this workshop was a valuable and worthwhile experience.”

The workshop officially ended with a round of feedback and a short socially distanced get-together. Some of us also gave a short interview for the ambassador’s camera crew and stayed a bit longer for a nice chat and obviously a cup of tea. I had a great time at this workshop and I am very thankful to the British Embassy for organising such an interesting event, especially in these difficult times.

The British Embassy organises many different English-language events and activities for students in Austria throughout the year.  If you are interested in attending a workshop or similar event, then follow the British Embassy on Facebook for updates.

Text by Alexandra Weiss.

Photos by British Embassy, Vienna.

Student Assistantship in the Department of English

Dear Students,

 

The Department of English would like to increase the department’s social media presence and engagement with students, prospective students, and the wider community. We think this can best be achieved by involving students themselves, so we are planning on hiring a student assistant in the winter term to be a social media editor who will work in conjunction with a member of the department to create and share social media content. In the interest of choosing a qualified candidate for a social media editor, a Survey Monkey survey has been created to gauge your interest and ability in terms of technology and social media: <https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N2YMGDL>.

 

Your survey responses will be shared only with the Head of Department Team, and, once a candidate has been selected, your responses will be deleted. You can only take the survey once. This position is available only to current students who are studying English at the University of Klagenfurt. Should you have any questions, please contact Blake Shedd <blake [dot] shedd [at] aau [dot] at>.