Apresentação Pessoal

Simone Auf der Maur


Research areas:


Initial Training for Foreign Language Teachers; Teaching German as a Foreign Language; Intercultural Communication.


Qualifications:

Ph.D in Language Teaching from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto (FLUP) with a thesis on the textual competence of specialised texts in a foreign language, entitled Die Rezeption von Fachtexten in der Fremdsprache Deutsch: Textkompetenz angehender DaF-Lehrender - eine empirisch-qualitative Untersuchung.

MA in German Studies from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto (2007): Textverstehen-Textverständlichkeit: Erstellung und praktische Anwendung eines Instrumentariums zur Beurteilung des Schwierigkeitsgrades eines Sachtexts für eine bestimmte Zielgruppe (am Beispiel der Textsorte ‘Zeitungsnachrichtentext’).
Degree in Modern Languages and Literatures from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich (Switzerland). Thesis: An Outsider within the British Literary Tradition: Eva Figes' Experimental Novels.

Teaching:

She teaches Intercultural Communication and German as a Foreign Language, trains teachers and supervises the teaching internship for the MA in Language Teaching at FLUP. She also assists trainees in writing their final traineeship reports and has supervised/co-supervised more than 45 MEIEFA/MEPIEFA reports since 2008/2009.

She promotes initiatives linked to intercultural communication and the implementation of the 21st Century Skills and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in cooperating schools as part of the German teaching internship in collaboration with the international humanitarian organisation The Oneness Heart Tears and Smiles, based in New York: Jharna-Kala Exhibit & Children's Meditation Workshop at the public library, Amarante (2021); Jharna-Kala Exhibit at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Matosinhos, Portugal (2022); Happiness Banners for two schools in Ermesinde (2021); Artwork on Happiness from Portuguese children for children at the Raisa Gorbacheva Memorial Institute of Oncology in Russia (2022); International Day of Happiness: planting of a peace tree in the school gardens of the Conservatory of Music in Porto, Secondary School in Ermesinde and ‘Escola da Ponte’ (Santo Tirso) with an exhibit of paintings and aphorisms from the book ‘Listen to Nature’ (2023) by Sri Chinmoy.

2021-2022: trainer as part of the European University Alliance for Global Health (EULOGH): webinar Intercultural Communication: UNESCO and Sustainable Development Goals: Sri Chinmoy - A Life dedicated to Global Peace (three editions)

2023 and 2024: trainer in the continuing training unit ‘Transcultural Health Care’, in collaboration with lecturers from the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS) and the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (two editions).

Other duties:

She is a member of the Course Monitoring Committee - Master's Degree in Teaching English and German/French/Spanish in Primary, 3rd cycle and Secondary Education.

Since March 2016 she has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Linguistic Centre of the University of Porto (CLUP).

Since 2016 she has been the pedagogical responsible person of 17 curricular units in different bachelor's and master's programmes, including German as a Foreign Language (A1-B2).

From March 2011 to March 2024 she was vice-president of the Portuguese Association of German Teachers (APPA). She is an auditor of German as a Foreign Language textbooks.

From September 2022 to September 2024, she was the coordinator of the FLUP Peer Mentoring Programme (InFLUP), which is part of the University of Porto's Transversal Peer Mentoring Programme. As part of the InFLUP Mentoring programme, she has also run several workshops on Intercultural Communication for UP students.