WELCOME to the Homepage of ExpertEnglish
PURPOSE: This website has been primarily designed for Dr.Cindy’s students, current and past, as a supplemental means of providing top quality teaching methods and materials.
CLASSES: Dr.Cindy teaches English for Academics, Wirtschaftsenglish, Marketingenglisch, Finanzenglisch, and Verwaltungsenglish. In reality, all of these courses should just be called ExpertEnglish, but then they wouldn’t fit into an official Fachhochschule curriculum.
TARGET GROUP: The majority of Dr.Cindys students are Abiturienten, that is to say, they have had a minimum of seven to nine years of prior English education within the German school system. Some of Dr.Cindys students are graduates, professors, or wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter. Combined, this is the primary target group.
METHODS: As all of my students know, I am quite critical of the German school system, particularly when it comes to the methods used for English language acquisition. Therefore, much of my teaching focus is on teaching more effective METHODS to learn English and not getting bogged down in subject specific vocabulary. Nevertheless, I attempt to have appropriate, up to date subject material of interest to my students. Given the wide array of my students; this is a constant challenge that keeps me on my toes. I am always grateful for up to date information provided by my students.
DEMAND: The number of students wanting to take my classes appears to continuously increase. However, continuous institutional budget cuts make it impossible to keep up with this demand. So while demand keeps increasing, supply remains the same. (There is only one Dr.Cindy). On top of that, the total number of hours that Dr.Cindy is allowed to officially teach at any one institution is continuously limited. The primary reasons are politically and monetarily motivated. The institutions do not want to be required to turn a Lehrbeauftragte position into a permanent position as this increases their budget costs and has other political ramifications. This situation is most unfortunate but a political reality. It is a taboo subject. The bottom line is that it provides very little leeway for meeting student demand or improving teaching quality.
E-LEARNING: Given the political and budget realities, this website is an attempt to make up for the lack of available classroom time in Dr.Cindys classes. In its first edition, it is primarily meant as an aid to currently running courses, especially the ones in which the total number of classroom hours has been severely cut. The intent is to save administrative time (especially copying and distributing material). It is also meant as a way for students to review Dr.Cindy’s basics and at a later date, to provide additional self-learning exercises.
RESTRICTIONS: Since the initial use of this website as it is currently designed is to provide on-line material for classes that are currently running, this material will in fact ONLY be available to current students. Once the site is functionally running, it will be expanded for additional use via membership.