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4. Siobhan Mortell

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Biography

Siobhan Mortell is University Language Teacher for German at University College Cork, Ireland. She has a BA in German & Music and an MA in German Literature from UCC, as well as a Masters in Teaching German as a Foreign from the Herder Institut of the University of Leipzig, Germany. She has taught German language, linguistics, DaF and cultural studies at UCC since 1997 and she has acted as Co-Director of the BA International Programme. Her research interests include using games in the language class, student motivation and Year Abroad. Her email address is s.mortell@ucc.ie. Her holistic and integrated approach is evident in her work dealing with Year Abroad students in preparing them and empowering them to recognise, articulate and in turn maximise the benefits of this experience. This same approach is evident in her recognition of and response to students’ needs, as seen in her design of core module GE3807 which takes a holistic approach to learning business German language and challenges students to become involved in their own learning as well as broadening their perspective into social justice in the business world.

Siobhan has held several workshops on professional development for both UCC colleagues and German teachers and presented at conferences internationally. She was involved in organising a conference celebrating 30 years of Erasmus, as well as workshops, such as From Surviving to Thriving (April 2022). She has presented at the GSAI Annual Conference, as well as at annual meetings of BuGI (University Teachers of Business German in Ireland), and UCC research days. 
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Research Interests

Language teaching and learning 
Games in the language class
Year Abroad 
Student Motivation
Curriculum design
Language for Specific Purposes‍

Professional Activities

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Honours and Awards

	Year	Title	Awarding Body
	1990	Boyle Scholarship	UCC

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Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	Board of Studies, BA International	Co-Director	2021 /
	Educate Together	Board Member	2017 /
	Cork Educate Together Secondary School (CETSS)	Board member	2015 / 2019

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Education

	Year	Institution	Qualification	Subject
	1996	Herder Institute, University of Leipzig, Germany	Masters	Teaching German as a Foreign Language
	1990	University College Cork	Bachelors	German, Music
	1995	University College Cork	Masters	German Literature

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Languages

	Language	Reading	Writing	Speaking
	Spanish	Functional	Functional	Functional
	German	Fluent	Fluent	Fluent

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Teaching Activities

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Teaching Interests

Coordinator for GE3101, GE3801, GE3001, GE3005 Final Year Integrated German Language module.
Coordinator and course designer for GE3807, Final Year Business Language.
Year Abroad coordinator for BCommINT and International Business and Languages.

I teach or have taught on the following courses:
GE3101/GE3801/GE3001/GE3005 Advanced Integrated German Language Course for Final Years (also coordination)
GE3807 Commercial Language: German (also coordination)
GE2101/GE2801/GE2007 Integrated German Language Course for Second Years
GE1101 Integrated German Language Course for First Year non-Beginners (also coordination)
GE3108 Teaching German as a foreign Language (also coordination)
GE3103 Linguistics II (also coordination)
GE2102 Linguistics I (also coordination)
GE2802 Cultural Seminar for Commerce Students Going abroad (also coordination)
LL2108 Crossing Borders (also coordination)
LL6022 The Teaching and Learning of Language, Literature and Culture