Dr. Christina Frei
Ph.D., University of California, Davis im Fachbereich Deutsch mit den Schwerpunkten Zweitspracherwerb und Feministische Theorie und Forschung. Frei lehrt im Fachbereich Französisch, Italienisch und Germanistik an der University of Pennsylvania und bietet regelmäßig Kurse in deutscher Sprache und Literatur an.
Sie hat sich auf konstruktivistische Lehrplangestaltung, interkulturelle Kommunikation und diverse Anwendungen von Technologie für das Lehren und Lernen von Weltsprachen und Kulturen spezialisiert. Außerdem ist sie Co-Autorin eines Lehrbuchs für deutsche Sprache und Kultur für Anfänger und Fortgeschrittene: Augenblicke Deutsch durch Film, Medien und Texte, 2ed. 2023.
In ihrer Funktion als Executive Director of Language Instruction für die School of Arts & Sciences beaufsichtigt sie den Sprachunterricht und die Sprachausbildungsgemeinschaft in der SAS, der Wharton Business School/Lauder Institute MBA/MA program, dem College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS) und der Educational Linguistics Division of The Graduate School of Education. Auf diese Weise fördert sie die nachhaltige Qualität des Sprach- und Kulturunterrichts für mehr als 42 Sprachen, die an der University of Pennsylvania unterrichtet werden.
Frei leitet auch das Penn Language Center, in dem viele weniger verbreitete Sprachen unterrichtet werden. In ihrer Rolle als Bildungsleiterin sicherte sie sich mehrere Zuschüsse: NEH, Fulbright und STARTALK. Mit der Unterstützung des Bildungsministeriums und des Institute for International Education (IIE) konzipiert und leitet Frei die Fulbright-Orientierung für Fremdsprachenlehrkräfte vor dem Semesterstart. Die PLC hat einen NEH-Zuschuss für die EPIC-Initiative erhalten: Educational Partnerships with Indigenous Communities (Bildungspartnerschaften mit indigenen Gemeinschaften) in Zusammenarbeit mit dem verstorbenen Dr. Timothy Powell, der Stammeswissenschaftler*innen und Sprachlehr*innen half, nachhaltige Ansätze für den Unterricht von Sprache und Kultur auf der Grundlage indigener Wissenssysteme zu entwickeln.
Frei entwarf und implementierte das Curriculum des Sprachprogramms an der Internationalen Sommer- und Winteruniversität der Freien Universität Berlin (FUBiS).
- Summer 2023, Summer 2024
Visiting Professor, Freie Universität Berlin International Summer and Winter University, FUBiS - 2019 – 2022
Undergraduate Chair, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures,University of Pennsylvania - 2017 -2022
Visiting Professor, German Language Summer School, Middlebury College - 2017
Academic Regional Director of Lauder Europe Summer Immersion Program, University of Pennsylvania - 2013 – present
Inaugural Executive Director of Language Instruction for the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania - 2011-present
Adjunct Associate Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania - 2008-2011
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania - 2008 – present
Chair and Academic Director of Penn Language Center, University of Pennsylvania - 2007 – 2009
German Language Coordinator, Freie Universität Berlin International Summer and Winter University, FUBiS - 2006 – 2009
Consultant, ERG Universitätsservice GmbH - 2005 – present
Senior Lecturer in Foreign Languages - 2005 – 2022
Director of Language Instruction, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania - 2000 – 2005
Lecturer in Foreign Languages, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania
- 1993 - 2000
University of California at Davis
Ph.D., German with Designated Emphases in Feminist Theory and Research and in Second Language Acquisition, University of California, Davis. March 2002.
- 1991 - 1993
University of California, Davis
B.A., German with Honors.
- 1999 - 1990
College of the Redwoods, Eureka, CA
A.A. with Honors, Major in Psychology.
- University of Pennsylvania
GRMN 002: Lords of the Ring-Freshman Seminar
GRMN 101-102: Elementary German 1 + 2
GRMN 103-104: Intermediate German 1 + 2
GRMN 105: Intensive German Penn-in-Berlin
GRMN 215/203: Text and Context; Homo.Cyber Project
GRMN 216: Introduction to Literature
GRMN 269: Erinnerungsorte-Introduction to German Culture
GRMN 301: Handschrift zu Hyptertext
GRMN 356: Dark Deeds-German crime novels
GRMN 387: Life in-between-Contemporary German Authors
GRMN 399: Independent Study
GRMN 516: Teaching Methods
GRMN 517: Technology & Foreign Language Teaching
GRMN562: Early Modernism (anchor course)
EDUC 670: Second Language Development (Educational Linguistics, GSE)
GRMN 999: Independent Study-Course Design
ICOM 100: Intercultural Communication (online course for LPS/BAAS) - Middlebury Language School
GRMN3107A Deutsch, Stufe 1 Leseverstehen im Kontext
GRMN3418A Deutschland Verstehen: Migration, Asyl, Flucht, und Vertreibung
GRMN3200B Deutsch Stufe 1,5: Zwischentöne
GRMN6690A Methods of Teaching German as a Foreign Language
GRMN6692A Curriculum Planning
GRMN6671A Digital Pedagogy
GRMN6672A Diversifying the German Curriculum
- Freie Universität Berlin International Summer and Winter University, FUBiS
Semi-intensive Intermediary courses
- Academic Honors
- NCOLCTL Walton Award (Nomination) 2019
- ACTFL-NYSAFLT Anthony Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education 2017
- AATG Outstanding German Educator Award 2017
- SAS Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty 2010
- Transatlantisches interkulturelles Nachwuchsförderungsprogramm (TraiNDaF) 2001-2002
- Professors for the Future Honors Program, UCDavis 1999-2000
- University of California at Davis Fellowship 1998-99
- Consortium for Women and Research Graduate Research Award, UCDavis 1998
- Graduate Studies Travel Award 1997
- Kaplan Award for Excellence in Student Teamwork 1997
- Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Students 1997
- Emilyn Louise Vaage Scholarship 1992-1993
- Grants
- University of Pennsylvania: Penn Language Center
- NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant entitled “Digital Humanities from an Indigenous Perspective,” administered by Educational Partnerships
with Indigenous Communities (2018 – 2021) $75,000 - US Department of Education: Institute of International Education
Fulbright Summer Orientation (2010 – 2020) $770,000 - StarTalk National Security Language Initiative (NSLI)
- Excellence in Leadership Summer Institute (2011-2012) $192,000
- University of Pennsylvania: Germanic Languages and Literatures
SAS Language Teaching Innovation Grant 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018
Consortium Grant 2001, 2004 - Venture Grant 2001
- Augenblicke: German through Film, Media, and Texts, co-author Bridget Swanson, University of Vermont and Glenn Levine, University of California, Irvine. [479 pp., fully integrated online platform, and ancillary materials] AATG / XanEdu, September 2021. Print book: ISBN 9781711493930, Ebook: ISBN 9781711493947.
Work in Progress
- Second edition of Augenblicke: German through Film, Media, and Texts, anticipated publication date 2024.
- “Transformative Teaching and Learning through Critical Media Literacy,” co-author Bridget Swanson and Margaret Strair.
- “Dynamic Individualized Networks of Practice to Build World Readiness,” co-author Meredith Hacking.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
- “Teaching Perspectives: Intercultural Development at All Levels” with co-authors Deborah Page and Margaret Strair in The Language Educator, Jan/Feb 2018, pp. 44 – 48.
- “Implication of the AP World Language Curriculum for University Language Programs” with co-authors Bridget Swanson, Glenn S. Levine, and Heather Willis Allen in The Interconnected Language Classroom: Critical Transitions and Interfaces in Articulated K-16 Contexts, Eds. Johanna Watzinger-Tharp and Per Urlaub. AAUSC Vol. 17, 2016, pp. 99 – 117.
- “Co-Constructing Learning: The Dynamic Nature of Foreign Language Pedagogy in a CMC Environment,” with co-authors Nelleke van Deusen-Scholl and Edward Dixon in CALICO Special Topics Edition, Volume 22, Number 3, 2005, pp. 657 – 678.
- Homo.Cyber Project, University of Pennsylvania: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/german/215/
- "Using Instructional Technology to Facilitate Active Learning." University of Pennsylvania Almanac, Volume 50 Number 22, 2004, 8.
- CD-ROM for textbook Deutsch Na Klar! 4/e. McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN 0-07-249253-8
- CD-ROM for testing bank Fokus Deutsch, McGraw-Hill, 2000. ISBN 0-07-236912-4.
- CD-ROM for textbook Deutsch Na Klar! 3/e, McGraw-Hill, 1999. ISBN 0-07-236252-9.
- "Minds, Bodies and Memories: The mind/body split in Christa Wolf's Kassandra." Focus on Literatur, University of Cincinnati, Volume 6, I, Spring 1999, pp. 1 – 15.
Reviews
- Literatur, Lehren, Lernen: Hochschuldidaktik und germanistische Literaturwissenschaft. Susanne Hochreiter, Ursula Klingenböck (Hg.) Modern Austrian Literature, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2007, pp. 124-126.
- Rafik Schami, Milad: Von einem, der auszog, um einundzwanzig Tage satt zu werden. Focus on Literatur, University of Cincinnati, Volume 6, I, Spring 1999, pp. 78-79.
- The Body and Eucharistic Devotion in Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg’s Meditation, by Kathleen Foley-Beining, Women in German Newsletter, Spring 1999, Number 78, pp. 22-23.
- Grimmelshausen the Storyteller. A Study of the Simplician Novels, by Alan Menhennet, German Studies Review, Volume XXII, Number 1, February 1999, pp. 111-112.