Katrin Schaipp

I currently work full-time as a foreign language teacher for English and Spanish at a grammar school in Bavaria for students aged 11-18. After graduating from high school in July 2011, I started my studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in October 2011 to become a high school teacher (English/Spanish). The Erasmus scholarship program enabled me to spend two semesters abroad at the University of Salamanca between September 2013 and July 2014. During my studies abroad, I was able to deepen my Spanish language skills, expand my knowledge of Spanish and English literature and language and gain many valuable cultural experiences. Before completing my studies in August 2016 with the 1st state examination, I also spent eight weeks as a volunteer in a Cheshire Home in Ireland, which helped me to improve my English language skills. The topic of my final thesis, which can be seen as the starting point for my dissertation plans, was The use of Spanish (L3) in the English (L2) classroom: potentials and implications. During the subsequent traineeship at various grammar schools in Bavaria from February 2017 to February 2019, I completed my traineeship with the 2nd state examination. Since then, I have gained teaching experience at various grammar schools in southern Germany and have been a teacher at Gymnasium Lindenberg for more than two years.

At the same time, I am working on my doctoral project, which is supervised by Prof. Dr. Tanja Angelovska. It was started almost five years ago, after I completed my teaching degree in February 2019. I was originally a student at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, but moved to the University of Kassel in November 2024 to follow my supervisor to her new place of residence. The project focuses on EFL teachers' competences for teaching in today's multilingual classrooms. Due to my strong connection to everyday school life, a practical approach to the challenges of today's heterogeneous multilingual classrooms is chosen, focusing on the teachers' perspective.

Teaching English as a foreign language in a multilingual context: preparing EFL teachers to teach in today's multilingual classrooms - what skills do they have and need to successfully promote their students' multilingualism?

Angelovska, T., & Schaipp, K. (2018). Heterogeneity in TEFL: A Focus on Teachers' Competencies for and in the Multilingual Classroom. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1-7.

-Presentation of the research project idea at the ÖGSD conference for young researchers (2019)

-11-14/06/2019: Participation in the International Summer School "Developing as a TESOL Researcher" at the University of Malta and presentation of the research project

-18/10/2019: Presentation on "Assessment of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' preparedness to teach multilingual learners: Diagnostic competencies and decision-making processes in task selection" at the DSP dissertation seminar at the University of Salzburg

-29.06.2020: Public presentation of the research project at the University of Salzburg (online disposition lecture)

-Participation in the International CCCP-2020 Symposium 'Cross-Language Interplay in a Bilingual Mind', organized by the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience (December 2020 online)