Tonja has been teaching German at HKU since 1995. 

Within the German Programme, Tonja is teaching all levels of core language courses as well as electives and capstone courses. She created and co-created numerous courses to update the syllabus. Among the courses she designed are GRMN2023 German media, GRMN3028 Kino!, GRMN3032 German Reading Course, GRMN4003 Deutsch Aktuell, and GRMN4001 German IV (capstone experience). 

Tonja is in charge of communicating with universities in Germany and Austria and advises students on summer courses and potential exchange programmes in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Tonja is a registered DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Ortslektor.

Awards

In 2010, she was the first SMLC staff member to receive the Arts Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.

Knowledge Exchange activities

Examiner for the German oral DSE and IGCSE exams for secondary students in Hong Kong

11/2021 “Teachers´ Lift” Podcast, hosted by Dr. Aditi Jhaveri from CAES: on the importance of building on students' skills acquired while learning a first and second language to help them learn a new foreign language

https://soundcloud.com/user-542340935/ep38_tonja 

German Speech Competition 2020: in collaboration with the Goethe Institute Hong Kong

2016/2017 German Taster Course: six-week course to introduce German and the German-speaking countries to disadvantaged secondary students (in collaboration with the Swiss Consulate General in Hong Kong, local charity Project WeCan, and SMLC colleague Shirly Tang)

Experiential learning opportunities

By setting up relations between the German Programme and various universities in Germany, Tonja enabled HKU students to attend summer courses or further their studies there. This close relationship led to the establishment of two scholarships for students of the German Programme sponsored by the University of Freiburg and the University of Tübingen.

She also approached an outside donor, Lufthansa, for sponsorship, which led to the creation of the Lufthansa Scholarship and an internship opportunity for students with Lufthansa.

 

Service

FACULTY OF ARTS

2010 – present Faculty Review Committee on Discontinuation (undergraduate/postgraduate)

10/2016 – 10/2018 Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity, first elected SMLC representative

SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES AND CULTURES

2008 – 2011 Deputy Head for 4-year Curriculum Reform