Instructors

Claudia Hein, MA

Senior Lecturer for German

Claudia is originally from Hamburg, Germany. She received her 1. Staatsexamen from the Teacher's College in Kiel, Germany in 1989 and her Masters of Arts in Foreign Languages from WVU, USA in 1992.

Before coming to Canada, Claudia supervised and coordinated the German program at WVU in the early 90's. In 1992, she moved to Italy where she worked as a Lecturer for German at the Universita degli Studi G. d"Annunzio in Pescara until 1998. She then moved to Vancouver and has been working for SFU since 1999. She is also a certified examiner with the Goethe Institut.

When teaching, Claudia's main goal is to get students excited about the German language and encourage them to the point that they will spend some time in a German speaking country.

In her free time, Claudia enjoys reading, social media, travelling, jogging, swimming and relaxing with her family.

Julia Rueben, 2. Staatsexamen

Instructor for German

Julia is originally from Konstanz, Germany. She received her 1. Staatsexamen from the Teacher's College in Weingarten, Germany in 1997 and her 2. Staatsexamen from the Schulamt Konstanz, Germany in 1999.

Before coming to Canada, Julia lived in New Zealand from 2000 until 2004, where she worked for a Harbour Cruise Company in Lyttelton, near Christchurch as an office administrator and crew member on one of the boats. In 2004, Julia returned to Konstanz, Germany to work as a teacher in an Elementary School, where she mainly taught Grade 3 and 4 until 2008. She then moved to Vancouver and has been working for SFU since 2013.

Julia still has a strong connection to Germany and visits her family and friends once a year. When teaching, Julia tries to share her passion for the German language and culture with her students.

In her free time, Julia enjoys the outdoors while skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer and spending time with her children and husband.