MEET THE HEADTEACHER Humboldt-Institut – Kim Kluckhohn What initially inspired you to pursue a career in education? Inspiration seems to be the right approach to explain how I made my way into an educational career. When I started my German and Journalism university studies, all I could think about was becoming a sports journalist. However, it transpired that I was much more interested in the linguistic aspect of the degree. I started to teach new university students as a tutor in the German studies department. However, my colleagues in the department of English studies and psycholinguistics inspired me. The way they taught linguistic theory seemed much more demanding and exciting than the German
department’s. Luckily, one professor in the German department gave me the chance to add some of those theories to my tutoring program. I was not aware of this then, but obviously, this was my inspiration and starting point: I wanted to add topics to my courses without having any material for it in my language, without having the foundation for it in my university department. I needed to work on it myself and prepare the material to enable my students to understand it and work with it. I was inspired and inspiring at the same time: What a great experience. And luckily, my students liked what I did. Maybe because it INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT AUTUMN 2021 | 10
was different from what they experienced in their regular studies, perhaps they were just nerds… Hard to tell more than 20 years later… After graduating, I became a university teacher in the department of German linguistics. The teaching part was always more attractive to me than the research work. In my late twenties, after five years of working at university, I decided to quit the university career and do something else without exactly knowing what this could be. I applied for a teaching position in Osaka as I also wanted to have the experience of living and working abroad. Having approximately six months before travelling to Japan, I followed the advice of a friend
