Recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Duke Graduate School (2023)
Building an inclusive community of globally minded learners is at the heart of my teaching. Guided by my own experience as a foreign language learner and German immigrant in the US (now a dual citizen), I wish to help students gain cross-cultural communicative skills to facilitate interaction and understanding in a multicultural and multilingual modern world. As an instructor at both Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill, I have taught language courses as well as content seminars on literary, cultural and philosophical topics, and believe that learning a foreign language and engaging with foreign language literature allows us to reflect on our own positions and beliefs vis-à-vis those of another culture.
Informed by the extensive training I received on diversity, equity and inclusion, on critical race theory, on accessibility for students with neurodiversity and disabilities, and by my own experience as a first-generation student, I work hard at fostering an inclusive learning community that values the unique perspectives that students of diverse backgrounds and identities have to offer. To this aim, my teaching material represents a multiplicity of social and ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles, depicting, for instance, non-heteronormative family configurations and people with disabilities.
In an effort to meet the needs of neurodiverse learners, I try to approach class topics from different multi-medial directions. In one session of my advanced German language seminar titled “Contemporary German Society and Culture” at Duke we discuss recent immigration trends into Germany by beginning with a listening comprehension exercise consisting of a short podcast interview with Hussein Almerie about his escape from Syria, followed by additional historical background information in the form of images, maps and graphs to contextualize his narrative, before reading a brief newspaper article, in which Almerie dialogues with Dr. Ulrich Leuschner, a 1940s refugee to Germany escaping Russian advances. With a partner, students compare these two immigration stories before we discuss in plenum how Germans’ own experiences of escape and immigration during and after WWII may have informed the nation’s response to the refugee crisis in 2015.
In advanced language seminars, I also like to examine how the use and choice of language may shape the discourse around topics of interest. In one class, for instance, we watched an interview with the Afro-German politician Aminata Touré on racism in Germany, where she suggested that on the whole, German society is not necessarily racist, but “nicht-Rassismus-frei” (not-racism-free), prompting students to raise thoughtful questions on the linguistic and real implications of wording. As a native speaker of the target language, I see my role in situating complex conversations like this mindfully within their broader cultural context using authentic literary and non-literary source material, modern media and personal anecdotes.
In course evaluations, students have consistently responded well to my teaching methods and philosophy, saying that “you can tell that [I] want () everyone in the class to succeed,” and that they “consider [me] to be the best professor [they] have had at UNC.” My dedication to teaching was recognized with the Siegfried Mews Award for Excellence in Teaching German at UNC Chapel Hill, the Borchardt Teaching Award by the Duke German Department, and most recently, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Duke Graduate School in 2023.
“Frau Larson was absolutely amazing. She is one of the hardest-working most caring professors I have had at Duke. She always came to class prepared and everything ran on schedule (very German of her). I loved the format of the class and the content of the class. I especially enjoyed the fact that Frau Larson is from Germany because she could give the class an insiders-perspective on unique aspects of german culture and history.”
“Frau Larson included a plethora of learning activities - from presentations, to watching movies, to in-class discussions - there were many different ways to showcase my learning in the course. I felt engaged in each class and Frau Larson was incredibly accommodating and kind in helping me to enhance my German.”
“TAKE THIS COURSE. Prof. Larson is an amazing professor with a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge that makes it easy to learn and,makes you want to learn more.”
“Such a nice and caring person. Would recommend to anyone to take her class. She values her student's opinions and is very open minded when helping students learn the language. She understands that we all have different skill levels.”
“I loved this course. I absolutely fell in love with the German language and culture. It has inspired me to study abroad in Berlin in the Spring of 2020 and to take on the German minor. I have nothing but deep love and respect for this course.”
“I've learned more in this class than i've probably learned between all 4 levels of my high school Spanish classes... amazing!”
“I really enjoyed this class and everything I learned from it. Professor Larson is one of the nicest professors I've had at UNC and I would definitely take another class with her.”
“Ms. Larson is a great instructor who obviously knows her course material. Everything is made to be extremely clear and is went over numerous times throughout class meetings. Outside of class, she is extremely accessible and has always replied to e–mails within hours. I would want to take another class with her.”
“GERM 101 has genuinely been the best favorite foreign language class that I have ever taken.”
“She did a fantastic job. I consider her to be the best professor I have had at UNC.”
Courses taught as Instructor of Record:
- German 101: Beginner German
- German 102: Advanced Beginner German
- German 203: Intermediate German
- German 204: Advanced Intermediate German
- German 305S: Advanced German, Culture and Society (designed course and all teaching and testing materials): Syllabus
- German 340S: Contemporary Culture Through the Media Landscape (designed course and all teaching and testing materials): Syllabus
- German for Reading Purposes (designed course and all teaching and testing materials): Syllabus
- German Conversation course (designed course and all teaching and testing materials): Syllabus
I am a Certified Goethe Institute examiner for levels A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2.
To improve my teaching, I have received extensive training on the following topics: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Classroom, Online Pedagogy, Critical Race Pedagogy for More Effective and Inclusive World Language Teaching, Enhancing the Accessibility of Language Learning for Students with Disabilities, and on AI applications in the language classroom.