by Kathrin Klinker
This is an excerpt from an article first published in Area 41: The Anglosphere. Area 41 is a literary magazine published by students of the IfAA with the aim to maintain a space where the diverse voices and creative identities of students and faculty can be shared and celebrated.
Area 41: Okay, let’s start with the first question. So, when did you start teaching at the University of Osnabrück?
RM: I started my contract at the University of Osnabrück, believe it or not, on the 1st of April 1993. That’s 31 and a half years ago, so I think that puts me in my 63rd semester at the moment. I might be wrong, but something like that. It seems like a long time. (laughs)
Area 41: Was Osnabrück your first stop as a teacher?
RM: Yes, although you also asked how I came here. So, I was a young man at the time, and in 1991 I finished my Bachelor’s degree in England and I went to Canada for a year to do a Master’s in Germanistik. And then I was halfway through that and I thought, well, what the devil am I going to do after this?
I asked my professors back in England if they knew of anything developing in the old GDR, because there were lots of opportunities in East Germany back then. And they said, no, but how about this?
And by sheer word of mouth, the job vacancy had got to England somehow. And then I applied from Canada, much to the amazement of the people in the Fachbereich 7 back then, who were just flabbergasted that the job, which was not advertised, had managed to get to Canada simply by word of mouth.
So, I applied in the spring of 1992, and in the spring of 1993 I came. In the meantime, I’d done a teacher training course in Exeter University back in England, which I broke off to come here. It was a bit chaotic at the time. Coming here sort of settled things, really.
Area 41: Have you always wanted to teach, or have you had a different dream job?
RM: Well, you know how life is. Things take on a sort of momentum of their own. I don’t think I envisaged myself teaching.
Although, I think in the arts, it’s what you tend to end up doing. I taught beginners German in Canada as part of my graduate experience. And that gave me a first experience of it.
So, I did teaching placements in schools in England for my teacher training course. And then I guess on the back of that, I came here. And the funny thing about teaching is that you learn at least as much yourself as you can teach anybody else when you’re a teacher, right?
I’m not the same person that I was 31 years ago, that’s for sure. I don’t think I knew very much at all at the beginning.
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