GERMAN SATURDAY SCHOOL BOSTON
German Language Education for 150 years
Faculty
Our faculty at GSSB are native German speakers, and many hold academic credentials from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as from the US. Our faculty body consists of 41 classroom teachers as well as a music teacher. Our faculty members engage in professional development activities throughout the year with a focus on the areas of instructional technologies, teaching material development, student participation, assessment and evaluation, and teamwork skills.
​
Claudia brings with her more than 30 years of teaching experience, along with advanced education degrees from Tufts University and Innsbruck University, Austria. Claudia is well-versed in the program and culture of GSSB: After joining our faculty in 1992 and serving as classroom teacher for 10 years, she was promoted to Head Teacher and then took on her current role as Principal. Claudia, a native Austrian, has a solid background in foreign language instruction. She has taught middle school, high school, university, and adult education classes in Austria, France, and in the Boston area. As an administrator both in Europe and the U.S., she has coordinated study tours, facilitated guest speakers, organized teacher workshops, and served as a university supervisor, managing and evaluating student teachers. As an educator and mother of two children, Claudia has chosen this path because she truly appreciates GSSB as a place for people to stay connected. Claudia is currently also a staff teacher for German at the International School of Boston/Lycee International de Boston.
Claudia describes her mission as follows:
The German Saturday School is a place for students and their families to stay connected to their heritage, but also opens the door to families for whom German is a new and exciting adventure. Our challenge is to provide every single student with the appropriate tools to achieve our main goal: the ability to actively communicate in German.
Head Teachers (Stufenleierinnen)
In case you have student-specific questions that cannot be answered by your child’s teacher, please contact their respective head teacher:
Silvia is an early childhood educator and joined GSSB in 2003. She started out teaching seventh grade before moving in to an open Kindergarten teaching position two years later. Silvia has been in the field of early childhood for 25+ years. Throughout the years her roles included that of teacher, director as well as high school student instructor in Child Development at a vocational school.
Silvia and her family (husband, two children) moved from Berlin, Germany to Massachusetts in 1985. She also teaches adult evening classes for the Minuteman Community Education Program (German for Beginners, Intermediate, Conversation).
Uta joined GSSB as 2nd grade teacher in 1999. Uta is also a part-time faculty member at the German International School Boston, where she teaches 1st to 6th grade. She has an impressive background in education, as well as many years of experience working with children. Uta and her family moved from Frankfurt, Germany to Chapel Hill, NC, in 1994 before moving to the Boston area.
Ursula graduated from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich with a Master’s degree in education. After teaching assignments in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Le Havre, France, she and her husband settled in New England where they have been raising their three children.
Ursula has been teaching grades 4 and 5 at GSSB. She also teaches German at the high school level as well as French at a private language school.
Heidi Singh received her credentials as foreign language instructor from the University of Greifswald, and taught Russian and English at schools in Germany. After completing additional courses, she became certified to teach German as a foreign language. She has been with GSSB since 2006, where she has taught grades 5, 6, and 7 and is currently teaching grade 6. Heidi is passionate about teaching the language and culture of German speaking countries and greatly enjoys sharing her experiences with students. She also works as a German language instructor at other institutions in the Boston area.
Hanna’s professional background includes cultural and language studies in Arabic and German. Her teaching experience includes teaching all ages and levels at numerous schools and universities in Bonn, Cairo, New York, and Denver, as well as providing teacher’s training. Starting out at the GSSB in 2005 as a 7thgrade teacher, she took on the DSD exam classes in 2009, and later on also AP classes. She was appointed Head Teacher for grades 9 through 12, and serves as Director of Exams. In 2020, her responsibilities were expanded once more, when she was selected for the newly created position as Vice Principal (Academics). Since she spent several years in the Middle East and Africa she feels passionate about intercultural matters, and encourages students to share their perspectives on sophisticated and controversial exam topics. She is also a faculty member at the Goethe Institut Boston.
GSSB holds a special place in her heart since it has benefitted her own two children profoundly. She enjoys being part of the German speaking, yet very international and inclusive community that constitutes the school. Her hope is to keep welcoming many more families into this community throughout the years and help provide a place for them to connect with German language and culture, as well as with each other.