Margaret Maliszewska

Research interests: Intercultural communication, Intercultural awareness, Communication Studies, Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Migrant literature, German women writings, image of Germans/Germany in Polish literature, Deutsch als Fremdsprache

Education

Ph.D. in German Language and Literature, Queen’s University, 2009
M.A. in German Language and Literature, University of Toronto, 2004
Magister (M.A. equivalent) in German, University of Maria-Curie Sklodowska, Poland, 2000

About

Dr. Margaret received her graduate training in both European and Canadian universities. Her research interest includes intercultural communication theories and cross-cultural adaptation as well as recent German and Polish literature. Additionally, she is exploring how the use of technology in the classroom, and especially the student response system, influences second language acquisition. Her attention also reaches the topic of online teaching and learning. She has been teaching German at Queen’s since 2004, when she began her Ph.D. studies.

Dr. Margaret’s objective as a teacher is to demonstrate to the students that the language they are learning is indeed used and that by learning that language they are gaining invaluable skills and rewards. She always keeps in mind an old Czech proverb “You live a new life for every new language you speak” and tries to show her students how that translates into real-life situations.

In her LLCU course, she conveys to her students that applying their skills to real-life situations can be extremely rewarding and having an experiential learning component in an academic course reinforces students’ growth as thinkers and doers. She is achieving this by demonstrating passion and curiosity about the subject to motivate them and by providing warm encouragement and guidance. She strives to provide an inclusive classroom where students feel safe to speak and share their ideas.

Teaching

Professor Maliszewska teaches the following course(s):

GRMN 101: Beginner’s German I (evening section)
LLCU 303: Applied Intercultural Communication