INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATION - Key Persons

Elvira Groot was amongst others author of several course books for Business German. Elvira studied German and English Linguistics and Literature at the Universities of Düsseldorf (Germany) and Reading (Great Britain). She started her career as a research assistant at Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf at which she contributed to a range of European research projects focusing on intercultural communication and on culture-specific communication patterns. Alongside her academic career in Germany, Elvira has provided hands-on language courses in business German and cross-cultural training for managers of multinational companies including AMS Management Systems, Johnson & Johnson, E.On, Esprit, Siemens and Henkel. Having lived herself in Great Britain, the Netherlands and Nigeria, Elvira has first-hand experience of living abroad and facing the challenges of everyday life in a foreign culture. Currently she coaches expatriate staff and teaches German as a foreign language with a strong focus on intercultural communication, e.g. at the European Patent Office and the Goethe Institute. Here she is also a certified examiner for the Goethe Examinations. Elvira's approach of teaching is very interactive and absolutely student oriented. She strives to make the language learning process for every student a positive learning experience. The art of teaching is to find the best way of learning for each individual student.