DAAD-Lektors

Florian Thaller studied English, Geography and German as a Foreign Language (GFL) at Philipps-University Marburg, California State University, East Bay and Pennsylvania State University (both USA). He graduated with a first state examination for teaching at secondary schools and a master’s degree in GFL. Subsequently, he worked as a research assistant in the Department of German as a Foreign Language at the University of Marburg, taught GFL courses at the University Language Center, and gave continuing education courses for GFL teachers in Germany and abroad, including as an Erasmus guest lecturer at the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan). His research focuses on foreign language didactics and classroom research. Mr. Thaller is a member of the editorial board of the Journal for Interaction Research in DaFZ (ZIAF), founded in 2021, and is working on a doctoral thesis on classroom interaction, with a focus on teaching competencies of pre-service teachers of GFL. Since March 2023, Florian Thaller has been a DAAD Lecturer in the Department of German Language and Literature at Seoul National University, South Korea.

Research interests: Literary translation and stylistics. Dominik Feise studied History and Protestant Religion at the Philipps University of Marburg. After the first state examination, he transferred to the Free University of Berlin, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in Latin philology and Korean studies. He then received a scholarship to train as a literary translator at the Literature Translation Institute of Korea in Seoul, where he intensively studied Korean and German literature, their translation, and the stylistics of the German language. Since then, he has been working as a freelance translator with the language combination Korean-German. Most recently, he worked as part of the Bosch Lectureship Program at Sichuan Foreign Language University in Chongqing and then as a librarian in the East Asia Department of the State Library of Berlin. From March 2022 to August 2024 he was a DAAD Lektor at the Department of German and European Studies at Keimyung University in Daegu and is currently a DAAD Lektor at the Department of German Language & Literature at Yonsei University.

After completing a teacher degree (German), Tijana Funk graduated with a Master’s degree in German Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn, funded by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). During her studies, she already worked in the field of German as a foreign language and taught various target groups. A short period of teaching at a university abroad complemented her profile. Her professional career initially took her to the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) before she joined the DAAD head office in Bonn in 2020 – first in student coordination for the Asia and Pacific region, then in project management for the Erasmus+ programme. In this role, she advised over 350 German universities. At the same time, she worked part-time as a teacher of German as a foreign language.
She is also an active member of the DAAD Alumni & Friends. She enjoys volunteering with international students – especially the intercultural exchange and the opportunity to network with young people from all over the world and learn from them. Since March 2024, Tijana Funk has been working as a DAAD Lektor at Pusan National University.

Alena Gallwitz completed her bachelor’s degree at the Ludwig-Maximilians-university in Munich, specialising in Romanic studies and German as a foreign language. She then went on to complete a Master’s degree in German as a Foreign and Specialised Language at the Technical University of Berlin. During her bachelor’s degree, she gained practical teaching experience in the field of German as a foreign language, including at the Deutsch Akademie München and in the context of private teaching activities with youths. During her Master’s degree, she completed two GFL-internships at Incheon National University (South Korea) and the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). She was also involved in the ‘Vitamin P’ project of the Iranian Community Berlin e.V., where she volunteered to offer GFL and literacy courses in an initial reception centre for refugees. After graduating, Alena Gallwitz taught GFL and second language at the Quinoa School in Berlin. At the same time, she worked as a GFL teacher at the GLS Language Centre and the Carl Duisberg Centrum in Berlin. Since March 2025, she has been working as a DAAD teaching assistant at Pusan National University.