In November 2014 I co-founded the new initiative Demokratische Schule München e.V..
Between February 2008 and November 2014 I had been a member of the school-founding group Sudbury München e.V.. Following the model of the Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts (founded in 1968), a democratic school near Lake Ammersee, about a one-hour drive outside Munich was founded in September 2014 (see my article in AERO's newsletter from the same month).

During the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Israel in 2010, I had the opportunity to visit the democratic schools in Hadera (the second largest in the world with 350 students) and Bat Yam. (Under the following link you can find a German article that I wrote on the positive experiences with processes of democratization inside the Israeli school system.)

In the following months, the international contacts I made there led to insights into two democratic schools in the Netherlands: De Ruimte in Soest and De Kampanje in Amersfoort. I have visited De Ruimte three times so far (twice as an intern and once as a temporary staff member) and will continue to contribute to language learning, everyday school life and the school's development as a temporary staff member − whenever a colleague seeks a substitute and I find time in my diary. At De Kampanje and at the Democratic School of Roskilde/Denmark I took part in three-day European Sudbury School workshops in 2010 and 2012 respectively. 

Because of my touching, moving and convincing experiences with kids and adults in democratic schools and school founding groups from all parts of the world, which focus on the human being and his or her personal needs in striving for knowledge and experience, I left the regular school system in July 2011.

In 2011 I joined the European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC) and the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO), and have become representative for Germany for the latter.

With my engagement as a private language teacher I want to help all young people to be properly prepared for daily external assessment and marking as well as announced and unannounced class tests. Beside the basis of a deeper insight into English grammar, I systematically foster a broad knowledge of vocabulary and a higher flexibility in the use of the language with the help of various learning and communication techniques. For the increasing focus on oral skills, the latter is an important tool for communicating with any person in a confident and relaxed manner.

I draw on my experience from eight years of teaching English. At the Private Commercial School begemann in Munich, where in my final year I was head of the English department, I also worked together with my late friend and colleague Guido Hubel on the creation of our own English workbooks, from which I supply much of my practice material.

I speak Italian and French because of my family background and my own time as a school pupil, where I chose the latter as a final examination subject − in both, my knowledge is not perfect, but it suffices for helping beginners and intermediate students have a good start in learning these languages.

In addition, I have a basic knowledge of Spanish, Czech and Latin. Since the summer of 2011 I have occasionally studied Dutch, as the whim takes me.