Second Impressions of Chemnitz
Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, a post-doc from Macedonia, returns to Chemnitz for her second study visit and tells about her second impressions
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Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska (m.) with international PhD students during a international conference at Chemnitz University of Technology. Photo: Jessica Dheskali
When I, Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska from Bitola (Macedonia), first met Prof. Dr. Josef Schmied in 2013, I was a PhD student attending a Summer School in Ohrid (Macedonia) on “Academic Writing for Graduates from South East Europe”. Back then I had no idea how that particular summer school would influence my further studies and my career. Now, however, I can most certainly say that it has changed my life.
After the aforementioned Summer School held in Ohrid in 2013, I was interviewed by Prof. Dr. Josef Schmied himself. After the interview, he invited me to come to Chemnitz for a study visit in 2014. This study visit helped me progress with and improve my PhD thesis and has immensely helped me to enhance my research in the field of second language acquisition and linguistics. As a PhD candidate at the time of the visit, the time spent in Chemnitz has been of vital importance both for my dissertation and for my knowledge in the field in general. I am now Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Teaching English as a second/foreign language.
Ever since 2013 I have continued my collaboration with Chemnitz University of Technology and Prof. Dr. Josef Schmied. During this period I have accordingly attended three of the Summer schools organized by Chemnitz University in 2014, 2017 and 2018 in Vlora (Albania), Ohrid and Split (Croatia). I have furthermore made contributions to the REAL (Research in English and Applied Linguistics) book seriespublished by the project team. At the latter two summer schools I was also a lecturer on topics such as “Avoiding Plagiarism”, “Credibility: Fake News” and “Truth in writing: The art of Argumentation”.
In July 2018 I revisited Chemnitz for yet another study visit. During my second visit in Chemnitz, I began conducting my postdoctoral research using the impressive amount of books and research material available at the faculty. At the end of my study visit, I presented at the annual conference “Nationalism at its Best: An Analysis of the Slogans Used in the Local Election Campaigns in Macedonia in 2017”. This gave me the chance to present in front of an international audience and has improved my presentation skills a lot.
I am looking forward to future collaborations as my experience so far has been nothing but positive. I remain grateful to Chemnitz University of Technology for the hospitality and given opportunities to expand my knowledge and further my research.
(Author: Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojchevska)
Matthias Fejes
01.10.2018
