Our Team
About DeutschTutor
DeutschTutor is an online language school for German as a foreign language. It was founded 2013 by Réka Licht with the aim of offering adult learners of German high-quality language tuition that is in no way less effective than the best face-to-face lessons, irrespective of time and place. The basis for realising this vision are individual course concepts based on the latest didactic and methodological findings, a powerful digital teaching platform and – most importantly – a team of committed, competent German tutors who are distinguished by many years of experience, solid training and a pleasant, motivating personality.
May we introduce…
Réka Licht
Founder, Management
Christina Stattelmann
Tutor
Tiina Rintamäki
Tutor
Susanne Kreuzig
Tutor
Sina Köppe
Tutor
Juliane Knechtel
Tutor
Sandra Michel
Tutor
Alisha Mennenga
Tutor
Thomas Licht
Co-Founder, MarketingTestimonials
Réka Licht
Réka founded “DeutschTutor”, one of the first online-only language schools for German as a foreign language, and is a pioneer of digital language teaching. She lives in the beautiful Rheingau region in the “sparkling wine capital” of Wiesbaden and has been helping people learn and teach German for over 20 years. She has developed German exams for the ÖSD Institute and used them at language schools around the world, from Mexico to Taiwan and Cameroon. The insights she has gained into cultural diversity and the different needs of German learners and teachers form the basis for the individual, personalised DeutschTutor lessons. In addition to her role as head teacher, Réka actively supports German as a foreign language teachers as a speaker and coach in optimising their digital and analogue teaching.
Christina Stattelmann
Christina lives in Würzburg and is a dedicated teacher. Following her passion, she studied German language and literature at the University of Osnabrück and then worked as a teacher at various primary and secondary schools. Since 2015, she has been teaching German as a foreign language as a freelance lecturer with great commitment. She is also a certified telc examiner for professional language courses and courses for medical and nursing staff, among others. Christina is not only a dedicated German teacher, but is also enthusiastic about sports and travelling. She has a degree in sports, worked as a water skiing instructor, is a qualified travel agent and has learned to keep a cool head in stressful situations as a flight attendant.
Tiina Rintamäki
Our friendly tutor Tiinaa is a true European: her Nordic-sounding name comes from her Finnish father, she was born and raised in Germany and has been living in beautiful Portugal for many years. With so much internationality, it’s no wonder that she is also enthusiastic about foreign languages. Consequently, Tiina studied languages in Mainz and Lisbon and has been working as a translator and teacher of German as a foreign language for over 10 years. Tiina also has other talents: she is a certified fitness trainer, teaches fitness and yoga classes and occasionally lends her voice to the characters in commercials.
Susanne Kreuzig
Susanne lives in Dresden, the city of her birth, and has always had a soft spot for languages. She studied linguistics at the universities of Hamburg and Trieste and taught German as a second language at the adult education centre (VHS) when she was still a student. Since then, she has acquired a wide range of experience and skills in teaching German over a period of more than 20 years. Be it in her numerous teaching assignments at universities and renowned educational institutes or as a language trainer at large companies such as Airbus and Olympus. In addition, Susanne is a licensed examiner and, as a mentor and job application coach, supports international professionals in entering the German labour market. In her free time, Susanne loves to travel – lately she has especially enjoyed going to Portugal. She benefits from the fact that she speaks English, Italian, Russian, French and a little Portuguese.
Sina Köppe
The sympathetic Westerwald native Sina loves languages. Especially the German language. In addition, she also developed a great passion for Sweden and the surrounding northern European countries at a young age. Probably because she read too many books by Astrid Lindgren, as she jokingly says herself. Following her inclinations, she studied linguistics, Scandinavian studies and Finnish studies in Cologne and Västerås, Sweden. Since 2015, she has been a freelance teacher of not only German as a foreign language, but also Swedish, Finnish and Danish. She is also fluent in English and has basic knowledge of Norwegian, French and Italian.
Juliane Knechtel
Juliane is not only a very experienced and competent language teacher, but also a true citizen of the world. After studying in Berlin, she first moved to Italy where she worked as a German as a foreign language teacher in Rome, among other places. This was followed by two years as a German as a foreign language teacher in Nanjing, China. From there she went to Spain, where she still lives today. Since 2013, she has been teaching German learners both in face-to-face classes and online at all levels and preparing them for language exams at Goethe Institutes and for TELC certificates. In addition to her native German, Juliane also speaks perfect English, Spanish, Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as a little Italian, French and Chinese.
Sandra Michel
Born in southern Germany, Sandra grew up in a bicultural and bilingual environment that allowed her to discover her fascination for cultures, communication and languages at a very early age. After working in Germany, Austria and Italy, she has been at home in Barcelona for many years. There she teaches for various educational establishments, institutions and companies. She also regularly takes language exams as a certified examiner. Numerous further training courses at various Goethe Institutes, the University of Vienna and Barcelona and other prestigious institutions ensure that Sandra is constantly developing her professional skills. In addition to her German mother tongue, she also speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Hungarian.
Alisha Mennenga
Born in Oldenburg, Alisha lives in Bielefeld and is a real multi-talent when it comes to languages. After studying German as a foreign and second language at the Universities of Jena and Bielefeld, she was able to acquire extensive specialist knowledge and skills in various functions: as a lecturer for company and integration language courses at various educational institutions, as a telc language examiner and as a pedagogical manager at the International Federation in Gütersloh. Alisha loves languages and is not only fluent in German but also has basic knowledge of Spanish, Turkish and Indonesian.
Thomas Licht
Thomas Licht is a freelance marketing consultant with many years of experience from management positions at international companies in the consumer goods industry. He is co-founder of DeutschTutor and supports his wife Réka in marketing and sales. He also regularly passes on his marketing know-how to interested online teachers in webinars and workshops.