Biography: Ms. Muriel Hoequist grew up bilingually with a French elementary school teacher mother and a German high school teacher father. Her American married name is Swedish. Originally vowing never to become a teacher herself, she agreed to tutor peers in high school. She then taught immigrants in college, business and industry leaders, and researchers, refugees, grand-mothers and kindergarteners, while also raising her own children bilingually. She taught K-12, International Baccalaureate (IB), adult education, college, and teacher workshops, and again her own kids at ASMS. She has lived in 6 countries, speaks 4 languages fluently and has dabbled in a few others. She teaches language comprehensively in context of for example culture, geography and history. Some of her favorite classroom moments occur when students get creatively inquisitive, and when they engage in abstract thinking to enhance daily learning. She keeps materials current, often whimsical and surprising, and methods communicative or immersive.

Professional Areas of Expertise: All areas of Linguistics, Nordic languages (historic and contemporary), Romance languages, Germanic languages, L2 Acquisition, Bilingualism, Comparative Studies, Culture, Geography, History, Literature

Awards and Honors: Duden Award- Auburn University German Department 2004, Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction - National Society of High School Scholars 2006, Best School- Annual Alabama University German Competition 2008, Best School- Annual Alabama University German Competition 2009,, Duden - Auburn University German Department 2009, Best Teacher - Alabama-Germany-Partnership 2011, Klett-Langenscheidt - Auburn University German Department 2014, Teacher of the Year - Alabama Association of Teachers of German 2015, Teacher of the Year - Alabama World Language Association 2016