Take our quiz to find out what your revision personality is! >>

How to address former school teacher

So I’m now doing 2nd yr at Uni and a languages teacher from my old secondary contacted me a few weeks ago.
She was one of my A-level teachers.

We had small A-level classes and we all got on. We all took our work very seriously, and she would bring us cake at the end of term!
Anyway, the head of languages who was also my sixth form tutor is leaving, and so this teacher contacted me a few weeks ago to call a few of us back to give her our wishes.

Anyway, the question is this. When she first contacted me on LinkedIn she signed off with just her first name. She spoke in German (as we always did in school, after all I’m still studying it as a minor part of my uni course).

I replied, in German, using the usual formal version of address, as I was used to, and gave her my university email, telling her I’m far more likely to read that.

Then she emailed me again. She said at the end we could use the informal version of address. And again, just first name at the end.

Today she contacted me again to confirm the arrangements and when we should be there. But she signed off “Ms. X” just like she did in school. Without first name.

This seems like mixed messages. It is leaving me confused as to how I should reply to her.
To be honest even if she’d signed off this email with her first name I’d be somewhat uncomfortable using it.

Seems like yesterday it was still Sir and Miss.
This is despite being used to addressing lecturers by first name at uni!

I would hate to awkwardly email her without using her name at all.

And putting aside first/last name, when I reply in German do I use the informal version of address or formal?
Given she said we could use familiar in her earlier email to me, I would hate for her to think I’m trying to keep her at arm’s length by using the formal.

At the same time, her signing off with “Ms. X” in her later email might suggest she still instinctively sees me as a student to an extent, and an informal email with a first-name address might instinctively seem uncomfortable.

I might just be reading into things too much.
But I’ve always been taught to respect certain boundaries, and they now feel slightly blurred which is throwing me off a bit!

Thoughts?

Reply 1