My Journey with French.
Bonjour à tous! (Hello everyone!)
I want to take a minute to describe the path that brought me to my current work teaching French in Chapel Hill. I hope to provide some background for my enthusiasm around teaching French, and to help clarify the WHY behind what I do.
I am both old and new to French in Chapel Hill. A native of this town, I grew up with French as a student at Ephesus, at Phillips, and then at East. I continued in this vein throughout college, majoring in French (and English) at Furman University and studying abroad in both France and Southern Africa. After graduating in 2010, I joined Teach For America and spent three years teaching Secondary English in Baltimore City. In 2013, I embarked on an 8-month assignment teaching English as a Foreign Language at the elementary level in France. There, I fell in love with 1) teaching elementary school, and 2) teaching a foreign language. When I moved back to Chapel Hill in 2014, I knew I wanted a career that combined the two. Luckily, I was hired that summer to teach French at Estes Hills, Ephesus, and Glenwood Elementary Schools.
This year will be my sixth teaching French in Chapel Hill and my fourth working at Estes Hills full time. As I reflect on the past four years and gear up for the current one, I can't help but feel the full-circle significance of my work. Learning French as I grew up had a major impact on the person I became. It made me an avid adventurer, a versatile communicator, and an open-minded learner. Additionally, the ability to speak French continues to expand the opportunities available to me: opportunities for work, travel, study, relationships, and community. I feel SO LUCKY to have been exposed to meaningful experiences with French from a young age, and am equally as grateful that the adults in my life encouraged me to pursue excellence in French. Now, with the full knowledge of all it can mean, I take on the privilege of sharing this language with my students.
I have loved every minute of teaching French in Chapel Hill, and look forward to the coming year of learning at Estes Hills. My students continue to impress me with their openness, curiosity, effort, and willingness to make mistakes--all of which are essential in a language learner. In them, I see all the potential of young adventurers. Who knows where their journey will take them?
I want to take a minute to describe the path that brought me to my current work teaching French in Chapel Hill. I hope to provide some background for my enthusiasm around teaching French, and to help clarify the WHY behind what I do.
I am both old and new to French in Chapel Hill. A native of this town, I grew up with French as a student at Ephesus, at Phillips, and then at East. I continued in this vein throughout college, majoring in French (and English) at Furman University and studying abroad in both France and Southern Africa. After graduating in 2010, I joined Teach For America and spent three years teaching Secondary English in Baltimore City. In 2013, I embarked on an 8-month assignment teaching English as a Foreign Language at the elementary level in France. There, I fell in love with 1) teaching elementary school, and 2) teaching a foreign language. When I moved back to Chapel Hill in 2014, I knew I wanted a career that combined the two. Luckily, I was hired that summer to teach French at Estes Hills, Ephesus, and Glenwood Elementary Schools.
This year will be my sixth teaching French in Chapel Hill and my fourth working at Estes Hills full time. As I reflect on the past four years and gear up for the current one, I can't help but feel the full-circle significance of my work. Learning French as I grew up had a major impact on the person I became. It made me an avid adventurer, a versatile communicator, and an open-minded learner. Additionally, the ability to speak French continues to expand the opportunities available to me: opportunities for work, travel, study, relationships, and community. I feel SO LUCKY to have been exposed to meaningful experiences with French from a young age, and am equally as grateful that the adults in my life encouraged me to pursue excellence in French. Now, with the full knowledge of all it can mean, I take on the privilege of sharing this language with my students.
I have loved every minute of teaching French in Chapel Hill, and look forward to the coming year of learning at Estes Hills. My students continue to impress me with their openness, curiosity, effort, and willingness to make mistakes--all of which are essential in a language learner. In them, I see all the potential of young adventurers. Who knows where their journey will take them?