Q: First off, you said you graduated from Southlake, how is it returning and coming back and teaching here?
A: It’s been really great. There’s a lot of things that have stayed the same, but there are also subtle differences, like the school looks a little different. It’s interesting because I was a part of the theatre department, and now I get to help direct the theatre department. It’s very interesting to just learn more about the school because when I came here as a student, I knew like half of it but just to know that other half – it’s a really cool experience.
Q: What do you do with the theatre department?
A: I’m just an aiding director. I will help with auditions, and I help at rehearsals and stuff. Mr. Barbe is the director, but I just help out where I can.
Q: So, you lived in France before you came; what’s your favorite memory from there?
A: I think my favorite memory was getting to work with the little kids I worked with every single day. I worked at a school on Mondays where I would stay the entire day, even though I only had to work for like 2 hours that day, just because I loved spending so much time with them. They were just the sweetest.
Q: What were the main differences between working in France and here?
A: I was a teaching assistant in France, so I didn’t have to handle any attendance; I didn’t do lesson planning or anything like that. I just got to create my lessons and then I would do them, but no classroom management or anything like that. It’s been a good change; it’s nice to be able to have my own classroom and my own space but definitely more responsibility here than what I had in France.
Q: Do you think your experience in France has helped you here?
A: Oh yes, for sure. I think my ability to roll with the punches has gotten a lot better. I’m able to answer questions and go with the flow a little bit better and adapt a lot better.
Q: What made you want to learn and teach French in the first place?
A: I actually took my first French class with Madame Hayes at the high school, and I really loved it. I loved her class and I just felt really passionate about the language; I thought it sounded pretty and that’s why I started. But I started learning more about the culture, and I thought it would be really cool just to be able to communicate with people I never would have been able to before.
Q: Do you think, for the future, you’d want to keep teaching French?
A: I think so. It’s what I did in university, and I keep finding myself going back to France, like no matter what. So French, I think, is always going to be a really important thing to me and a part of my identity.
Q: Which do you prefer: teaching in France or teaching in America?
A: I feel like I like teaching in America better because I have my own classroom, and I get to choose what I want to do, and I get to spend a lot more time with the kids. In France, it was like three days of the week, and I would spend like a couple of hours, so now I get to be here all day, and I get to be a little bit more a part of the community.
