… learners who have studied the language before and are comfortable with the present and future tense. We will continue to build your vocabulary and start talking about the past, drawing inspiration from our real lives. By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Bonjour! I studied French at the University of Manchester which included a year spent working in Clermont Ferrand among the volcanos of the Auvergne which is where I really fell in love with France and all things French.
After my degree I taught English at the University of Dijon for a couple of years before returning to the UK and obtaining a Modern Languages PGCE from Goldsmiths, University of London. I then spent 10 years teaching French in secondary schools in Kent, Sussex and Guernsey.
I took a break from teaching in 2005 and used my language skills in the corporate world for a couple of years. While working for a law firm in the City I met my now husband and we decided to move to France.
In 2007, on the day after our wedding, we set off across the channel in an ancient Triumph with a rather leaky tent and very little luggage to find a house. A few months later we settled next to a boulangerie in a village on the river Vienne near Poitiers. Our son was born the following year. We taught English and made a lot of French friends who we were very sad to leave when we came back to Sussex in 2013.
On our return I started teaching at a local Prep school which I left in July 2025. I have taught learners aged from 4 up to 84 from all sorts of backgrounds each with their own story. I love sharing my linguistic and cultural knowledge, getting to know my learners, building their confidence and seeing them progress.