Learn French at Your Own Pace

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. I enjoy a large variety of teaching situations:
- At a language school for adults, I teach all levels of French, from beginners to very advanced, in group classes.
- I have various levels of private students, ranking from intermediate with a strong focus on grammar, to pure conversation sessions.
- I propose immersion activities for small size groups in my French Club: Le Petit Ensemble.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. When you are looking for a private teacher, you want a situation that will answer your personal needs. So I would advice that you start by meeting with your prospective teacher. When you do, and all throughout your learning process with her or him, you should never hesitate to express your questions, fears, desires, need for changes or adjustments, but also what makes you happy and works for you. Remember that a good private teacher is flexible and personable, but we also need your feedback to modify our approach!

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Teaching a language is such a personable matter that it is difficult for me to see it as a "trade" with set up answers. Or maybe that IS "the inside secret" of it: to remain foremost personable.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Prospective students should ask for an appointment with me, to see if we could work together. During that first meeting, which will of course be free, we will determine the students needs, objectives and desires. The more technical information, like meeting place, price, hours, etc, is pretty easy to find on this add, or to talk about when we first communicate, either by mail, on the phone or in person.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I use a very personable approach that allows me to constantly adapt to my students needs. I specifically believe in building up people's confidence. Because I have learned several languages myself, at various levels, I know very well what holds us back in feeling that we can actually apply the language(s) we have learned in a class setting.
This is why I am also complementing one-on-one & class methods with the immersion activities I propose in my club, Le Petit Ensemble. There, people can loosen up, and focus on other things, rather than remaining too self-aware of their insecurity with the language.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Meeting new people, from different cultures and backgrounds, is naturally the most exciting aspect of my work. To me, languages are definitely a communication tool, enabling us to have conversations, exchanges, relationships with a larger variety of people. I love to hear my students' stories and what their own objectives are, in learning a new language.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. Usually when they come to me, people are very unsure about what their level is, and what they need in terms of learning situation: private sessions? group classes? conversation? immersion activities?
I always start by listening to what their experience has been with the language, before coming to me. I then try to orient them towards the best solution for them, even if that means not getting their "business" myself. I teach in a language school that I deeply trust and I might sometimes stir my potential students in that direction.
I have tried to identify what was available in Los Angeles, and what was missing, and I try to provide the latter myself :)

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. I have so many that I would prefer to answer with favorite moments which occur regularly with my students. I cherish two of them overall:
1. When a student goes through what I call "a click": something he or she would not understand or get for a while, and it suddenly is released, like a sudden illumination! That "Ha! now I get it!" is truly precious and makes people so happy.
2. Sharing laughter over some misunderstandings, for instance in a translation. Laughter is such a beautiful release of any tension or anxiety!

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I wish students would know that a new language is nothing to be scared about, especially French.
But on the other hand, they need to know that learning a new language IS a life time commitment... There is no way around spending a lot of time with it, but it is also terribly satisfying!

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. Very simple: my love for languages and other cultures stirred me towards a profession where I get to put it to use all the time.
As a teacher, I am also a constant learner, and nothing could satisfy me more!
As a learner of other languages, I kept looking at things that could be done differently, and wanted to experience with them.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. For the last 4 years, I have worked with a private student who was struggling immensely with her insecurities when it came to actually speaking the language. I am very proud to say that I led her to a stage where she can now have a conversation with another student of mine, without feeling on the verge of a nervous breakdown :)

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Not in the academic sense of the term. I read a lot, stay abreast of what is happening in France, regarding political events but also the culture, listen to the French radio all the time, etc.
I mostly stay very tuned to my students needs and learning experiences. For instance, I regularly put myself in the situation of being in the student's seat again, by learning new languages as soon as I find the time for it. That is a real continuing education!

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. I am very interested in all the impact of new technologies in the education world in general, and particularly excited about what the Internet allows us to do nowadays, in terms of communicating with a more removed audience.
It is also very stimulating to look for new resources online: they appear all the time and can be of a great help for students, answering most of their learning styles!

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. The set up of Le Petit Ensemble, my French Club for immersion activities, is still very much in the making. It takes a long time and a lot of energy and faith to build up a buzz and see a real build up in the audience. I have recently convinced one of my students to help me managing it, and I am very excited about all the new ideas she helped me bring into the project! I believe that my students will enjoy those very much!

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. My pricing is very simple regarding the private sessions:

$75 for an hour and a half of full tutoring (grammar, vocabulary, etc., with homework),
$65 for an hour and a half of relaxed conversation.

The activities of Le Petit Ensemble do vary, depending on costs for us.
They can all be found on my website: lepetitensemble.fr
Or people can ask me to be added on my mailing list, and they will receive our mailings, including our beautiful monthly newsletter, all in French!
Another way to become a member is to look for us on meetup.com, where we have been in existence for over a year and a half!

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. You would need to be very passionate about languages and about teaching, to love meeting new people and answer their needs, and you would have to remain very flexible and not feel threatened when a student asks you to change something in your approach. You should have a very inquisitive mind, one that wants to learn about every aspect of life and cultures of the world.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. What do I wish at this point of my career, for the next couple of years at least?
I'd love to further develop my immersion activities, where people get a chance to experience the language live; particularly my trips to French-speaking countries: they are a lot of fun and would contribute in expanding people's minds about the world more and more and more! :)