French native (and ex teacher) giving private French classes around Gwinnett County / Atlanta

Find out more about Emelyne

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I am a Native French speaker, as I was born in Toulouse, however, I had several French teachers through school that inspired me to learn more about the language and to write and express myself better.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  The fictional character in my eyes that is the emblematic representative of the language's culture is Cyrano de Bergerac. He is as sharp with his words that he is with his sword.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behaviour in the language that you particularly like?

  I like that while we all speak French through France and French speaking countries around the world, we all have our own dialects. Some of them are close enough to each other for us to understand each other while others are so far away from the Latin / French roots that we have to look at other languages to understand where it comes from.

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  It is my native tongue, and it is among the three languages the most spoken around the world. Did you know that if you know English, Spanish and French you have basically enough languages to understand and to be understood anywhere around the globe? Even though I would advise you to try and learn as many languages as possible, if you are interested.
  
  More than the language, you can share your culture through language so it is important to keep Foreign Languages Teaching a thing

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  A lot of the time, the students get desperate at grammar, especially English speakers. Breaking it down into smaller pieces and showing that in the end it is a lot of repetition and like building blocks, i.e. we are just adding new small knowledge from the foundation of what you know, usually, it gets easier.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  Not from learning French but when I learnt English and Spanish, I used to hate it in school. Then my teacher in university started to teach with a new method that included learning and being immersed with the English language a little everyday. I was also very motivated because I wanted to go overseas.
  
  When I became a teacher I made sure to implement that "a little everyday" rule and to set a personal goal for each of my students. Personal motivation is everything.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  I started to travel and live abroad in 2013, starting in Japan. It really helped me increase my knowledge of English, but also my knowledge of "how to learn a foreign language" and I immediately translated it into my way of teaching French as a private tutor. It was in 2013 that I met my Japanese teacher in Keio university during my exchange program and she showed me a new way to embrace learning a language by completely throwing my class into immersion after the first class.
  
  We were complete beginners and while it can seem rough, we did amazing improvement in very little time because we were living in the country and she tailored the class to be reachable to beginners. We could apply in our life outside of class what we learnt.
  
  We are now in 2023 and I now love to learn new languages and teach my own language thanks to her and her method.

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I am passionate about my language, my culture and I never stop learning about it or about how to teach it. I will probably never stop.
  
  I am also someone that is curious and that loves to learn new languages so I am also a student learning another language and I can put myself in the shoes of my own students. I know their struggles, I know their fears and for adults, I am also working so I know that we don't have all day to work on it.
  
  However, I know that with their willingness and my support we can get them far into the French language and culture.