Valérie Riffault

Professeur de français

Valérie has taught at Coeur de France Ecole de Langues for several years. We asked her to tell us about it.

"My day usually starts at 8:30 am with me teaching a Group or One to One (private) class. I'm usually finished at about 4:30 or 5:00 pm which allows me to pick up my two sons our village elementary school." What do you find interesting about your work?

"Naturally, on the first day of class with new students I always wonder how it is going to be with them. I hope they're going to enjoy the class, each other, and me too of course. Each class is different with its own mix of personalities yet each time they all become good friends. I think this is because everyone is motivated, eager to learn, interested in our culture, history, traditions and way of life. During the program, they discover that my husband is a farmer and our family lives on a farm. This always raises lots of questions -- it seems that French farmers are well-known around the world for their organized political actions!

Meeting students from many different countries is a real pleasure and I learn so much from them. At the end of the program, everyone is sad to leave; after being together for about 20 hours a week for a couple of weeks, friendships have developed and it's only natural that we hate to part. But we always exchange addresses and e-mails and I regularly receive cards and letters from my former students -- in very good French of course!"

Any funny stories ? "One day on a walking tour of Sancerre with students, we were admiring the magnificent view of the Loire Valley from the courtyard behind the Hotel de Ville (city hall). A student turned to me and asked why is there always a hotel called the Hotel de Ville in each city? 'It must be a big chain of French hotels.' When I explained that in fact Hotel de Ville just means city hall, everyone -- including the student who asked -- had a good laugh."

Valérie