TESTIMONIALS FOLLOW LIST OF TEACHERS
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Christine Deymier
After attending the universities of Lille and Montpellier where she studied German and English, Christine followed her husband first to Boston and a few years later to Tucson where they have been living since 1985. They have two grown-up children who are working and studying on the East Coast. As a French tutor at Pima community college for the last fifteen years, she kept up her interests in the French language, its spelling, its grammar, its literature… She has been an active member of the Alliance Française de Tucson for quite some time. Christine also leads our weekly Conversation group for Intermediate & Advanced Students, free for members.
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Elisabeth Guillen
Elisabeth “Liz” Guillen was trained in France as a Lawyer and an Interpreter in English and Spanish. Until she moved to the US, Liz worked as an Attorney in private practice before becoming an in-house counsel. She has taught Law at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. She obtained an L.L.M. from ASU and was a government prosecutor for 17 years. Upon retiring in 2012, Liz obtained her TESL Certification and has taught at the Alliance Française de Tucson ever since. When she is not leading our Book Club and teaching classes at AFT, she volunteers with the Tucson Refugee Community. Liz loves traveling and makes it a point to go back to France whenever she can.
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Kate Smadja
Born in Paris from an American mother and a Tunisian French father, Kate’s family moved to Fort Collins for five years when she was a year old and then back to France. She started with a Waldorf education then progressed into the French public school system. Later she obtained a bachelor degree in Literature and the Arts, then completed a tourism degree. Kate moved to Tucson in 2014 to be her mother. She currently works at the Tucson Waldorf school, at Magik Intention-Based Aromatherapy and in event planning and catering. She also greatly enjoys being part of the Alliance Française.
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Victoria Minnett
Victoria was born in Paris, France, from an American mother and British father and lived her formative years in France until she graduated from a French lycée and went on to pursue her higher education at the University of Arizona. After receiving an MA from the U of A, she moved to California to teach French at a private school for 14 years. In 2014, Victoria and her husband moved to Saudi Arabia to live and work at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology where she worked as a French teacher for 3 years. She and her husband and their cats recently returned to Tucson to be closer to family and enjoy the slower pace of the Old Pueblo. Victoria enjoys teaching and learning languages, cooking, traveling, movies at the Loft, volunteering at cat shelters, advocating for TNR, the sight and sounds of the Sonoran desert and quiet times at home. She is enthusiastic about being part of our Alliance Française. Victoria also leads our weekly conversation practice for Beginners & Advanced Beginners, free for members.
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Sylvain Gallais
Sylvain is a native French speaker transplanted to the U.S. seventeen years ago and he became a US citizen. He lived for a while in Pennsylvania in the 90’s, as a visiting professor at Bucknell University. He is an emeritus professor of Economics at Université Francois Rabelais (Tours, France) and of French in the School of International Letters and Culture at Arizona State University. He has a PhD in economics and a PhD in political science. His last publication was “Preserving Biodiversity in the European Union” (2012). He and his wife, Professor Cynthia Hogue, co-translated three books of poetry. They retired in Tucson three years ago.
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Suzanne Walton
TESTIMONIALS:
‘I recently completed 8 chapters of Grammaire B1/B2. Prior to that I completed the entire 45 chapters for Grammaire A1/A2. Thus, I have been taking French grammar classes continually since Sept. 2017. Both classes were good. They provided a foundation for French grammar, which is complex!’
‘The textbooks are good. Not expensive, and the lessons are well-organized. B1/B2 is certainly more complicated than A1/A2. I suggest that the “Mémorisez” section of each chapter be discussed in English. Mémorisez presents the grammar rules for the chapter and, thus, is crucial for students to completely understand.’
‘Aspects of French grammar still leave me nonplussed: i.e., leur vs. à eux, whether to use à or de after verbs, the use of en and y, partitives, gender of nouns, to mention a few. But I don’t think that one could master all this without living in the culture and having someone constantly correct you.
Both of the teachers I had were wonderful teachers. They enjoy their students and are patient, kind women.
‘I would recommend these classes to others.
Regards, Ed’
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‘Je suis très heureux avec ma classe française et mon professeur (Advanced Beginners). C’est très instructive est toujours ludique. Pendant les mois prochaines je serai en voyage et je ne peux pas assister aux classes. J’espère que je pourrai recommencer en automne.’