Annalisa Parent, French Tutor, at Carcassonne Castle.
Who am I?
I am a Vermont-certified teacher, and I have been teaching French to people of all ages for over a decade (almost 2 at this point, but shh!) I am a 2015 VT Teacher of the Year nominee and a magna cum laude Middlebury Grad. I studied French literature at the University of Paris. I have traveled extensively to France and participated in a Rotary Group Study Exchange for 5 weeks in 2013. I spoke to groups daily about American culture (in French) and visited and interviewed business owners, school directors, television presenters and other industry leaders. I am an active member of many local French groups and participate in cultural offerings on a regular basis including lectures and book groups. I earned a grade of 100% on the Praxis Teacher Assessment in French in all areas of fluency: written, spoken, heard and read.
Annalisa Parent (Second from left) as featured in the Alsacian (France) newspaper during her Rotary Research trip
About the groups
My teaching style uses interactive activities to work toward fluency. We laugh a lot in my groups, and over half of my former students have now taken successful trips to France and ordered breakfast, bought a newspaper, made new friends, etc. We work toward fluency in speaking, reading, writing and listening. We watch videos, listen to music, read stories, and play games in French, to really get you engaged and working with the material. Coffee and Tea are provided as part of the fee.
About you
It’s important to make sure that a class meets your needs and matches where you are and what you want to learn. I do a lot of work with this group and they direct what they want to learn. Generally, I make suggestions and they decide what their priorities are. They’ve been together for a while, some people coming in, others moving on. They’re open, fun, and motivated. We have a lot of conversations in French in class, but I generally explain grammatical concepts in English.
I remember the first day of high school, I was nervous not only about making new friends but also about meeting the teachers. I was worried that I would not be able to keep up with all the classes I was taking. I already had a background in French, however, after I took my first step into Ms. Parent’s classroom, I was in for a whole new learning experience. I soon learned that French was a much harder language to learn than I previously thought. However, Ms. Parent was there to help me and the rest of the students throughout the whole year. Regardless of the fact that that is actually her job, Ms. Parent took the time to thoroughly answer our questions and explain new concepts and material that made absolutely no sense to us. Her patience and kindness showed in her work as a teacher. Though we always complained about the homework and the tests, she would help us get through it because she knew that she was going to teach us as much as she could not only about the French language, but about the culture as well. Her curriculum inspired me as a student, and I continued to take French with her for the next two years, and as a senior in high school, I still find myself wanting to learn more and more about it. For three years, Ms. Parent was there to help the needs of my peers and I, making her one of the best teachers I have ever had.
Having personally known Ms. Parent for over three years, I’ve found her to be one of my most valued resources when it comes to the French language. Although I tried my hardest to gain some level of proficiency in her class, I sometimes lacked the tools necessary to grasp the certain concepts needed to really excel at French. Bearing this in mind, Ms. Parent structured her course curriculum around my needs and the needs of my peers, making her a truly gifted and unique teacher.