***** TEACHING *****

DAEFLE Diploma

I have completed the DAEFLE (Diplôme d’Aptitude à l’Enseignement du Français Langue Étrangère – Diploma for Teaching French as a Foreign Language) with first class Honours with the Alliance Française and the French University.

DELF Diploma

I am a recognised examiner for the DELF (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française), an official diploma awarded by the French Ministry of Education to certify the French language competency of candidates from outside France.

CELTA Certificate

I have also completed the Cambridge ESOL CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) which is the most recognised teacher training course in the world. It is an intensive course with real-life assessed teaching practices, class observation and assignments. As a teacher, it has enabled me to achieve high standard and consistency in my teaching practice.

Secondary school teacher and examiner

I have an extensive experience as an oral examiner at St. Gerard’s school in Bray, co Wicklow:

• Mock orals for Junior and Leaving Certificate students
• End of the year oral exams for all other students

I am currently teaching French at St. Gerard’s which has given me a sound knowledge of the curriculum from 1^st to 6^th year. I have an extended experience giving grinds in the county Wicklow area and more recently online. My students have adapted really well to the online grinds and I was able to keep the high standard of teaching.

Adult Classes

The majority of my students have been with me for years and have persisted even through the challenges of Covid 19.

I create an environment that is supportive and relaxed and even the most reserved and shy students have managed to come around and are now talking with confidence and pleasure.

I teach all levels and enjoy all aspects of it from teaching the basic communication for a future trip to debating current issues and exchanging on cultural and general matters.

I have a positive attitude and believe all students have the ability to progress as long as they enjoy my classes. To this end I place great importance on the quality of social interaction in all of my classes.

I have considerable regard for the inclusion of every individual and create the space for open expression and flourishing in the language.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and getting to know you!

***** TRANSLATION *****

I came across translation through the film industry by doing subtitles for a French Film Festival. I translated Atlantic, a documentary which is the second documentary film from the makers of the award winning documentary The Pipe (2010). I also did some interpreting for the festival to help the film directors communicate with the public.

A few months later, I had the pleasure to translate an Irish feature film to enable it to be presented to the Cannes Film Festival selection. It was an extremely interesting work as it involved in depth research as well as constant fine tuning with the director to reach the most accurate translation possible.

I have since translated websites, official letters and documents.

I am a perfectionist and have always paid extreme attention to details.

I believe that the only way to achieve high quality translation is by mastering two languages perfectly, which I believe I have done after spending so many years in Ireland.

A good translator will only translate into his mother tongue in order to get all the subtleties and cultural nuances. Therefore I translate from English to French.

***** PODCAST *****

I am an active participant in a podcast that started in August 2020.

With a group of French teachers around the world, I have prepared every week a report to create a 35mins podcast for students to improve their listening skills.

We cover stories from around the world with some interesting insights into the French culture, as well as some quizzes and grammar points. It follows the news and consists of short varied reports.

This podcast is suitable for students of intermediate and advanced levels willing to work on their oral comprehension of the French language while listening to fun and interesting topics.

It is also an amazing tool for teachers to use in class.

Each podcast has its own activity sheets with listening comprehension activities, as well as vocabulary and grammar questions, transcriptions and corrections. These worksheets will be available for students and/or teachers to download.

***** CINEMA CLUB *****

I am passionate about cinema in general but more specifically French cinema. This passion comes from my dad who has been filming since the first cameras existed and has since taken part in a small French film festival as well as produced some documentaries about old people with stories to tell.

In spring 2020, after a few conversations with my students, I decided to start a cinema club.

Since then, we have watched around 10 films and had long interesting discussions that rose from my questions.