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Claudine lives in Bourgogne, France & offers tuition in French with students able to lodge in their own private flat, adjacent to her home. Visit chateau’s & festivals, eat fresh organic food & live the real French experience…

Claudine’s Profile & Contact Details

How long have you been in business?
I started my linguistic and homestay programmes in April 2008.

Tell us about you and your background; why are you a good teacher and host?
I have been working as an FLE teacher (French as Foreign Language) since 1988 in different Asian countries and in many teaching situations (Alliance Française in Hong Kong, intensive courses in Japan for trainees who were going to live in African countries, in Vietnam to medical staff…). In France, I worked in Paris and Tours in French schools for foreigners.
I can adapt easily to any level and need. I chose to teach privately in order to help the students to improve greatly in a short time. Last but not least I still love teaching after so many years!
As a host: I usually treat my students as personal guests, providing good and fresh food, taking care of them when they need but ready to leave them alone if they want.

Tell me about your accommodation…
The student has an apartment for him/herself, separated from my own. It is comfortable, fully furnished, quite big (about 70 square meters) and very quiet. It is on the first floor and my flat is on the second.

What is the area like near to you?
The house is part of an ancient convent built in 1673 and renovated. It is separated from the street by a courtyard, thus very calm. However, shops like the bakery, bookstore, supermarket are nearby – 1 to 3 minutes away. The train station (TGV as well as ordinary trains) is also within a walking distance (15 minutes) as well as the city swimming pool.

What will you do with your students in the day?
We will have a three-hour lesson in the morning, take lunch together and the afternoon visits three times a week will be decided according to his/her own wishes. In the evening, the student can either enjoy watching TV or a DVD, listening to music at home, going to the movie theatre or coming with me to visit one of my friends.

My French is only very basic and I’m worried that I will embarrass myself, what do you think?
If you come to study French intensively, it means that you think that you can improve your linguistic ability to communicate with natives or write – which is a very good start. Your mistakes are part of the learning process and quite natural. They usually are a great way to understand your hypothesis about the French language.
As I said before, I can adapt to any level even to full beginners, but in case you feel insecure or embarrassed with your French, my English is far from being perfect but if you bear with my mistakes, we can speak English in the first few days if necessary.
With real beginners, I usually try not to speak their mother tongue in the morning lessons but switch rapidly at break time or after class because it is very tiring at first to concentrate on a foreign language. Little by little it becomes easier without even thinking.
I would rather not speak English for your own sake but that will be a good practice for me anyway!

How good is your English, will you be able to help me if I get stuck?
English used to be my working language when I was teaching in Japan or in Hong Kong, so I guess that I am still fluent. I usually understand everything and I make myself understood without hesitation.

Can you take only one person or can I bring my partner too?
The flat is big enough for two people and since it is independent there is no problem at all.
The only question though is about the teaching i.e. will I teach two people or one. In the case of two people, I will need to know the linguistic level of each one. If it is too different, it will not be possible for me to teach two people at the same time.

Is it possible to collect me from a station or airport?
Yes, I come to pick you up at the train station. Charles de Gaulle airport is one hour and fifteen minutes away from Montbard and there are two TGVs per day from and to the Parisian airport.

If so, which?
Paris airport Charles de Gaulle is the closest.

What is the food like, will I like it?
Before you come, I will ask you if there is anything that you dislike or you can not eat or drink. Some people do not drink wine at all, hate mutton or are allergic to oysters and it is important for me to know these details in advance in order to prepare the menus.

What is there to do in the evenings?
The city is small and apart from going to bars, to the movie theatre or to any particular event like a concert at the Abbaye of Fontenay, you can relax at home and watch a DVD or even better study. If I go to visit a friend, you will be welcome to join and see a different family.

What is your weather like?
It is difficult to answer this kind of questions since it changes everyday and every year.
We had a hot month in August but it does not mean that next year will be the same.

Are there any particular times of year which are good to visit (festivals etc)?
Summertime would be better to visit because there are plenty of festivals, garage sales and many sorts of events. But the weather can be so nice in spring or in autumn that they are also good seasons to discover Burgundy and its natural beauty.

What about places of interest, scenery, persons of note etc?
Burgundy is a beautiful region, very green and full of natural wonders. Montbard itself is well known for Buffon, French naturalist, mathematician, biologist and writer from the 18th century. Medieval villages around Montbard, cloisters or abbeys are also worth seeing. The Abbey of Fontenay is part of the world heritage and a good way to discover or better understand the funding of the Cistercian history.

I want to improve my French for a) pleasure, b) for business, is it possible to do so in only two or three weeks?
The course is there to provide the perfect frame to improve rapidly within fifteen hours, especially because the rest of the day is also in French. The two or three-week session makes a big difference in your learning process. You will witness a considerable improvement even after one week. But of course it depends also on how much you are ready to practice and study after the morning lessons.

Can you give me lessons on Skype before and after my visit?
That could be possible.

What are your hobbies?
I love walking in the forests or hiking, making jams, meeting friends, going to the movies or to the restaurant, reading, riding bicycle, driving my car, eating, visiting foreign countries, among other hobbies.

Where do you like to visit on holiday?
I like visiting my friends or discovering new regions or countries, natural spots more than big cities.

Where do you most like to take your students, what do you like to do with them when they visit?
It depends on them. With one of my students, we walked to the Abbey of Fontenay one day and picked blackcurrants another day to make our own crème de cassis, with another student we visited the castle of Ancy le Franc and listened to a classical concert in one of the rooms. I take most of my students to Abbey of Fontenay or to Semur en Auxois, Flavigny or Noyers sur Serein, medieval villages nearby.

Who are your most favourite students?
Students, who are eager to learn, are talkative and enthusiastic and easy to live with.

Tell me a funny story about hosting…
A student was so afraid of missing her plane, then her train to my place that she arrived too early. On her way back home though, she managed to miss her plane.

Another student locked me out one afternoon. Unfortunately for me it was pouring down and I had to take shelter in my car waiting for the rain to stop. Then I went back and banged on my front door until he dared to open it. He was a beginner and was afraid of not knowing what to say to a French person, that is why he had tried hard to ignore my banging.

If you could sit next to anyone for dinner, (past or present) who would it be and why?
My first thought was for Tracy Chapman the second one was: What would I tell her and how strange to think that just because you sit next to someone interesting you would right away find something worth saying?

What is your favourite ‘waste of time’?
I never think that I waste my time even when I stand or sit still without doing anything. I like daydreaming anyway.

If you could do one thing to change the world, what would it be?
Good question. Tricky question… change the world, change yourself, change…

What makes you laugh?
My friends make me laugh. And myself when I do something silly.

What makes you sad?
Environmental issues, wars everywhere in the wide world, huge gaps between the rich and the poor, North and South way of living, human values losing ground far too often against the power of money, bad weather that lasts too long in winter, injustice and much more probably.

Claudine’s Profile & Contact Details