"Hi, I'm Elizabeth. Don't be put off by my hefty credentials. My students have always loved me for my warmth, sense of humor, and deep heart connection. I could offer a link to my book and articles, list of international conferences at which I gave papers, the grants that I won, and awards for teaching excellence and service, but that is only a partial picture. I love French language, literature, and culture because, while an American born + bred, I spent formative years growing up in France, going to school there, and traveling a lot. Ask me about pre-historic cave paintings in the Dordogne, why the Battle of Hastings in 1066 brought us culinary terms like mutton and beef while the animals are called sheep and cattle, how to distinguish within a decade when a castle was built by the shape of its windows and decorations, all the ways in which "Little Red Riding Hood" was conceived as a tale of sexual caution for tween girls of the early modern age, keys to understanding many of the classics of 20th C French lit ("La Jalousie" may seem repetitive, but it's really a psychological thriller an awful lot like "Rear Window!") and more. From something as basic as subject-verb agreement to as complicated as Derridian deconstruction, I can move you or your student through the trapdoors and secret passageways of French and Francophone language, literature, and culture thanks to my interdisciplinary, inquiry-based, connect-the-dots approach. Even if you are a teacher yourself and quite proficient in your subject, I'd be happy to put our heads together to zip up your curriculum or your evaluations.

I spent two decades in Higher Ed as a teacher and program director, in charge of all French instruction, advising, curriculum development and French activities at my university before stepping in post-tenure to the chair's position. I left not because I didn't LOVE the art of teaching and every one of my students (I did), but because it had become clear to me that the mission of higher ed (at least at the institution where I was t" less...