Hello, I am Helium Site Steward for the French Language Sub-sub-channel, within Arts and Humanities. My love of languages encompasses my experience of teaching English, my fluency in French, and also my ability to speak colloquial Arabic.

As a writer I enjoy publishing articles on learning French grammar and vocabulary, book reviews, poetry analysis, and the occasional recipe or restaurant review.

After graduating in Fine Art, my love of the French language got the better of me and I lived and worked in Paris for almost two years, an experience that is one of the most treasured of my life. Following this I gained some valuable editorial experience over a four-year period at the American University in Cairo Press. After a brief career break to spend time with my two children, I began teaching English Language and Literature, again in Cairo.

The year 1999 saw my return to the UK, where I have since been giving private tuition in English, French and Maths as well as doing freelance editing and proofreading. I also teach French, Numeracy, Art and Drama part-time at a nursery school. One of my proudest moments came in January 2006 when, together with my elder son, I published a DVD for beginners learning French entitled French Premier.

I am interested in hearing from any writers who have ideas for developing the French Language Subchannel, or from any who need advice or assistance with their articles. Please contact me through the 'Contact This Writer' link on the right of this page. I'd love to hear from you.

My passion is ...

language

I know too much about ...

living abroad

My parents always told me ...

to follow my dream

My childhood ambition ...

to be a fashion designer

My favorite memory ...

the births of my children

Why I write ...

It's always been a natural way of communicating for me.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Death in Venice/Mahler

My first job ...

bilingual secretary

My best moment ...

publishing a DVD

My inspiration ...

other family members, past and present

Arts & Humanities > French Language Why I like the French language

1 of 18

My love of the French language started at the age of eleven when I began learning it at secondary school in England. I was actually very lucky, as fifty percent of the pupils in my year took German whilst the other half took French, and I just happened to be in one of the classes that took French. I think my mother, who came from the north of England, appreciated the guttural sounds of German, but it has always seemed quite an ugly-sounding language to me, compared with the beautiful, romantic sound of French.

How different language learning was back then from today. Our teacher was a na...

More..

Writing:

Rating:

Donated to charity: $0.84