About Nicole
Hi I'm Nicole,
I was born and raised in Paris, France, where I lived most of my life. In 1995, I moved to Colombia for seven years, and then, to the United States since 2004.
My journey has not been only across borders and cultures , but also has taken me through a professional transition, although always in the same field: education. Having taught history and geography in Paris and Bogota, to becoming a certified French and Spanish teacher in the Chicago area, the journey continues with my pursuit of helping kids and adults to learn a second language .
During my educational experience in France, a few influential teachers sparked my interest in different subjects and at different stages of my youth. My elementary teachers fostered the joy and love I have for learning. In middle school, there was a French and Latin teacher in particular who taught us in small groups built on collaboration.
She provided meaningful instruction and personal feedback that were always packaged in kindness and tolerance. I became a voracious reader outside the classroom. Many of my personal choices in reading material reflected learning about other cultures and thinking outside my comfort zone.
Attending the Sorbonne University in Paris, I decided to become a history teacher and I achieved a Masters in history. I started working in Parisian schools. I particularly enjoyed high school level teaching because the curriculum allowed me to build engaging and interactive lessons that were relevant to my students. I remember a unit on the French political culture I framed around the Dreyfus case we studied through newspapers, literature and political speeches.
In 1995, I moved with my family to Bogota, Colombia. The opportunities there allowed me to further grow and develop, both personally and professionally. I taught history and geography to middle school students at the Lycée Français was a highly rewarding teaching experience. Most of my students were truly interested in learning .
They demonstrated curiosity and eagerness to open their minds.I applied the teaching style I remembered from those teachers in my youth by creating a caring and positive learning environment based on reflection, inquiry and collaborative work.The classroom was a real community. On a personal point of view, my stay in Colombia allowed me to learn Spanish and discover the richness of the local culture. It became a part of myself.
Since moving to the United States, 19 years ago, I acquired a new focus on language. Raising my two children bilingual, tutoring French and Spanish in different settings and staying abreast of local news and current events in both languages, directed me naturally to the desire of teaching world languages. In 2012, I went back to school and obtained my Professional teaching license for French and Spanish. I then taught French in different schools of the Northshore, among them Niles HS, New Trier High school, Maine South HS ... However, I chose to create my own language tutoring business in order to teach based on my philosophy.
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