Our Team of Qualified & Experienced French Language Teachers

Béatrice did not expect a six-month break from university to lead to a new life in Australia but she is very glad it did. Born and raised in France, she now lives in Brisbane with her family and continues to travel frequently to Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

During her 23-year career as a university lecturer (QUT & UQ) she taught French at all levels from beginners to advanced, including courses in French for professional purposes, one of her areas of expertise. She undertook further training at the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP) and established the first CCIP examination centre at an Australian university (QUT).

Béatrice has long been interested in technology as a way to facilitate language and intercultural learning and gained extensive experience in online teaching through her collaboration with French universities and the Brisbane School of Distance Education.

She has received a number of awards for her work including two Australian Government Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2007) & (2014 – Team award) and a UQ Vice Chancellor’s Award for Internationalisation (2013).

Béatrice has been actively engaged with local, national and international French teachers associations throughout her career. She was President of FATFA (Federation of Associations of Teachers of French in Australia) for three years and Vice President of FIPF (Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Français) Asia Pacific Commission from 2008 to 2016.

She founded The French Language Experts in 2015 to share her passion for French language and Francophone cultures and improve student access to quality learning.

Linguist and Publisher by training, Marie-Hélène decided to get back into teaching French as a second and foreign language after 10 years in publishing. In Australia since 2006 she has taught at QUT, the University of Queensland School of Languages and Cultures and the Institute of Modern Languages and the Alliance française de Brisbane. She was also employed as a course developer by the Queensland Department of Education. Having lived and worked in a few different Francophone countries (Belgium, France, Burkina Faso and Canada), she has expertise in the lexical, phonological and grammatical features of a range of French varieties. So if grammatical fine tuning is what you need, Marie-Hélène can help you!

Islands hold a special place in Marielle’s heart: born and raised in the French overseas territory of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, her first French teaching position took her to the isle of Wight, where she met her husband, who later enticed her to his native Australia. About ten years later, they are still enjoying the Queensland way of life. To satisfy her curiosity about the world and share her enthusiasm for the French language (and in between two crusades against the inaccurate labelling of ‘pains au chocolat’ as ‘chocolate croissants’ in Australian bakeries despite the fact they clearly lack any resemblance to a crescent), Marielle likes learning, teaching, travel, outdoor activities, reading, watching a good movie, playing with words, savouring a good meal, board games and taking part in community life. Having taught French to various age groups and levels in a variety of contexts, including secondary school, distance education, university and private tuition, in both academic and private settings, Marielle knows a trick or two in the field of French as a foreign language. She has a passion for inspiring a love of the French language and culture through a dynamic learning experience and encourages her students to be successful in their learning of French to reach the level to which they aspire.

Valérie was born in Paris and has been teaching French as a foreign language for 16 years. She has worked with toddlers, primary and secondary school children, adults and university students. She spent a few years teaching in Paris, London and Barcelona. In Australia, she taught French at a bilingual primary school in Canberra for two years, at high schools in Geelong (Victoria) and as a tutor at The University of Melbourne. She is currently based in Brisbane where she has been working with the Alliance française and The University of Queensland.

She loves teaching French and sharing her culture with her students always focusing on their communication skills.