Corinne Basmaison, professeur d’anglais et de FLE

I was an expatriate for 16 years, from 1997 to 2013, in Texas, Germany and England, where my 4 children were born and raised, attending Montessori and International schools. I have been teaching since 1999, including English, French as an Additional Language and German, and is CELTA certified since 2016. She also passed the CAPES d’anglais in 2018, finishing in the 2nd percentile.

With a baby on my hip and a bit sad to leave my job as a forest engineer, I still welcomed the adventure of moving to Texas to follow my husband in his brand new career. I had always loved discovering new places, new people. I’d already been going to Germany every year since I was in Middle School, to visit my school penpal-turned-friend, I’d learnt Italian by going over the summers with my sister to visit her penpal, I served as a translator for my parents when we toured Ireland, then Scotland… But going as a tourist and living in a country is quite different! I started to tutor some students, referred to me by a math teacher at the French/International School. Soon, I was asked to teach Physics and Chemistry there. One day, I was late prepping for an electricity experience and was finishing stripping some wires to use Christmas lights for an experiment on conductivity. I was standing at my desk, stripping away and welcoming the students at the same time. A young lady had been kept one year behind, and as a result had completely given up on school. She had internalised that, no matter what she did, she couldn’t succeed. Seeing me standing there, she exclaimed “But Ma’am, you can’t do that!” Puzzled, I replied “What exactly can’t I do?” “This thing you’re doing with the tool.” Doing it with the following light, I asked “That?” “Yes.” “And why is that?” I couldn’t quite understand why I wasn’t supposed to be able to do something I was obviously doing. “Well, you’re a woman!” “Why, yes, I am. And watch me do it still!” At that moment, I could see the lightbulb flash in her mind: she’d just realised the idea she had internalised, that girls/women could not succeed in school/science, was without basis, and her whole outlook on school changed. She went on to successfully finish her school year. As for me, that’s when I realised that, if I could change a young person’s life just by teaching them by example, then I wanted to continue teaching. After Texas, we went on to Germany and England, were my 3 other children were born and all 4 were raised, attending Montessori and International schools. I’ve been teaching since 1999 and have been CELTA certified since 2016. I also passed the CAPES d’anglais in 2018, finishing in the 2nd percentile. I started working at Langues Vivantes in 2014 when it opened, teaching mainly English, but also some French as an Additional Language and German classes. I am happy to be back with the wonderful team here. And when I have some extra time, I also write poetry and fiction.