OUR FRENCH TEACHERS IN THE BAY AREA
With the objective to provide the best French learning experience, EFBA strives to recruit the finest French teachers of the San Francisco Bay Area. To reach this goal, we have put in place a very stringent recruitment process. The result is a fantastic team of credentialed & experienced individuals who are aware of the issues linked to bilingualism. All year long, our teachers attend EFBA training that is dedicated to their professional development and our service quality control.
All of our teachers and assistants are Francophone and come from different places around the world. They either know the French Education Ministry’s curriculum or are trained in teaching French as a Foreign Language. They bring a unique teaching experience and a different culture. All are dedicated to EFBA’s mission, values and innovative teaching methods. They know how to structure a class for differentiated levels to ensure that each student gets personal attention.
Meet EFBA’s teachers and assistants below!
FLORA GREMAUD
Having arrived in the San Francisco Bay area from France in December 2018, this expatriation has not been just a change of country for Flora. It has also been the opportunity for her to completely rethink her professional work, and recreate it in alignment with her values. She is a mother of two children, and has come to realize how important it is to teach young children about the rest of the world. As a French woman, she holds the rich heritage of her culture and language, and she is eager to share what she has to offer.
RAPHAËL GARCIA
Raphael earned two French Master’s degrees in law and along with his practice, he also had the opportunity to teach European law. After he relocated to the United States, he earned an LLM in US legal studies. Since then, he has volunteered at the San Francisco Superior Court and in various nonprofits. That experience has allowed him to grasp some foundational aspects of American society, including, but not limited to, its diversity. Raphael joined EFBA in 2019, and he is enthusiastic about teaching his native language to Californian students and sharing his native culture with them. He is an assistant teacher in San Ramon at the Bella Vista Elementary School, and a freshman teacher in Livermore at the Arroyo Seco Elementary School. He is also a lecturer at the Modern Languages and Literatures department of California State University, East Bay. He would like to become a DELF (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française) test administrator.
ANNE MORAG
Anne is a native of the South of France, but well traveled and very curious about other civilizations, cultures and languages. She holds an M.A. in international relations from the Sorbonne. She also studied American and English literature and culture. She has been teaching English and French as a second language in several countries, in schools, at EFBA and privately for many years. Anne particularly enjoys teaching her own native tongue to children. She marvels at their eagerness to learn and candid questioning, and works to adapt to their interests, rhythms, and learning styles. Having been at EFBA for a few years, Anne is now a senior teacher.
TUNDE VACSI
Tunde was born and grew up in Hungary. She got her Bachelor’s in French teaching there, and spent eight years working as a trade advisor at the French Trade Commission of the French Embassy in Hungary. She has lived in Bordeaux, London, Seattle and now in Mountain View. After moving to the Bay Area in 2014, she decided she wanted to return to working in education and served as an office and teacher assistant in a Montessori Preschool. Tunde joined EFBA in 2015, and is very excited to show the children how much fun it can be to learn French! She likes to travel, hike, cook, watch movies and, of course, teach French.
ELODIE LAPLACE-GRANGIER
Elodie is passionate about helping young children learn the French culture and language. She started her journey into teaching by volunteering as a french activity leader in a Montessori preschool, and then continued on as an assistant teacher. After many years of assistant teaching for a wide variety of age groups, she found she had a particular fondness for working with the youngest students. She has recently moved from being an assistant to teaching her own class, and watching her students’ progress as they grow into confident, culturally-aware French speakers brings her great joy.
NADIA BODIN
Specialized in computer science applied to the public domain, Nadia worked at the French Ministry of the Interior on elections security. After her family’s succession of international moves, she settled down in the Bay Area in 2007, and decided to explore the world of education to share her passion for the French language and to help French-language families preserve their roots. She defines herself as a global citizen, and loves traveling, sports, reading and good cuisine. She joined EFBA as a teacher in 2015. Since 2017, she has been leading the FLAM (French Language as Mother Tongue) textbook project, developed under the Creative Commons license. Nadia is also a DELF/DALF administrator.
SIMONE BLOCH
Simone Bloch is an experienced French teacher with dual citizenship, who has been teaching French and German to people of all ages in France and the United States. She holds a CAPES in German, and also passed the PLP2 after teaching French in a vocational high school in France. She has worked with babies and young children, as well as adults. She’s been teaching with EFBA for almost 10 years, and has been part of the organization’s many programs. She also loves working in summer camps, and in summer 2019, she had the joy to lead one. Her interests are not limited to languages; she holds various certifications in somatic movement, and performs regularly as an actress. She is happy to be working with EFBA for another year, as she loves contributing to the growth of young children, and is now a grandmother.
TORAL MEHTA
Toral holds a Master’s degree in French from Stanford University. She grew up in Djibouti and completed her Bachelors degree in France. She spent four years as a project manager for a non-profit organization that organized mentoring programs. During that time, she implemented their email mentoring program, which matched 150 to 200 students with over 150 volunteer mentors via email. Toral has lived in California since 1988, and has been with EFBA for seven years now. She loves to travel and hopes to make a difference in the lives of her students.
SANDRINE VILNA
In her free time, she practices yoga, which helps keep her centered.
MAI DESCAMPS
NADA KAISSI
RACHEL NDJE
CHIARA FRACAS
YASMINE MARTINET
