Mme Leacher Teacher

I have 20+ years experience teaching French in Ontario, Canada. I've taught everything from Core French (2 years) to Immersion, from JK to Grade 8 (ages 3-14).

Compassion, concern, and care before curriculum. Grace before grades. Authenticity before optics. People over protocols. Academically: I believe that the key to learning French is rooted in oral language. Building a rich vocabulary via songs, books, poems, rhymes, chants, and LOTS of "tout le monde, répétez!" After and while building that rich oral language, introducing letters, and French phonemes and graphemes is key to second-language learners. Being able to decode is instrumental in reading success, and it helps build vocabulary! It won't work the other way around. (e.g. if a child doesn't know the French word for tire, but knows how to decode the French graphemes, /p/, /n/, /eu/, they will be able to look at the picture and learn a new word! If that child cannot decode, it doesn't help to see the picture of the tire, because they don't know how to say that word!) I also love adding an element of fun and silly to everything!

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I completed my Bachelor of Arts in French at Glendon College (York University) in Toronto, ON. While studying at Glendon bilingual campus, I spent time in Québec and France. I earned my Bachelor of Education at the Althouse Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario (a.k.a. Western University).

Currently, I am married to my husband, with whom I have 3 children. We live in Chatham, Ontario. I love to create, and make beautiful things. My current assignment is Grade 1 French Immersion, which has presented its challenges over the past 3 school years, because of the pandemic, and the children's below-average exposure to French.