contact@french-immersion-teacher-home.com
contact@french-immersion-teacher-home.com
Villemur is a pretty and authentic town 35 km North East of Toulouse, 25 mn from Montauban and about an hour from the feet of the Pyreneas. The river Tarn runs through it, separating the new expanding part from the old medieval part where my house is.
It has all the necessary amenities : a local grocery shop as well as 2 supermarkets, a bakery, a patisserie and chocolate shop which I am particularly fond of, a really nice traditional butcher’s shop, pharmacies and so on and a lovely open market on Sunday morning.
It also boasts a 16th century arched building which is used as a cinema 3 times a month (free viewings), a beautiful old defence tower overlooking the river and whose massive building is used as an exhibition hall all year around.
And all around, for nature lovers, are accessible hills and nature trails where you can go for a walk or a cycle. Enough to enjoy a well-balanced stay between good food and a little exercise!
There are also three cafés with terraces overlooking the river or on the town square on Sunday morning where you may want to sit for a cup of coffee under the plane trees or in the sunshine… Through summer there is free live music on Thursday evenings on the old music square, but cultural and touristic activities are available all year round, like gigs, cinema or antique markets, for instance.
After years as a translator and an English teacher for children, adolescents and adults, I have decided to expand my field of expertise and teach French as a foreign language as it makes more sense to help people learn my mother tongue but also to meet different cultures and outlooks all the while offering perspectives on my region, my country and their peculiarities. I was born in Toulouse but spent years living elsewhere, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Oxford and Paris and smaller places in the South West of France and I love sharing viewpoints and language tips!
I am also a keen cook and lover of organic local food and other produce. I enjoy sharing this passion with guests and passing on the delightful details that are typical of the area. Being from this “neck of the woods” I would love to be your guide to this authentic part of Haute-Garonne which has so much to offer! I have also trained as a stained glass artist and can show you how it works or even organise a little discovery course for you if interested.
When I graduated in Toulouse in 1994 as an English linguist (English Literature and Civilization), my extended essay dealt with the Enligh translation of Goscinny’s Adventures of Asterix and Obelix, which I think summarizes quite well my interests: languages, culture, food and humour! Then I went on to become an English teacher, which was my occupation until 2000 when I went to Oxford and raised my two children, all the while developing an activity as a translator from home and later working as a communication officer in the French Humanities research centre in Oxford (Maison Française d’Oxford), a place where knowledge and culture went side by side in a very bilingual environment!
Since I came back, apart from teaching English and, lately, French, I have trained as a stained glass artist and have set up my workshop on the ground floor of the house… Let me know if you want to have a look or even try your hand at it if you are interested!
In my house when it comes to your program flexibility is key, but it seems natural to start with your tuition in the morning after breakfast, then continue towards and through lunch and have a choice of activities in the afternoon. It may include walking on the nearby paths along the river or doing the local 7 km hike to the nearest village over the hills, visiting one of the seasonal exhibitions, going to the local library, visiting a museum nearby (like the underrated “Musée Ingres” in Montauban or even the old-fashioned musée d’histoire naturelle whose wooden floors and glass windows send you back to the beginning of the 20th century). Or you may be interested in learning to cook one of our local specialties…
In your free time you may borrow a bike if you are a keen cyclist (the area is not flat!) or lounge around in the house or in the many pleasant spots by the river. I can take you to Toulouse if you miss the city life or if you prefer smaller places there is a world of beautiful villages in the nearby Tarn or Tarn et Garonne which I always love to make people discover.
And of course if you are interested in stained glass I can organise a short demonstration or even a workshop during which you could learn to make your own sweet little stained glass panel (additional fees required).
To immerse oneself in the French language is to enter a world where every word carries the weight of history, every conversation reveals a culture, and every day becomes a discovery of the soul. —Maya Angelou
