Simone Heard
Principal and Owner, NEDF - French video-conferencing classes - Nouvelle Ecole de Français
Although being born in England in an Anglo-Belgian family, I am a truly native French speaking teacher with 25 years experience in tutoring adults in business environment, mainly in Belgium.
I qualified to teach French, as a Foreign language(FLE)at the Alliance Française de Paris and have the necessary background to teach French as "Français, langue juridique" as well as "Français commercial" and "Français du Tourisme".
I found the new technologies a great help to learn foreign languages but I am concerned about the lack of social contacts whilst using computer programmes. Virtual classes are fine, providing there are nearly "real" social interactions, particularly with the tuition of languages. It is this particular concern which led me to set a near "real" school of French, using high quality professional video-conferencing equipment to achieve this.
My aim is to help students, particularly those in business, to learn French more efficiently and master it more quickly.
8 contactsTraditional French tuition (FLE)"live" or in real time for business people and the Learned professions with high quality professional video-conferencing equipment through own private and secure network with dedicated ISDN lines : please note this is NOT e-learning with computer programmes but traditional "classes" where total view and interaction amongst students and students/teacher is possible.
More info on www.ecoledefrancais.com by clicking on "video-class" tab and "teaching" tab. For the moment, only the English version of the website is activated.
Head of the BLCC Languages & training dpt.
2002 - 2005Radical change even if it was still teaching French ! New experience acquired to switch from mature adult students to English teen's ! Starting with computer technologies in the French class eventually led me to the idea of "reactivating" the previous language school I had in Belgium with the added bonus that I would be able to welcome at the same time and in the same class (reasonnably more calmer) but as challenging mature business students of very different backgrounds, cultures and countries !
1987 - 1998Tuition of French (FLE) to highly motivated Flemish students coming from all different background : students from business school or from already well-established local and/or international firms
1985 - 1987French (FLE) tuition to Flemish students
1977 - 1981Administrative tasks and translations of various texts mostly from French or Dutch to English and English to French.
1975 - 1976Administrative tasks in "Building and maintenance" dept.
1967 - 1975Administrative and secretarial work, no absolute equivalence in English but similar function as "clerk to the court", first at the "Tribunal de 1e Instance de Nivelles" (Tribunal of 1st Instance of Nivelles, south-west Brussels)and after 3 years at the "Cours d'Appels de Bruxelles".
This is where I gained practical knowledge of the Law profession and took an interest in the study of Law and linguistics.