MADAME LITTEN
Madame Allison Litten grew up in Scituate, MA, where, in high school, she became interested in the French language and culture. She majored in French and sociology at Williams College. Immediately upon graduation she began a two-year program at the University of Mississippi. This program, the Mississippi Teacher Corps, allowed her to teach French at the high school level while obtaining her certification and taking courses to fulfill requirements for a Masters of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction. During these two years she worked at Brookhaven High School in Brookhaven, MS, where she tripled the enrollment in the French program and supervised the Student Council. After she finished her M.A. at Ole Miss she remained one more year in Brookhaven.
In the summer of 2003 Madame moved to the Upper Valley and began teaching at Marion Cross that fall. She has been here ever since, loving her job more as each year passes. She loves her students and having fun, singing songs and being silly. However she still loves to learn and is constantly striving to perfect her French. She completed her M.A. in French at Middlebury College in 2010, spending her final semester in Poitiers, France, and has traveled to France on numerous occasions since.
Madame goes to France every opportunity she has. She loves to visit her friends in Brittany, on the northern coast of France, and in Provence. While she enjoys going back to her favorite places, she is also ready to explore new regions. Her other travels to Francophone countries include Québec and Sénégal. She has a strong desire to go back to Africa, and to visit southeast Asia to see what remains of the French colonial period.
Madame believes that all students should have the opportunity to learn a foreign language. She is passionate about teaching with TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) and CI (Comprehensible Input). Her focus in class lies in giving her students numerous possibilities to hear French and process both spoken and written language. She believes that through listening and repetition, students will develop the skills and confidence to express themselves; she does not like the approach of "forced output." She has participated in numerous workshops to deepen her understanding of this pedagogical philosophy, and has presented her ideas and lessons at local, regional, and national conferences. She blogs about her experiences and ideas at the site cicanteach.com
Outside of school, Madame enjoys spending time with her family and her dog, traveling, watching movies, running, cooking, gardening, reading, and yoga. Some of her favorite Francophone musicians are Stromae, Le Vent du Nord, Black M, Les Cowboys Fringants, De Temps Antan, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Magic System, and Daara J.
Madame Allison Litten grew up in Scituate, MA, where, in high school, she became interested in the French language and culture. She majored in French and sociology at Williams College. Immediately upon graduation she began a two-year program at the University of Mississippi. This program, the Mississippi Teacher Corps, allowed her to teach French at the high school level while obtaining her certification and taking courses to fulfill requirements for a Masters of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction. During these two years she worked at Brookhaven High School in Brookhaven, MS, where she tripled the enrollment in the French program and supervised the Student Council. After she finished her M.A. at Ole Miss she remained one more year in Brookhaven.
In the summer of 2003 Madame moved to the Upper Valley and began teaching at Marion Cross that fall. She has been here ever since, loving her job more as each year passes. She loves her students and having fun, singing songs and being silly. However she still loves to learn and is constantly striving to perfect her French. She completed her M.A. in French at Middlebury College in 2010, spending her final semester in Poitiers, France, and has traveled to France on numerous occasions since.
Madame goes to France every opportunity she has. She loves to visit her friends in Brittany, on the northern coast of France, and in Provence. While she enjoys going back to her favorite places, she is also ready to explore new regions. Her other travels to Francophone countries include Québec and Sénégal. She has a strong desire to go back to Africa, and to visit southeast Asia to see what remains of the French colonial period.
Madame believes that all students should have the opportunity to learn a foreign language. She is passionate about teaching with TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) and CI (Comprehensible Input). Her focus in class lies in giving her students numerous possibilities to hear French and process both spoken and written language. She believes that through listening and repetition, students will develop the skills and confidence to express themselves; she does not like the approach of "forced output." She has participated in numerous workshops to deepen her understanding of this pedagogical philosophy, and has presented her ideas and lessons at local, regional, and national conferences. She blogs about her experiences and ideas at the site cicanteach.com
Outside of school, Madame enjoys spending time with her family and her dog, traveling, watching movies, running, cooking, gardening, reading, and yoga. Some of her favorite Francophone musicians are Stromae, Le Vent du Nord, Black M, Les Cowboys Fringants, De Temps Antan, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Magic System, and Daara J.
MADAME MOSKOWITZ
Madame Minda Moskowitz grew up on Long Island, NY, where she began studying French in eighth grade. In ninth, tenth and eleventh grades, she also took Spanish. In her senior year, she added Italian to her language studies. That year, she earned recognition as the only student to have taken and passed “with flying colors” all three New York State Foreign Language Regents Exams. As an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, Minda chose French as one of her majors. During her junior year, she studied abroad in Paris through a Columbia University program that was taught by their own professors. She also took a course in International Relations at Sciences Po. At the University of Rochester graduation, Minda was selected to speak as the representative of the foreign language department and received an award for “excelling in French.”
She then continued her studies at New York University Graduate School where she earned her MA in French Language and Civilization. Her thesis was an application of generative grammar in which she compared five distinct translations of Les Chats (a sonnet by Charles Baudelaire), which demonstrated how translating between languages is more complicated than it appears.
Her grandfather’s company imported food from all over the world. However, a large portion of his business involved importing cheese, mainly from France. Because her grandparents often traveled there for both business and pleasure, she was privy to places not often visited by tourists. While she was attending school in Paris, her grandfather often “dropped by” to say hello and introduce her to many of his friends and business associates, joining them at their homes for dinner and social gatherings. This was a wonderful opportunity to experience French culture, first-hand, and, of course, to practice her French.
In addition to traveling in and around France, she has also visited Northern and Central Europe, as well as the Middle East. As youngsters, she and her sister spent family vacations in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Islands and Mexico. Her sister now lives in Peru. When visiting her, Minda has the opportunity to brush up on her Spanish.
In 2014, Minda moved to Vermont to be closer to her mother. She then earned her Vermont educator’s license with endorsements in elementary education (ELED, K-6), Special Education (SPED, K-8), and World Languages: French (PK-12).
She believes that in order to engage students, they must be actively involved in their own learning. To do this, the students share what is happening in their lives and what is important to them. For most students, this begins entirely in English. However, through media, songs and games, they acquire French vocabulary and sentence structure which enables them to do their sharing with more confidence...and more French.
Madame Minda Moskowitz grew up on Long Island, NY, where she began studying French in eighth grade. In ninth, tenth and eleventh grades, she also took Spanish. In her senior year, she added Italian to her language studies. That year, she earned recognition as the only student to have taken and passed “with flying colors” all three New York State Foreign Language Regents Exams. As an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, Minda chose French as one of her majors. During her junior year, she studied abroad in Paris through a Columbia University program that was taught by their own professors. She also took a course in International Relations at Sciences Po. At the University of Rochester graduation, Minda was selected to speak as the representative of the foreign language department and received an award for “excelling in French.”
She then continued her studies at New York University Graduate School where she earned her MA in French Language and Civilization. Her thesis was an application of generative grammar in which she compared five distinct translations of Les Chats (a sonnet by Charles Baudelaire), which demonstrated how translating between languages is more complicated than it appears.
Her grandfather’s company imported food from all over the world. However, a large portion of his business involved importing cheese, mainly from France. Because her grandparents often traveled there for both business and pleasure, she was privy to places not often visited by tourists. While she was attending school in Paris, her grandfather often “dropped by” to say hello and introduce her to many of his friends and business associates, joining them at their homes for dinner and social gatherings. This was a wonderful opportunity to experience French culture, first-hand, and, of course, to practice her French.
In addition to traveling in and around France, she has also visited Northern and Central Europe, as well as the Middle East. As youngsters, she and her sister spent family vacations in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Islands and Mexico. Her sister now lives in Peru. When visiting her, Minda has the opportunity to brush up on her Spanish.
In 2014, Minda moved to Vermont to be closer to her mother. She then earned her Vermont educator’s license with endorsements in elementary education (ELED, K-6), Special Education (SPED, K-8), and World Languages: French (PK-12).
She believes that in order to engage students, they must be actively involved in their own learning. To do this, the students share what is happening in their lives and what is important to them. For most students, this begins entirely in English. However, through media, songs and games, they acquire French vocabulary and sentence structure which enables them to do their sharing with more confidence...and more French.