A carefully curated air of calm settles in Mme Sarah Le Pichon’s classroom. Adorned with warm lamps and vibrant posters depicting French art and grammar structures, the room exudes a sense of passion and cultivated enthusiasm for the French language, a trait reflected in the teacher it belongs to: Westwood’s newest French teacher, Mme Le Pichon. 

Joining Westwood’s foreign language department as the French II and AP/IB French instructor, Mme Le Pichon’s exposure to the French language began at a young age, with French permeating both her school and home environments. 

“My parents are French, [but] they moved to the States when they were in their late twenties or early thirties, right before having me and my siblings,” Mme Le Pichon said. “I grew up in Houston, and there was a French immersion school that goes from first to 12th grade. I went to this school up through 10th grade of high school, so I was in the French system for that whole time.”

Mme Le Pichon’s path to teaching was not clear cut. Due to the high-intensity environment of her French immersion school, Mme Le Pichon did not encounter teachers that fostered her love of learning until much later in her schooling. 

“I had absolutely amazing teachers at my French school as well, but broadly speaking, if you weren’t within the top performing students you got left behind,” Mme Le Pichon said. “For a long time I kind of gave up because it felt like it didn’t really matter how much work I put into it because I was never going to achieve what they wanted me to. It wasn’t until I went to the school in Kansas City that I had a teacher be like ‘come see me after school and I’ll explain this to you until you get it’ and that concept blew my mind.”

After completing the International Baccalaureate (IB) program in her final two years of high school and receiving her undergraduate degree, Mme Le Pichon went to graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin where she discovered her passion for education. 

“When I went to graduate school, I started looking into trauma-informed teaching, and my teaching background is in trauma-informed teaching,” Mme Le Pichon said. “I absolutely loved this approach, and grad school is also where I realized that I really loved teaching. I enjoy being in the classroom.”

Learning a foreign language is something that isn’t necessarily prioritized in the American education system, but there are myriad long term benefits that Mme Le Pichon emphasizes in her class. Foreign language acquisition provides students with many opportunities beyond the classroom, helping them grow as both people and as students. 

“I think that language can’t be separated from culture,” Mme Le Pichon said. “For example, language is all about communication, and I think that if there is anything that’s important in this world it’s communication. On a more straightforward level, there’s plenty of research that shows that learning another language helps you see the world differently, think of the world differently, approach it differently. It helps develop your brain in a completely different way and I think that’s really important, but  I also think that just in terms of communication and compassion and interest in the world, second language acquisition is one of the most important things that you can do.”

In an effort to bring this belief to life, Mme Le Pichon’s lessons and class discussions stress the value of learning French culture, both in relation to the European aspect, as well as the diverse French culture  in other Francophone countries, such as French-speaking African countries and French-speaking Canadian provinces.

“[I think it’s important that you’re] making sure that you’re emphasizing all of the different places and spaces that speak your language, and not necessarily remaining French-centric,” Mme Le Pichon said. “I sometimes struggle with this because my cultural background is French, I went to a French school, and so my cultural cornerstones are French, but I try very hard to, especially in my higher level classes, make sure that I’m incorporating Francophone perspectives.”

As Mme Le Pichon embarks on her first year of teaching in a public school system, her students and their experience in her class are always near the forefront of her mind.

“This year my goal is to do my best by the students. It’s my first year here at Westwood, but it’s also my first year in the public education system which means I also am working — when I’m not lesson-planning or grading — I’m studying for my teaching certification,” Mme Le Pichon said. “The French teacher that left was an institution, she was absolutely beloved by these students, and so I want to, even as I’m trying to get my feet out from under me, make sure that my students are continuing to really love French, and try to keep that enthusiasm.”

Within the academically rigorous AP/IB courses Mme Le Pichon teaches, she hopes to help students take a step back from the stress of grades and exam scores, and just focus on enjoying the learning process. 

“[Hopefully I’m] creating a space where the students are excited about learning and not so stressed about assignments or tests, or so focused on grades that they’re forgetting to really enjoy the learning process,” Mme Le Pichon said. “I think that the connection with the students is probably the most rewarding [part of teaching].”

No matter their level of proficiency in French, Mme Le Pichon hopes to instill in her students a lifelong desire to continue learning other languages and find excitement in the process of knowledge acquisition. 

“I hope that my students leave wanting to continue learning French or any other language, excited about the language learning,” Mme Le Pichon said. “Whatever that looks like, just engaging in these different cultures, these different languages, these different communities, I hope that they develop a desire to come back to it.”