Originally from France, I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, finished high school in an International Lycee, studied acting in London and moved to NYC over twenty years ago before moving to the East Coast just three months ago... Before leaving for NYC, in Paris still, I was a simultaneous interpreter from English to French for various acclaimed theater and film directors at an international conference on Stanislavski. In New York, I attended Columbia University with a major in literature and creative writing. I quickly became a tutor to fellow undergraduate students who needed help in French. Together, I worked with them on essays, translations and personal business letters. I also booked jobs as a translator for ads or CD book jackets. Once I had graduated, (summa sum laude, with an Honors in Writing) I decided to train to teach French or English according to the Berlitz method. This method believes that a language should be taught the way a child learns it: hands on, visuals only, physical movement, and only a little translation when needed around grammatical questions. I coached many a students to fluency in this way. I never lost track however that different students have different needs so I do not apply this method in a rigid fashion. Rather, I follow my intuition and use my acting background to draw out the student in areas where I feel that he/she needs to be drawn out. I have worked with young children and teenagers to help them with their homework assignments if that is what is required. I was a regular tutor to several children attending private schools in NYC.
As a writer and teacher of writing, I love the art of cutting and editing and working with language until it is simple and straightforward. It is my experience that less is more. A severe editor of my own work, (two manuscripts, ten plays, one screenplay optioned for three years and a manuscript in poetry), I also happily edit other people’s work. In this vein, I edited a biblical manuscript in 2003, and more recently a children’s sci-fie manuscript that will be published in 2013. I enjoy people and communication and especially children and teenagers. Helping them define what they are attempting to say and write while helping them do just that on paper is a passion of mine. I am the recipient of several poetry awards, have had poems published, several plays produced, including a one woman show and a full-length play compared to The Tree of Life, and I have also had a screenplay optioned for three years.
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