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I am not used to exhibiting my private life on the web. Even though this site is more personal than any of my previous ventures in the online publishing department, you will not find a complete collection of pictures (and stories) about my family & cat here. This said, I am interested in photography and spend my free time going for lengthy strolls through the streets of Paris with a camera in tow. This corner of the web used to be where I advertise my translation services. Over the last six years I have accumulated some experience as a part-time freelance translator (English / French / German) working mostly for software companies and IT consultants (vmware, KLC among others), ISPs (club-internet), and local law firms. I have also translated the occasional comic book. My translation business has tapered off in recent times – too many other tasks to attend to! But should you, dear reader, need a carefully executed translation, just drop me a line and I shall attend to your wishes. My background is somewhat unusual for an English teacher. I came to teaching after receiving an education in theoretical physics and the history of the sciences (yes, the plural is significant). I still have a very soft spot in my heart for the latter field, but have been gravitating towards making a living from my fluency in three European languages. As in the case of translation, I appreciate the autonomy and responsibility that come with teaching. Therefore it was a logical step to earn a formal certification and to sit the CAPES, which I did in 2002. It was my first stab at this (to my mind) terrifyingly stressful exam; to make things worse, I was working full-time as a trilingual assistant during the prep year – so yes, it is possible to pass! As of August 2002, I am scheduled to take up teaching as a "professeur certifié stagiaire" (i.e. a certified trainee teacher) in the Créteil district in September and am also intent on going for the "agrégation externe" in 2003. But I'm a messy learner. Working on this site, gradually adding material in all the exam-relevant sections, sharing first-year experiences, analyses and the gems found on the web is supposed to help all of you who are interested in the topic, but also myself, who'll be forced to keep on-track during what is going to be a busy first year of teaching. |