Sally Barstow

An interest in learning and my love of French have woven together in my life to feed my love of teaching.  I recall with fondness the 14 years I homeschooled my two youngest children.  Today I proudly continue working with homeschoolers, opening up to them the mysteries of the French language. My interest in French was birthed in my desire to connect with my family in Belgium.  I enjoy sharing with my students that I began learning French in high school, like many of them are doing.  Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of not only visiting my Belgian family, but hosting students from French speaking countries, only to later visit them and their families in their home countries.  I firmly believe that the purpose of learning a language is to broaden one’s experience with others and to help find one’s purpose and place in the world. Contact: sbarstow[at]aimacademy.online

I received my BA in French from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA and studied abroad at the University of Dijon in France.  Over the years I have updated my teaching skills with post graduate courses at both the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia.  Recently I completed the CAVILAM certification for teaching French as a second language, a program sponsored by the government of France.  My teaching experience includes beginning adult immersion French classes at the Alliance Française as well as homeschool groups of all ages.

At Aim Academy, I have enjoyed diving in with my upper level students to ‘conquer’ topics such as The Environment, Media, Education, Health and others.  I believe that language learning is best achieved when the communication is relevant to the student and the learning environment is comfortable for them as well.  I try bringing these two elements into every class I teach.