About the Faculty

   Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 1.37.13 PM

Donna Hertz

Donna Hertz tried to retire from teaching, but after a post-retirement year in Aix-en-Provence, knew that she wasn’t done with her dual mission to teach French and foster in her students, a deeper understanding of the complex multi-cultural world in which we live.  The position as French Instructor and Coordinator for SILP was the right venue for this passion.

Donna’s educational philosophy has been informed and shaped by working with ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) and holding true to much of the work of Stephen Krashen and his Input Hypothesis. While both of those “institutions” have evolved in their practices, so has Donna’s knowledge base been developed through research and presentations at the California Language Teacher’s association and through her work for LTI (Language Testing International) for whom she is a language Rater for the OPIc (oral proficiency interview) in English.

Donna has a Masters of Education in French, has been a fellow at UC Berkeley, a recipient of a French Government award for cultural studies in France, and is a trained instructor for the French International Baccalaureate.

Donna believes that a successful language program requires a cadre of instructors who collaborate to develop curriculum, materials, strategies and assessments, and hold to the same ideal that language learning and acquisition can take place in the classroom. A well-articulated multi-level program can develop pre-defined levels of proficiency that are attainable when instructors and students work together in a supportive and non-threatening environment.

 

  photo%20alliance

Akissi Goffinet

After obtaining a Master’s in teaching French as a second language and a Master’s in English with a focus on linguistics and pedagogy, Akissi became an EFL and French as a Foreign Language teacher in a graduate school for chemical engineering in Strasbourg, France. Shortly thereafter, scared by the perspective of having her whole life lined up for her, she decided to follow her heart and travel. Though it started by hitchhiking through parts of Europe, she wound up in the Costa Rican jungle, and later on in Oregon, where she has lived for more than five years, teaching French to various ages and levels. She just resigned from her teaching position at the Alliance Française in Portland and will be a full time Visiting Instructor of French at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.  In her free time, Akissi loves dancing practising qi gong, and hiking.

Sites DOT MIISThe Middlebury Institute site network.