The French Academy of Minnesota - French School, Preschool and Elementary

Christelle Provolo
Preschool (Teacher)

Christelle comes from the North of France. She graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Languages, Literature and Foreign Civilizations, with a French and Foreign Language major in 2003 (University of Artois, France). In 2000/2001, she came for the first time to the US as an Intern Assistant Teacher in a French immersion school. Beside her assistant position, she also tutored and supervised middle school students in different subjects including French and English language arts, French civilization and mathematics. In 2003/2004, she was a full time student taking intensive Preschool and Elementary Education classes (I.U.F.M., Douai, France). Christelle is starting her sixth year at The French Academy in the fall 2009.

Isabelle Marentic
Preschool (Assistant Teacher)

Isabelle was born and lived in a small town outside of Verdun France. Both her parents are French. She first came to Minnesota to live, as a pre-teen and continued her French education by attending the Lycee in St Mihiel throughout high school. Although her career has been mainly in sales and marketing both in the US and Canada, she has always had a passion for teaching and nurturing children and has done so by working part time at a local day care center. She is now attending MCTC to obtain a degree in Child Development. She hopes to incorporate her true French upbringing in her teaching at FAM.

Claude Devery
Pre-K (Teacher)

Claude is originally from Nice, south of France. She graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Literature (University of Nice, France). Claude has been working with young children since the age of 18. In 2001, as she just started to work as an assistant at The French Academy, she decided to go back to college and earned an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education. She is determined to pursue her career in Education and continues her classes to graduate with a Bachelor Degree in Education, while she is working as a teacher.

Valérie LeLetty
Pre-K (Assistant teacher)

Valérie comes from Brittany, Western France. She graduated from the University of Rouen (France), with a Master’s Degree in teaching French as a foreign language (FLE). She also graduated with a Bachelor Degree in History of Art (University of Paris IV- La Sorbonne). In 2005-2006, she moved to Minnesota as a teacher trainee in a French immersion school. Then, she worked in the U.K. as an assistant teacher in different schools (from kindergarten to 5th grade).

Mathieu Henry
Kindergarten (Teacher)

Mathieu was born in the Vosges, a department in the east of France. He studied Science and Sports and earned his preschool and elementary teaching license (professeur des écoles) in 2003. He joined the French Academy in 2008, with his wife, to discover a new culture, share his skills and enrich his teaching experience.

Lucile Giroud
Kindergarten (Intern)

Lucile was born and grew up in Haute-Marne, in Eastern France. She spent two years in Classes Préparatoires Littéraires and then graduated in June 2009 with a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of Metz, in Lorraine. She plans to start a Master in FLE (French as a Foreign Language) next year in order to be able to teach French abroad. She is very happy to be an Intern Teacher at the French Academy of Minnesota and to discover the American Way of life.

Ambre Crim
English Teacher

Ambre is a native Minnesotan, from Stillwater. She speaks fluent French, since she studied for a year at the Faculté de Lettres in Aix-en-Provence in 1996-1997, and taught English in Paris from 1999-2001. She also speaks Spanish. Ambre is the K-5 English Language Arts teacher. She also teaches ELL (English Language Learners) to our non-native English speakers. This is her first year at the French Academy, and her eleventh year teaching. She has a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has a current Minnesota teaching license.