Dear student!
I’m back in Mexico 
. I’m in a new time zone now.
Hope you’re fine and hope to see you around soon! 
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Bonjour les ami‧es !
My name is Sylvain. Born in France, grew up in Switzerland 
until I was ten and then back in the south of France 
. I studied literature, linguistics and English starting in a lovely town called Aix-en-Provence and then I graduated in Paris and in Lyon with a Master degree in Teaching French as a foreign language 
. As part of the Erasmus exchange programme, I studied a year in Brighton UK 
, one of my best experience abroad, very much similar to the intercultural experience Cédric Klapisch shows in the movie 
L’auberge Espagnole.
I also lived 2 years in India 
in Hyderabad where I participated in the design of an e-learning university project. Living in India with a European background was quite a shock at the beginning but it soon became such a nurturing experience 
. I even managed to learn a few Hindi expressions that I still remember after so many years like “thik hey” (ok), “djaldi” (quick). I’m not sure of the spelling though 
I’m just coming back from a year spent with the whole family in Dublin, Ireland. We learnt to play gaelic football and hurling/camogie, two fantastic sports 
. I could also learn a few irish expressions: “Fáilte” (welcome), “Dia duit” (hello), “Slán” (good bye), “Sláinte” (cheers), "Pog Mo Thoin” (no reasonable translation 
). What amazes me about irish language, it’s that it shares a common feature with french: it sounds completely different from the written form 
!
Teaching and relating with others is my great passion 
. I started teaching when I freshly began University and I haven’t stopped since then. I’m 47, currently living in Mexico, in a city called Cuernavaca, the very one where Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under the Volcano takes place. If you know that novel, don’t worry, my daily life is far from the dark atmosphere that smoulders in it 
. Actually, Cuernavaca is a really nice place to live in. It is known as the City of Eternal Spring, guess why? Because it’s never cold and never hot. If the weather can influence someone’s mood sometimes, here you cannot have any reasons to be moody. Shiny weather 
, shiny mood 
!
On the top of Pico de Orizaba, the highest volcano in Mexico
Cuernavaca is located at the hub of many volcanoes 
that I enjoy climbing (the active one apart obviously ). Hiking and mountaineering are among my dearest hobbies. I go to the mountains with friends, with my family and with my students. Each time I climb a mountain, I feel the experience as a metaphor of life: you have to be prepared, ready to face the unexpected and when it’s getting harder, you have to be resourceful, resilient and trustful with your companions, and at the end when finally reaching the summit, you experience a pure feeling of satisfaction, the same as when you achieve great deeds at work, in personal life or in relationships
A photo I took of the active volcano Popocatepetl starting a day work. What a fantastic view, isn’t it?
I also like doing sport in general: I play football 
and volleyball 
, but also handball 
, badminton 
and tennis. When I was in France I loved doing rock climbing 
, horse riding 
and snowboarding 
. In Ireland I got to play gaelic football and I enjoyed every part of it 
I like dancing Salsa 
. In my stay in India I had the weirdest idea 
to offer the student on the campus a salsa workshop. It was quite a bold cross-cultural project: a French guy teaching salsa to Indian people in a country where men and women where not used to public physical contact. Quite a challenge indeed but I won’t forget the way my students enjoyed that new experience !
I’ve always liked cinema, literature, especially thrillers and SF novels. In musique 
, I’ve got quite eclectic tastes: I love listening opera when I’m working; electronic and techno musique while doing the housework; but also Slam and pop musique in different languages.
I love to play cards and board games. Ultimately, I’ve been playing a lot Catan. My favourite with my students is the Werewolf 
role play.
I’ve been working in Cuernavaca as a French teacher for the past 15 years; the first 7 years in the cultural center Alliance Française teaching mostly to adults, and for the past 8 years in a Swiss School teaching to 12-19 years old students. I’m working with an international team of colleagues where you can hear in the same hour Spanish, French, English, German, Italian and even Chinese. Languages, cultural identities and interactions is what I like exploring with my colleagues and students. I love my job, I enjoy that with each new group, with each new person, it’s a new adventure starting again even though the language itself does not change much. In my class, I often use games and role play as a learning dynamic. I procure making the students feel confident and, most important, that they enjoy their learning.
I’ll be happy to know you and help you master French language!
French is my first language. I speak fluently Spanish and English. I have also learnt german as a kid and later at school, and a bit of russian when I was teenager.
Ich kann noch gut Deutsch verstehen, viel besser als ich Deutsch sprechen oder schreiben kann. Ich verstehe auch ein bisschen Schweizerdeutsch. Ich war mehrmals in Deutschland und Schweiz und könnte zimlich gut kommunizieren, aber ich habe lange nicht geübt. Deshalb bin ich sehr froh dass ich wieder mit die Sprache verbinden kann und dir kennenzulernen.
Querid@s amig@s que hablan español. Empecé aprender español cuando vivía en la India. A lo mejor no suena como el lugar idóneo, pero tuve una maestra hindú fenomenal y conocí a muchas personas de América central y del sur que me dieron ganas venir por aquí. Así es que llegué a México. Me encantaría poder conocerte y acompañarte en el aprendizaje del francés.
Cher‧ère ami‧e qui veut apprendre le français, je serai enchanté de pouvoir te connaître. Le français est une langue merveilleuse forgée dans l’histoire et au croisement d’autres langues. Comme toutes les langues, elle vit et évolue, c’est pourquoi elle peut paraître parfois si irrégulière. Apprendre le français représente un défi certes, mais surtout un véritable plaisir tant pour l’enseignant‧e que pour l’apprenant‧e. Je serai enchanté de pouvoir t’accompagner pour relever ce défi et pour partager ce plaisir avec toi ! 
) and I experienced that satisfaction feeling you’re talking about! 
. That program changed thousands of lives ! What a best way to open to other cultures and build cross-national friendships !
¡Bienvenido a nuestra comunidad!
what an adventure!
, but I don’t know Werewolf role play, what is it about?
.
. It’s a fantastic game to make the students talk and convince others about who’s who in the game. I love it and it’s so much fun 
I had no idea! It sounds very cool 
. I’ll have to try it someday.
You’re right, there’s lots of different dancing styles there, and I could learn a few Bollywood moves there 
It was so funny !
uno de estos horarios te pueda convenir.