Nicholas Aro is a high school teacher and dancer from Boston. He currently teaches French and English as a second language at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, where he lives with his cat Erica and husband Brandon. Nicholas has a great passion for travel, languages, human relations and dance. He is bilingual in French and English, is learning Italian and understands Spanish. He holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees in French language, literature and pedagogy from the University of Massachusetts Boston and Middlebury College, respectively. Thanks to his life abroad in France and his frequent travels, he has made connections with people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Identifying as an LGBTQ+ man, Nicholas has always embraced diversity and never questioned the idea that we are all connected as humans and that we can very easily rediscover our connection through communication, music and dance. By studying and then teaching languages, Nick was able to live and demonstrate this truth and his passion, but there was always one element missing.

It was in France, while completing his Master’s degree in the summer of 2022, that he discovered the power of dance fitness in action. It was in Marseille, when he attended his first dance fitness class in person, that he felt the joy, power and renewal that only dance fitness can produce.  He felt his life change; dancing in a foreign land under a golden sunset with a diverse and enthusiastic group of dancers overwhelmed him. He left the event with a reborn sense of fire and joy. A year later, Nicholas finds himself certified as an instructor and ready to lead sessions in French! Bring your joy, some water, a smile and get ready to shake your booty!

I did my primary and secondary studies in Kinshasa in Catholic schools where I obtained my baccalaureate in math-physics in 2005 and the university, at the Protestant where I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in finance, banking, and insurance, in 2010 in Kinshasa. I had to work for 5 years in the banking sector and then I immigrated to the United States in March 2015 thanks to the lottery on the diversity of the American people with a residence card of 10 years.

Arrived in the United States with my wife, my family has grown, we are 5 in my household. In the journey of my integration in the United States, I had to improve my English, to work in a manufacturing plant automobile parts (Nichols) being a machine operator, being a tutor in the Mathematics department of SMCC and at the moment I am a manager in a house that supports people living with disabilities, I am a tutor in the French department of USM, I want to get my bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Operations Research at the University of Southern Maine (USM) and I became an American citizen in 2020.

Mary lived in France and attended a French lycée as a teenager and more recently lived in Quebec City for two years. She has a B.A. and an M.A. in French literature and completed her PhD in Canadian History with a focus on French Canada. In the past, she has taught French courses at the University of Maine and at the University of Southern Maine. She currently teaches at the University of Mane as an adjunct professor.

Chantal grew up in the suburbs of Paris. After graduating from high school with a Baccalaureate in Science, she started university in Paris XII, then moved to Boston, MA, where she finished her education at Bentley College with a Bachelor’s in Accountancy. Chantal also studied yoga and became a certified yoga teacher in Cambridge, MA in 2005. She worked several years in the banking field as a manager and taught yoga in several states, including Florida for many years. Chantal moved to Maine and started teaching French in 2015. She received a DELF Teaching Certificate from the French Ministry of Education and graduated from the Extended Teacher Education Program (ETEP- Masters in Teaching and Learning) at USM. She teaches French at South Portland High School and DELF classes at the French School of Maine. Chantal enjoys spending time with family and friends, going for walks and discovering new places. She is very happy to be part of the Alliance Française du Maine and is looking forward to meeting more francophones.

I am delighted to be a teacher for the Alliance Française. I have been a student and life-long learner of French since 1984, when I spent the Academic Year 1984-85 in Rennes, France attending L’Université de Haute Bretagne. I lived with a French family for that year and to say that the experience impacted my life would be a gross understatement.

Since then I have done my best to surround myself with the French Language and Culture. To that end, I transferred to the University of Maine at Fort Kent where I took part in “The Northeast Expedition”. This travel study program had its participants camping our way from the north shore of the Saint Laurence to the Berkshires of Massachusetts, for one semester as we learned about the ecology, agriculture, natural history and culture of our region. After my two years in Fort Kent I went back to France where I studied for one year at L’Université François Rabelais in Tours.

Having lived in Fort Kent, France and on my frequent trips to Québec I have been exposed to many of the regional variants of the French Language and have learned a great deal of the variety of French Culture. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience with the Alliance Française community.

Karen Girondel has been teaching French her entire adult life. After 38 years with teenagers in the Lexington Public Schools, she has gone on to share her love of French language and culture among former teenagers, aka adults, through Lexington Community Education where it’s ok to make mistakes as long as we are communicating in the language of Tintin, Catherine Deneuve and Molière. Now that she is living in Portland, Maine, she is thrilled to be able to continue orchestrating conversation via Zoom.

A New England native with a French father and American mother, Nina studied French at the University of Maine, then moved to Southwestern France to further her education at the University of Toulouse. While living in France she fell in love with the language and culture and began sharing her passion with students upon settling in Portland, Maine in 2009. She is currently teaching at Southern Maine Community College. Nina has 15 years of experience as a French teacher, one-on-one tutor and immersion tour leader. She believes that expressing oneself in a new language opens up doors to whole new worlds and possibilities.