By Sammy Ata

January 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.

Having taught at Fayetteville High School for 25 years, Mrs. Beaulieu is one of the two French teachers here at FHS. This year, she has been teaching French 2 and 3, as this is also her first year teaching FHS Ambassadors since Mrs. Mathis stepped down. I interviewed her in her classroom last week about the experiences and challenges she faces as a foreign language teacher.

What got you interested in teaching in the first place? Like teaching French or just teaching in general?

So, funny story. My mom was a teacher, and my older sister was a teacher. So I was like, there’s no way I’m gonna be a teacher! I’m gonna be a globe trotter, I’m gonna be a translator…life happened, and that didn’t exactly work out.

When I went to get my master’s degree at the U of A, they do this thing where they will pay for your school, but you have to teach classes. So you teach kind of like the entry-level classes…I was halfway through the class and like, I just had this feeling come over me, and I was like oh my God, this is what I was meant to do, it just clicked.

What do you think is difficult about teaching French or language in particular?

This is a great question, and honestly, the answer to this question has changed throughout my career…one of the things that we’re up against is living in the United States. You know, it’s such a big country, and there’s English everywhere. So…it’s not like if you lived in France and right next door is Germany, and right below you is Spain. And so you have this need and use of other languages just for regular life, right?

So I think that’s one of the big obstacles. People are like, everybody speaks English. Why do I need to do this? Other than that, I think that there is a misconception about the challenges of language learning, right? So everyone thinks I’m gonna take French one and then I will be fluent! Which is hilarious because it literally doesn’t work that way.

I think that because of the way that our society has evolved, and you have a lot of instant gratification, this is not fun. It’s not fun to have to work through all of that…but it’s also hard because we’re in a very artificial environment, especially with a block schedule every other day.

It also doesn’t feel [as real as] if you were, you know, living in the country where you were trying to learn the language. One, you have more incentive, and you have immediate feedback and application everywhere you go, right? Whereas here, it’s just in the classroom. So I think those are the biggest challenges.

I’m not saying that that’s not important, but what I’m saying is that’s not actually the service part. Service you do an act, and you don’t expect anything in return. But, you tend to get [rewarded], like today we went to Asbell. I was like, “Oh my God, how are you guys!” because we hadn’t seen them since break. And so we got to go back and visit them all, and on Monday, we had recess, I mean, it’s really cool. 

Also, to get to stop in the middle of my day and go have recess somewhere? [laughter] So far, no downsides.

Why should we take French? (answer provided via email)

Studying French (really any language) opens up a world to you that you didn't even know existed. And, the longer you study a language, the better it gets. You have insight that was not there before you could speak the language, because you now understand what you would have previously skimmed over.

Think about English songs or books that use French words or phrases as a part of the story. Can you get the gist if you don't know what the words mean? Probably. But do you understand more fully if you do? Absolutely! And think about all the other art that you now have access to understanding. Movies, shows, books, music, etc.

Translations are available, sure, but if you have studied a language, then you already know that not everything translates, and when it does, there is more than one way to do it. When you speak the language, you get to decide what it means instead of relying on someone else's interpretation. That is powerful. 

And that is not all. By studying another language, you open up the possibility of experiences. Travel is most definitely better when you can interact with people in their native language. You have a different kind of connection than a monolingual traveler, and you will find that some experiences are reserved for those who speak another language. 

Learning French is hard, but it is also fun and playful. You get to experiment and be creative in a way that is different from your native language. 5 out of 5 would recommend to a friend!

—End of Interview—

CAP week starts today, so make sure to sign up for French if you have any interest in learning a language!