The Multilingual Mastermind: A Look Inside Mr. Braun's Classroom

If you’ve ever walked past Room T119A, you’ve probably heard Mr. Braun enthusiastically yelling, “Excellent!” in French—sometimes at students, sometimes at thin air. Known for making language learning feel like an elite privilege (or a hilarious group therapy session), Mr. Braun has been making students laugh, question their pronunciation choices, and conjugate verbs at record speeds. But what really goes on inside his classroom? Let’s take a closer look.

Before becoming the French and Italian mastermind of White Oaks Secondary School, Mr. Braun, like all of us, had his civics and careers course in high school when his career aptitude test told him he should be an aerospace engineer. "Obviously, that didn't work out," he joked. However, instead of launching rockets, he launched into languages—partly thanks to his mom, a French teacher, and partly because growing up in Niagara meant being constantly surrounded by diverse languages including French (and, presumably, good wine). His love for languages led him to Brock University, where he studied teaching, further fueling his passion for making students roll their Rs and question why French has approximately 5,000 silent letters.

A day in Mr. Braun’s class will have you laughing one minute to being completely immersed in the material the next. One moment, he's giving a dramatic reenactment of the French Revolution (probably with an imaginary guillotine); the next, he’s dropping a perfectly-timed dad joke about how, “un verre/vert/un ver/vers/un vers,” mean completely different things. 

When asked about a defining moment in his career, Mr. Braun shared a heartwarming story from his time teaching in the UK. A student who had struggled at the start of the year won the "Most Improved" award and personally thanked him for his guidance. That moment, he said, reassured him that he was doing something right—proof that his teaching isn’t just about grammar drills but also about helping students grow.

Mr. Braun has thoughts about the education system. His biggest suggestion? More cross-department activities. His dream idea: “A live baking class while I go through the steps en français.” Imagine: making croissants while simultaneously butchering the pronunciation of "beurre"—a win-win. It’s creative assignments such as an oral evaluation of making a recipe to writing creative journal entries that make learning french with him, not a chore but something to look forward to. 

There’s no denying that Mr. Braun is one of the most down-to-earth teachers at WOSS. Whether he’s passionately explaining grammar rules or sharing a perfectly terrible French meme, his advice remains simple: "Don’t stress yourself more than you have to." And most importantly: "It’s never too late to learn a language."

So, if you ever find yourself struggling with irregular verbs or questioning why "oiseaux" is pronounced absolutely nothing like it looks, just remember—Mr. Braun probably struggled once too. And look at him now: thriving, fluent, and still dodging an aerospace engineering career.