Bonjour!
I’m Cécile Besrest-Butler – but that’s a bit of a mouthful so you can call me CécileBB or just plain old Cécile, CeciB, Ces, Cecil (which is a boy’s name) I’ve been called all of those and of course Céline, Cecilia, Susan and even stranger variations. Back in the 80s a little boy came with his family from Canada to visit us. He was most disappointed that a seal did not live at our house! When I was a secondary French teacher I was Miss Butler.
My grandparents were Mary and Joseph. Okay I’m not Jesus’ daughter but they really were called that. Well, ‘Marie et Joseph’ because they were French.
My mother was their eldest child and she met my English dad in a science lab in Marseille. They emigrated to Canada. I was born on my due date in Hamilton, Ontario and I have been super punctual ever since. I am annoyingly 5-10 minutes early to rendezvousssss.
I was brought up speaking le French and l’Anglish (as my daughter used to call it). After leaving Canada we moved numerous times (which was a laugh a minute for a shy girl); to France, London, North Yorkshire then eventually settling in Bradford, West Yorkshire – a place in the UK where they don’t say ‘the’. ‘I’m going to’t pub’ for example – it’s Brontë country and rather beautiful.
Finishing School
After finishing school (not a finishing school – I’m not refined) I studied French along with psychology (which is my biggest fascination).
Following my teacher training I taught French and German at various schools doing different jobs in-between teaching posts.
Strangely my jobs always seemed to involve French and psychology. I rescued people stranded abroad (or broke the bad news) by telling them if they were insured or not whilst injuring themselves drunk, naked dancing on the pool’s edge.
Ski seasons
I was put in charge of a cosy hotel bar and later the whole small hotel on a French ski resort in a not so modern building which was a real blast.
The following year I cleaned toilets in a French nightclub, I played pool with the locals at a French campsite in between serving them beer. Talk about expanding your French vocab!
Modern Foreign Languages Teacher
Eventually, I did go back to education to teach kids hungry to learn French and German…not. When I was teaching languages it was a compulsory subject in the UK. Oh the fun I had! However, I have a strong belief that education is for all and I welcomed all the kids with open arms even if they were under the table, throwing the table or telling me they didn’t like my shoes. All of which happened and lots of other crazy moments. I was a bit gutted about the shoes! Someone even threw a firework in my classroom – that incident shook me up. Thankfully no one was hurt, we just all jumped out of our skin. What the heck was that – and why the smoke!
The biggest compliment I ever got whilst teaching was that many of the ‘difficult’ kids liked me – deeply touched I was by this too. One girl used to misbehave in her French class with my neighbouring teacher because once she’d been sent to me and she’d enjoyed our time together. So did I. Helping someone feel safe and seen felt good to me.
I dipped in and out of secondary education and in my last school post I made it to the grand heights of second in the Modern Foreign Languages department but fled to Australia after a year. You may have gathered I wasn’t fond of the constraints of formal education but that’s another story.
Professional Globe Trotting
On my return from Down Under I landed a wonderful job which I did for 6 years. I found myself participating in 21 European Union funded projects. The projects were very interesting, mainly about education and promoting foreign language acquisition amongst other things.
Nobody could really understand what on earth I did. I was accused of being a long distance lorry driver as I was never home. We had project meetings at least once a month in a European country. I LOVED THIS JOB.
The fact that it was varied, there was so much travel, I met great people and I could learn comedy foreign phrases and put them to use. It inspired me to learn Italian and at least learn how to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘where is the toilet?’ in various languages. ‘Unde este toaleta?’ That’s Romanian – I am very proud of that!
A Bun in the Oven
Things took a turn in my life. Though I wasn’t skipping the light fandango at the time, very good things came about since that fork in the road I took. In 2011 I had a bun in the oven, no job and no relationship.
My beautiful bun was born and after a few months it was time to don my working shoes and bring home some bacon. I was living with my maman and it was time to move out.
I was offered some hours teaching Spanish but there was a problemo. I hadn’t taught Spanish. I nearly turned the job down but then, after remembering an inspiring story about language learning, I decided that I bloomin’ would learn Spanish! Where that courage came from I’m not sure. Perhaps because it wasn’t all about moi anymore.
I wheeled my wee daughter around the local parks and canal wearing my earphones – looking like some ‘bad’ mum. Little did people know I was intensely learning Spanish and not listening to pop music.
Since becoming a mum in 2011 I have taught French, Spanish and Italian to adults. And what fun it has been. I absolutely love teaching adults. I don’t have to confiscate cigarettes, split up fights, worry about what shoes I’m wearing, cover up graffiti on the classroom walls. None of that.
Fun opportunities arose too. One company I taught in asked me to do a few mainstream TV ads for a French catalogue that advertise in the UK. I had to put on a comedy French accent which was great fun and an exciting experience.
After the panic of losing all my teaching hours given to me in local companies I decided to set myself up as a solopreneur. Luckily just before I had read a book called ‘Screw Work Let’s Play’ by the wonderful John Williams. At the time (June 2014) he was running a 30-Day Challenge which I joined with great trepidation. I it was the best course I ever did.
Every day for 30 days we got expert help given in an informal, practical & supportive way. We were really challenged to start taking action on the ideas that had been gurgling and bubbling away on the stove.
The day I ‘felt the fear and did it anyway’ I posted a 2-minute video where I was disguised as a talking onion that taught French. I shared it with the group before leaving for work in the morning and regretted posting it all day. Luckily for my ego people gave me good feedback but more importantly having the courage to record myself and send it to unknown people was a huge step for me. This was something I would never have imagined myself doing. This was a turning point. I’m not saying I was confident all of a sudden but I did dare to do it again – over and over again. Now I’m pretty comfortable with seeing myself on screen and hearing myself so I don’t need to hide in an onion – though I did like it in there.
Now I teach my lovely students, record the lesson at home and give them access to them so they can get some repetition or catch up if they weren’t able to make the class.
Other Interests
Besides language learning and psychology, I like red wine…..a lot… and I enjoy eating (good food)… a lot and I love watching subtitled arty farty films and trashy series. Netflix is great because you can watch foreign stuff and even get foreign subtitles. I also like to talk absolute nonsense with friends which is funny because I’m a no-nonsense kinda gal.
Keep in touch
Learning a language is bloomin’ hard. If you see the title ‘easy’ for language learning you’ll end up disappointed. It’s not easy but it is totally possible. You have learnt at least one language and you can learn another to a good level of fluency and understanding. You can do it and I can make the process enjoyable, fun and teach you the kind of French that you are likely to come across. I speak from experience as a teacher and a language learner. If you’re serious about taking your French to the next level and if you’re willing to put in the time and effort then contact me to discuss your options. It will be a hugely rewarding experience. I like to keep things real and be real and I like to meet real people with real stories, fears, hopes & enthusiasm for learning French. Hope you get in touch soon to learn some fun French!
Merci!
CécileBB 🙂
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