Many people think of junior year as being synonymous with the hardest year in their high school career–I am no exception to that. However, a teacher who has helped make this year easier would be my French 3 teacher, Madame Christina Vaughan.

One thing that I’ve always struggled with in any language is the grammar. In French, for example, I can never remember the conjugation I have to use while talking about the future, or how to conjugate the past conditional tense. However, the tricks that Madame Vaughan gives us to help us remember those pesky conjugations always help.

Additionally, one of the things that I truly admire about Madame Vaughan is her passion for teaching the French language. During class, she sometimes likes to tell us stories about her past. Some of my favorite stories from her would be her stories about the time she lived in France. For example, in class, she was telling us about how we have to be careful about what cuss words we use in French because there is a spectrum on how bad it is. To illustrate her point, she told us a story of her experiences in France and how she accidentally said some really bad things to her landlord unknowingly. Moreover, the stories that she tells in class make me respect her a lot more as a teacher as she was willing to share her mistakes with her students rather than try to act like she was always perfect in the French language.

Moreover, I love how much she truly cares for her students. For example, sometimes when I am in her class after school, she always listens to me talk about my classes and always gives me really good advice. For example, I confided in her about how hard my AP Chemistry class was, and she told me a story about how her child struggled while taking AP Chemistry as well–this opened my eyes as to how many students struggle with this class and made me feel a lot less alone. Additionally, I love how if she knows someone isn’t doing well in her class, she always reaches out and gives them ways to improve their grade.

Overall, I would like to say, thank you Madame Vaughan for being one of the greatest influences in my life.