Mireille Belloni, a native of France, has taught and directed French Language Programs in the United States for many years. An alumn of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, she also studied at the Sorbonne and at the University of Kent (U.K.). In the U.S., she has been on the faculty of the University of Michigan, Middlebury College, and CSU. Since moving to the Bay Area, she has been involved in middle-school, adult- and college programs. Although she does professional translation and interpretation, she approaches teaching as a communicative and collaborative endeavor. Students are encouraged to work in groups and to take linguistic risks in class.