The American Section bid a nostalgic farewell to long-standing faculty member Josephine Crichton in June, and welcomed two new teachers, Lili Zimmett and Melissa Pedraza in September.
Comings and Goings
Lili Zimmett is teaching 6ème, 5ème and 4ème English at Collège Marcel Roby.
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C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E
Lili Zimmett is a walking advertisement for literature’s power to set the course of our lives: the New Yorker might never have become a teacher had it not been for a book. “When I read The Color Purple in high school, I knew I wanted to teach English,” says Zimmett, who joined the Lycée this year as the new Middle School English teacher at Marcel Roby. As a school-aged teen she liked reading “coming of age stories, mystery novels, I liked realism not fantasy - I probably wouldn’t have been into Harry Potter.” Zimmett will no doubt be an enthusiastic advocate for some of her favorite titles when on duty at the Roby library with colleagues Amy Crist and Charlotte Jarquin. Short stories are her passion at the moment. “I really admire the way a good writer can create a whole world filled with fully developed characters and tell a story in efficient language.” Zimmett discovered France during her junior year at college. “I studied in Aix-en-Provence and fell in love with French culture and everything about France. It was such a positive experience that I was always yearning to come back.” After obtaining her Master of Arts
in English from the prestigious Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, Zimmett taught middle and upper school English for eight years at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York City, before the Lycée lured her back to these shores. In the short time she has been with the American Section, Zimmett has been struck by the worldliness of the kids she now teaches. “They seem more informed than most Middle School children in the States. In classrooms in the US you hear pupils say “we” and “us” a lot because their lives have been so similar. The children at the Lycée have been exposed to different cultures and make fewer assumptions.” Zimmett has also taken pleasure in observing the cultural differences between her native US and France. “In New York people always have a beverage in their hand when they are walking down the street. I love the way that in France people take the time to sit down and have coffee or lunch together - although I’m carrying a bottle of water right now!” Alison James