The French Connection: Q&A with Catherine Lefebvre
Catherine Lefebvre grew up in Brussel, Belgium hating school. It was no surprise that during her years in college she really didn’t see herself spending her workdays being a part of a system that caused her so much grief. But with a little love and a big sense of fearless adventure, Catherine has found her place teaching others her native language.
VE: I’d like to hear about your journey from high school up until now.
Catherine Lefebvre (Photo by Vidal Espina)
CL: I came from a high school in a bad neighborhood. There was a lot of drugs and violence. I barely made it through because of the environment; it wasn’t a fun environment to go to. After high school I took three years off because I had decided school and I were not friends.
So during the three years after high school, were you only working?
Actually, no, I went to Art school but it really wasn’t like traditional school where you were sitting in class.
Did that school have majors?
It was basically acting school.
Did you want to be an actress?
Well, maybe. I like plays and I felt like I wanted to do something to get me from being an introvert to an extrovert.
What was the turning point where you decided you were going to go to university instead of acting school?
After acting school I started to audition a lot. But I was bothered by the fact that I was trying to look attractive in order to get a job. It really started to bug me. I wanted to be valued and hired for my intellectual skills and not solely on my body. It turned into a mission to prove to myself that I was intellectually worth something and that I could be smart enough to do something like write a thesis. That’s when I started my undergrad in Brussels and studied Romance Languages. Afterwards, I started my master’s program. But right before starting my master’s I took a ten-day trip to the U.S.
What prompted the ten-day trip to America?
A friend of mine was living here and doing his Ph.D. at M.I.T., so I came to visit.
How was the experience with coming here for the first time?
I remember when I got here I thought customs was pretty rough. I was so offended that I immediately told myself I was never coming back here again. But that quickly changed during my visit. I ended up meeting this guy while visiting my friend at M.I.T., an American that didn’t speak a lick of French, and I thought, ‘Ok, I’ve got to learn English.’ Laughs. But after that I came back to do the Master’s program. We kept in touch, which turned into a long distance relationship.
What did you study in your Master’s program?
Literature. Belgium Literature. During my master’s I also managed to get an exchange year in Montreal, Canada. I did all my research in Montreal. They have this humongous library with so many books that I couldn’t find in Brussels, especially on the Belgian writer I was focusing my thesis on.
What year were you in your Master’s when you went to Montreal?
I was in the year before my last. My time in Montreal was spent at the library reading, and taking notes; most of the books couldn’t be taken out because they were so precious, you had to consult them there. Afterwards, I came back to Brussels and spent a year in my parent’s attic writing my thesis and skyping with my American boyfriend. Giggles.
When you finished writing your thesis, did you come back to America right away?
Yes. I was like, ‘This took three years to do, now, I’m ready to go and be a housewife.’ Laughs.
Was your boyfriend still in Boston?
Yes, he was finishing his Ph.D. thesis at M.I.T. He had gotten two offers for his postdoctoral work, one was in Tokyo and the other was in Los Angeles. We took a trip to Tokyo and I fell in love with that city. I started to learn Japanese and have been continuing to learn since. But we went to Los Angeles so he could go to Caltech. I was pretty sad about that but I was crazy in love, so I would have followed him to Poland. So we took his car and drove cross-country to Los Angeles.
How was that road trip?
It was a great experience. We saw Mt. Rushmore, we hiked Seattle’s Mt. Ranier and from there made our way down to San Francisco. It took a month and stopped at his friends’ places along the way. It was a challenge for me, there were some places that were not very clean and I showered outside with a garden hose because the bathroom wasn’t clean enough. It was crazy trip. A beautiful trip. I’m glad we did it.
Sounds like an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. So when did you start to learn English?
During high school, in Belgium, they make you learn English. I hated it because I was so bad at it, so, when I started college I did everything I could to avoid it. I took Dutch, Spanish, even, Latin; I would have taken anything to NOT to have to learn English. But then I met this guy and I was like, ‘Time to learn, I guess.’ I was so eager to find out about him and to tell him everything about me. I wanted to share all that information and it look learning English. So other than high school I didn’t take classes, I just learned through my boyfriend.
When you were getting your degree, did you think you’d be teaching?
I thought it was a possibility. At first, I didn’t want that because in my school, teachers were treated badly by kids everyday. When I came here, teaching French was my best option. The idea [of teaching] reconciled with me, too, because I would be teaching adults that wanted to learn. Now, I think of teaching like this documentary called ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’. It’s about a guy who makes sushi in a tokyo subway. He’s been making something super simple, rice with a piece of fish. He’s been perfecting his technique for 40 years. I feel like teaching is the same way. I try to find the simplest way to make [the information] go from my brain to [my student’s] brain. It seems simple but it’s actually really complicated. I teach from PowerPoints and I observe my students to see what clicks, if they give up or if they try but just aren’t getting it. If I lose them, I go home and analyze the slide where I lost them. Then I try to change it slightly in hopes that next time they will get it. I keep perfecting the little things to get more students to understand. I’m far from [teaching] perfectly but when you see those kids who believed they were dumb, but then start to understand something that was complicated but I delivered to them in a simple way and then that student realizes that they are not dumb. That makes you feel good because you might’ve pushed them on the path of a better life, trusting themselves and giving themselves value. I can see myself teaching like this for 40 years like this sushi guy.
