Meet Our Instructors
Our team includes more than 50 experienced linguists, with instructors based here in Charlottesville and across the U.S. and around the world. Together, they bring language, culture, and real-life experience into every lesson, creating learning that’s personal, engaging, and human.
French and German: Caroline Philipps
After relocating from London to Washington, DC, Caroline worked at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), training U.S. government personnel in French and German.
French: Laura Atran-Fresco, Ph.D
She is a native French-American holding a dual Ph.D. in Sociology and Francophone Studies. She brings over 10 years of experience teaching French at the university level in the U.S.
European and Canadian French: Matt Goldstein, B.A.
In 2006, while living in Montreal and studying translation at McGill University, Matt immersed himself in Canadian French and Québécois culture. Today, he feels equally at home with French from either side of the Atlantic.
Turkish: Zeynep Gur Smith, M.A.
After graduating and getting her international baccalaureate at the Lycée Saint Joseph d’Izmir in French, she earned her BA degree in Turkish Language and Literature from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey.
French: Anne Padilla, Cert. FLE
Anne was born and raised in Paris and decided to become a French teacher 10 years ago when she moved with her family to the USA first to Boston and then Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Speak! is about CONNECTION!
Many of our favorite moments happen when teachers and students learn, laugh, and connect beyond the lesson.
