Marc Juneau, Education Director and Instructor
Marc taught high school French for twenty years in both private and public settings before settling to teach exclusively at the Alliance. He was literally born into it, the son of two career-long French professors who raised him first speaking French in Burlington. After growing up in Vermont and in France, he earned his B.A. at U.V.M. in French and English, and went on to obtain his M.A. from Middlebury College in French Language. Highlights from his education included years abroad spent in Nice and Paris, first with UVM’s Vermont Overseas Studies Program, and then later with Middlebury at the Université de Paris IX (Nanterre). His coursework in history, literature and art was especially inspiring and is what eventually pushed him toward teaching – that he might share with others the depth and diversity of France’s cultural heritage, including contributions from lesser-known French-speaking regions of the world. Today, while he still enjoys teaching the expressions and structures that are unique to the French language, he equally appreciates being able to offer new classes at the AFCLR that allow him to explore other areas: regional history, contemporary literature and popular culture. He is delighted to live in a part of the world that places so much emphasis on French and French cultural heritage.
Marjorie Blanchard
Marjorie Blanchard graduated with a double major in French and economics from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She then worked in international finance covering the regions of French-speaking Africa and the Middle East. After several years in banking in New York City, she was accepted at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. She completed her masters program in Paris at L’Institut d’Études Politiques (Sciences Po). She then lived in Paris working as a business consultant to the French telecom and energy sectors.
Her French husband’s work brought the couple back to the United States, to New Jersey, where they raised their bilingual children. Marjorie played an active role in establishing a French school there for elementary-age students. While raising her children, she worked as a private French tutor. Now semi-retired, Marjorie and her husband, Marc, live in Burlington. Her personal interests include oil painting, art history, and teaching yoga.
Lucas Dunn
A native Vermonter, Lucas grew up on the Canadian border. While he was working at a predominantly French-speaking campground in Alburgh, he gained French-speaking ability and an appreciation for Québec’s culture and people. He formally studied French at Middlebury College from 2005 to 2009. After graduation he taught French in public schools. In 2015 he completed Middlebury’s Immersion program and earned his master’s degree. For the past ten years he has worked as a middle and high school French teacher. He has lived in Bordeaux, France, and frequents Québec. At the AFLCR he strives to improve students’ French speaking ability; to increase their appreciation of Québécois and French cultures in Vermont; and to help break down linguistic and cultural barriers. He hopes the Burlington area will become even more of a hub for visiting Québécois, and will increasingly embrace French language and culture. UPDATE: In October 2024, Lucas was recognized as UVM’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year for 2024/25.
Marcus Grace
Marcus Grace is a native Vermonter who has had a passion for the French language since Middle School. He went on his high school French Club trip to France and voilà! Smitten! As a result, he went to France as an exchange student, and his life took a completely different turn.
Professionally, he taught English in northern France for four years and has been teaching French at Harwood Union High School for the last twenty. He has led many trips both to France and to Québec.
What is most important to him is his family and everything related to it, especially the amazing meals, long walks, exciting trips, and unforgettable moments with his wife Caroline and their two bilingual children: Anne-Marie and Nicholas.
Laurence Lawson
Laurence is a native French speaker. She was born in France near Lyon and studied at the University of Bordeaux III. After graduation, she traveled widely and taught French at elementary- and middle-school levels in East Kilbride, Scotland, and Sydney, Australia; she also taught continuing education classes in Cambridge, England. From 2008 to 2021, she was the French teacher at Damien High School in La Verne, California, where she chaired the world language department and organized a student exchange program with students at Saint-Marc High School in Lyon. She later taught at Burlington High School.
Laurence travels to France on a regular basis to visit family and friends. At the AFLCR, she is pleased to have the opportunity to share her passion for French language and culture with students of all levels and ages.
Nikki Matheson
Born of a Scottish father and French-Canadian maman, Nikki grew up in the New York City area and earned her BA in French at St. Lawrence University, with a year spent at the Faculté de Rouen. She moved to Paris to tour with a musical group. She worked as a musician, backup vocalist, song adapter, and translation editor. Her musical expeditions took her all over Europe and as far away as Japan. In 2000, after almost fourteen years, she moved to Vermont, but her bilingual life did not stop there. She went on to earn her Masters in Teaching French (MATSL) at Bennington College. She has taught in elementary schools in the Mad River Valley, at the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy’s immersion program for high school students, and at Norwich University, where she currently works. She has added some ESL graduate work and teaching as well. Through a Defense Department grant, she taught French and Wolof to members of the Vermont Army National Guard, who were being deployed to Senegal to participate in Vermont’s State Partnership Program. This led to her interpreting for President Sall of Senegal during his visit to Vermont in 2014. While teaching a the Alliance Française, Nikki continues to do translation and interpretation work, and she consults for TV and movie script adapters in France. If you are curious about her former musical career, you can visit nikkimatheson.com.
Johanna Schneider
French has been a lifelong passion for Johanna. Growing up in New Jersey, she studied French in school from age seven, but her love affair with the language really started in high school, when she worked summers on a goat farm in the Dordogne region of France. She continued to pursue French in college and studied abroad in Marseille, France, Fez, Morocco, and Bamako, Mali. She then became an English teaching assistant in the South of France. While completing her master’s degree in French at Middlebury College, Johanna taught high school French, levels 1 through AP, at Vermont Academy.
In addition to teaching French, Johanna worked for several years in international development, using French daily in a professional setting to manage projects in Francophone West Africa; Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, and Senegal. Johanna is passionate about sharing her love for the French language and Francophone cultures and is thrilled to do so through AFLCR.