French for Adults

Gigi Kuhn

Gigi Kuhn is a global citizen with triple citizenship, teacher by training, and lover of the French language and culture. She was born in Saigon, raised in Paris, studied in Montreal, and worked in London. Gigi is trilingual, with French as her mother tongue. Although Chicago has been her home since the year 2000, Paris will always be her home sweet home. Gigi has carved out a distinguished career as a French educator of children, teenagers and adults, at levels ranging from beginner to advanced. She taught at Alliance Française de Chicago, Latin School and Berlitz Language Center. She has been teaching French at Catherine Cook School since 2006 and Alliance Francaise du North Shore since 2021. In 2015, the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) awarded Gigi its "Prix d'Excellence" for outstanding contributions to the teaching of French language and culture.   

Fanny Marchaisse

Fanny A. Marchaisse is a dedicated instructor and native French speaker, having grown up and completed her undergraduate and first master’s studies in Paris before pursuing a PhD at Northwestern University. She holds a bachelor’s equivalent in French Language; and Literature and a Maîtrise in Arts, Literatures, and Languages from the University of Paris VII; and a Master’s in Literature and Francophone Speech from the University of Paris XII (UPEC) in 2018. Her current research interests focus on gender and sexuality through Medievalism, 18th-century, and contemporary French literature, with her thesis exploring gallantry in 17th-century French female fairy tales. Fanny is also a published scholar, with a chapter titled "Once Upon a Time in a Queer Kingdom" in Queer Kinship: New Approaches from Comparative Literature by Palgrave, release in 2024. She looks forward to exploring French culture and language with you, bringing her deep understanding and passion to this learning journey together.

Brian McLoughlin

As the child of a US diplomat living abroad, Brian McLoughlin was placed into the French school system and continued until completing his diplôme national du brevet at the Lycée Français de Séoul, in South Korea. He continued his education in French, completing his M.A. degree in French and Francophone Studies at Northwestern University in 2023. Along the way, he was the instructor of record for French language classes at George Mason University, George Washington University, and Northwestern University. Brian has 3 published academic articles focusing on his research interests of Francophone Caribbean literature, as well as the role of language in identity-building and the interaction between art and literature.

Nicole Weissman

Languages and teaching have always been Nicole’s life and passion. She was born and raised in Paris, France. After graduating from Paris IV Sorbonne, Paris VII and Paris II universities, getting one Master and two Bachelor degrees, she started her career teaching History and Geography in high schools in Paris. A few years later, she moved to Colombia where she taught at the Lycée Français in Bogota. During the seven years she spent in Colombia, she learned Spanish and became fully fluent. Then, life took her and her family to the United States where she have been living for the past 20 years. In 2013, she obtained her Professional Teaching License for both French and Spanish from National Louis University. A middle-school and high-school, she specializes also in adult learning. Nicole exposes her students to real-life, culturally-relevant French, and she encourages them to feel confident and spontaneous.

Lucy Wright

Lucy Wright is passionate about natural language acquisition through comprehensible input and encouraging overall improved communication skills (both verbal and non-verbal) in all realms, which is nurtured through the study of any language. She began her French journey as a freshman in high school in 2006, and has loved it ever since, earning her bachelor’s degree in French at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is a British-American dual citizen, and lived in France for several years, during her studies as well as after graduating from university. She taught English abroad to students as young as first grade all the way through to adults, at new beginner to advanced levels. She currently teaches novice and intermediate French at John Hancock College Prep. She is thrilled to be able to discover and explore the French language and francophone cultures with you!