Salut ! I’m Max, I’ve been working for Coffee Break Languages since October 2021 as a French Curriculum Developer. I come from Grenoble, in the beautiful French Alps but I’ve been living in Glasgow since 2014. I love languages and I love learning and teaching. I am a teacher of French as a foreign language.

What is your role in Coffee Break?

I create French content in various formats and for different projects. I write texts, produce audio recordings and record videos too. I also provide feedback for our Masterclass and I’m involved in our French monolingual podcast Il était une fois.

What experience have you had speaking and learning other languages?

I’ve been learning English since I was 8 throughout the school system and I have a Bachelor’s degree in English. After seven years in Scotland, I’m still learning new words and phrases every day. I also studied Spanish for a long time, and I’ve been teaching it for a few years too. I’m currently learning Portuguese and I’ve been picking up some words and phrases in Polish from my friends too.

What is your favourite thing about working with Coffee Break?

My favourite aspect of the job is the constant variety of tasks. Writing content from scratch, filming videos, providing feedback, recording podcasts, I find it very refreshing and challenging to work on different things all the time. I also love the atmosphere in the office and the in-depth discussions about specific language points in many languages.

Where would your ideal coffee break be and with whom?

Anywhere sunny! Maybe in the south of France, in June or September. I would love to share a coffee and a conversation with… anyone I’ve never met! I would love to meet someone new and listen to their story.

What’s your best language learning tip?

This may sound a bit odd, but one thing I always do when learning a language, and recommend doing, is to speak out loud and describe what you are doing when you are alone. When you are cooking or cleaning, for example. It is a great way to identify exactly what you need to learn next (vocabulary, grammar etc…).

Other than that, I believe consistency is key. A little bit of learning every day goes a long way, and of course, don’t worry about making mistakes, it’s part of the learning process. Everybody makes mistakes, even in their own mother tongue!

Quickfire round

• Favourite language: French, of course!

• Favourite word/phrase in French: C’est la vie !

• Favourite film: Je vais bien ne t’en fais pas. A beautiful movie about all kinds of love, and the lengths one may go to keep their loved ones happy.

Favourite singer: Jacques Brel

Favourite destination : Le Grau-du-Roi. From ages 5 to 18, I spent all my summers in this lovely town along the Mediterranean.

Do you have a message for the Coffee Break Community?

Learning a language is a wonderful journey on many levels and at any stage of the learning process. It gives you confidence, self-esteem and can open your eyes as to how you can perceive the world from a different perspective. I have never met anyone who learned a second or third language and regretted it. N’hésitez pas, foncez !