EDUCATORS AND SUPPORT STAFF
Sandrine Pouzache, Kindergarten
Mme. Pouzache was born near Paris and moved to Grenoble when she was a teenager. After getting her bachelor's degree in Modern Literature, she earned her teacher's certification in 2000. She has been teaching children between the ages of 3 and 7 for 21 years. Now that her three children are grown, she has come to discover Louisiana.
1st Grade
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Emilie Bonnot, Kindergarten
Mme Emilie is from Aube, to the east of Paris. All her life she wanted to be a teacher, so she followed a very direct path of study after high school. After earning a degree in History she got her teaching certificate in 2017, then worked in different schools teaching everything from Pre-K 3 to 4th Grade. She then spent four years working as the Principal of a tiny rural school with only one class, in which 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades are all together.
Céline Blanc is originally from Narbonne, France, a beautiful, colorful Mediterranean town in the south of France. She taught competitive swimming for twenty years, until, in 2016, she decided to switch over to the elementary classroom briefly before discovering that her real passion was teaching Kindergarten.
Mme Céline has always loved to travel with her husband and their two sons, meeting new people and seeing other cultures. Now that their sons are grown up, she and her husband finally get to scratch the next adventure off of their bucket list–living and working in a foreign country.
Sylvie Collodel, 1st Grade
Originally from Agen in the south of France, Mme Collodel comes to École Saint-Landry with 15 years of experience in education at the elementary, middle, high school, and university levels. She received a Master’s in French as a Foreign Language from UPPA French University and has taught in various countries since 2009.
Yaëlle Pecher, 1st Grade
Mme Yaëlle comes to us from Caen, in Normandy, France. She has a Bachelor's in English and a Master's in Primary Education. Since getting her teaching certificate in 2017, she has taught different elementary grades, mainly in rural areas, which she loves. She enjoys cooking, she's a genealogy enthusiast, and she loves traveling and learning more about foreign languages and cultures.
Alexia Guinta, 1st Grade
Alexia Giunta was born and raised in the North of France, near Lille. She originally intended on becoming an English teacher, but after two years of study changed her major to Elementary Education. For six years now she’s been working with 2nd and 3rd graders, enjoying helping her French students discover other cultures and languages, so teaching French to American students is going to be a fun twist!
Mme Alexia’s other interests include cooking, baking, reading, and drinking tea.
Adil Baskar, 2nd Grade
M. Adil is from Choisy-le-roi in France. He has been working with children for 23 years already, and teaching for five now. He has a Master's in Primary Education and has taught mostly in very socially diverse areas, which he loves. He enjoys creating theatre projects with his students, playing sports, and photography.
Candide Wyble, 2nd Grade
Candide Wyble has been living with her husband, Huey, in Arnaudville since 2015. Together they have a son, Louis, who is 3 years old, and she is also stepmother to Huey’s two older sons, Matis and Nico, and dog-mother to their Great Dane, Fiona, and Charles, their little Dachshund. Candide and Huey love gardening and camping, and they manage the food bank in their parish.
Mme Candide began teaching Philosophy part time for the French Department of Education, but before long decided to change to teaching continuing education for adults, including teaching English as a second language to French adults. After moving to Louisiana, she quickly found substitute work at local French immersion schools, but she especially fell in love with École Saint-Landry, as did we with her. She is a gentle and kind but serious and effective teacher who enjoys tricking children into learning in the most fun and adventurous ways, like reading comic books!
Philippe Costes, 2nd Grade
Philippe Costes has taught in various institutions and schools for over 25 years. He has held numerous positions, including those in single-classroom schools (multiple grades in the same classroom) and specialized institutions (a medical institute for autistic children, a medical-educational institute for young people with intellectual disabilities, a therapeutic, educational, and pedagogical institute for people with behavioral disorders, and in secondary schools in a support workshop).
Drawing on this experience, he has obtained certification as a specialized teacher.
He has also served as a school principal, in an Intercommunal Educational Group (RPI) or in schools with two or three classrooms. Mr. Costes is always open to new experiences.
Philippe lives with his wife and two children in Aveyron, and together they have worked for many years to preserve their own regional language, Occitan, so teaching French in Louisiana is of personal importance to him. All four hope to acquire a third modern language: English, through this assignment.
He played and coached rugby for over 30 years in the same club and enjoys reading (especially thrillers, comics, and documentaries). He has also volunteered at his local library and media center (for almost 30 years). He enjoys gardening and renovations (home and furniture), DIY, and plays jazz and pop music in a big band.
Lainey Pickett, 3rd Grade
Mme Lainey was born and raised in Arnaudville, LA. She has spent the past ten years living away from home, but she couldn't be happier to be back and teaching at a French immersion school in the area where she grew up. Mme Lainey has worked in education for five years and has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. In August 2022, she graduated with her master's in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in reading and literacy from Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Mme Lainey is passionate about preserving everything that makes our Louisiana culture special, especially our languages! She also enjoys cooking, traveling, camping, kayaking, hiking, gardening, and spending time with her family, friends, and husband.
Kirby Jambon, 3rd Grade
M. Kirby is from Lafourche Parish in Southeast Louisiana and was raised by Cajun parents who were very proud of our French Louisiana culture. He has been a teacher for 37 years and has taught Elementary French Immersion classes for 28 years, as well as adult Louisiana French classes for over 20 years. He also loves the performing arts and teaches classes in youth theatre and directs plays in both French and English with Theatre Acadie
and Wonderland Academy. He has performed as an actor in both languages, and is currently the voice of Boudini in the Louisiana French animated series, Boudini et ses amis. He is also a poet and an award-winning author of three books of Louisiana French poetry.
M. Kirby loves working with young people and making people laugh, watching and reading Science Fiction and mysteries, food, festivals, and fun. He lives in Lafayette with his loving wife, Jen, and their sweet little Maltipoo, Winnie.
Leila Ouadad, 3rd Grade
Leila Ouadad is a native of the Lyon region in France and has been teaching for over 18 years. Theater and poetry hold an important place in her classroom as they allow students to express themselves and to create and develop their sensitivity.
For the last two years, Mme Leila has been traveling to the United States several times a year, getting better acquainted with American culture and trying to work on her English. She hopes to become fully bilingual during her time in Louisiana.
Mme Leila enjoys sports, reading, cooking, traveling, gardening, and discovering and learning from new cultures. She’ll be embarking on this new adventure to Louisiana with her cat, and they are both very curious and eager to discover this new life.
Nina Adde, 4th Grade
Nina Adde lives by the sea on the French west coast, where there is always a breeze and the temperature is never too hot or too cold. Her mother is a nurse and her father is a retired top-notch skipper who participated in the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona, as well as in several major competitions in Florida and Los Angeles.
She has been teaching for six years now, most recently art, music, sports, and mental calculation in a school geared specifically towards the betterment of an economically disadvantaged student population, where there are many academic and behavioral challenges.
Manon Delrez, 4th Grade
Manon Delrez was born and raised in the Belgian province of Liège. Her father is retired military, her mother is a radiology technician, and her little brother is an electrician, but Mme Manon knew right away that her path was in elementary education. For several years now she has been working in a school geared specifically towards the betterment of an economically disadvantaged student population. She’s appreciated being a member of such a solid team of educators.
Mme Manon loves reading and listening to music, dancing, and traveling. She also loves her apartment, which she shares with two roommates, in the city center of Liège, where she can walk anywhere she needs to go. For several years she thought about going to teach in a foreign country, but as someone with an anxious nature, it took her a while to get up the courage to take that leap. Now she’s excited to have the opportunity to experience this Louisiana adventure!
Moussa Sadou, 5th Grade
Moussa Sadou is a veritable rockstar on the French immersion scene in Louisiana, and has even been running his own stage at Festival International for many years now.
A native of Niger, where he worked both as a teacher and as principal of a primary school, Monsieur Sadou also worked with Peace Corps volunteers for three years, teaching them the two native languages of Niger, French, and the local culture to facilitate their integration into the surrounding villages. It was this experience that drove him to discover the United States, and he was quickly picked up by CODOFIL in 2002. He worked under the Lafayette Parish School System until 2022 and now, in his retirement from LPSS, he has decided to continue sharing his talent for teaching, and his generosity of spirit with École Saint-Landry.
Regina Menard, Kindergarten ELA Teacher
Mrs. “Gina” was born and raised in the suburbs of New Orleans, making her way to Acadiana in 2010 to finish her degree in Elementary Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As a native of southeast Louisiana, she grew up learning about the rich French culture and language and continues to expand upon her knowledge as a resident of Acadiana. She started her journey in the teaching profession eleven years ago with most of her experience in teaching kindergarten. Her hobbies include reading, traveling, watching movies, and taking dance-aerobics/fitness classes. Mrs. Gina and her husband, Peter, reside in Lafayette with their little pup, Penny.
Wendy Thibodeaux, 1st Grade ELA Teacher
Mrs. Wendy–variable like the wind. Loves family and travel. Beaches and mountains are her thing. Enjoys quiet mornings with her coffee and tranquil evenings with her teacher's manual. A teacher at heart ❤. If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
Shelly David, 3nd Grade ELA Teacher
Mrs. Shelly's journey in education began 11 years ago as a paraprofessional. After a couple of years she realized she'd found her passion, so he enrolled in school to further her education. Upon completion, she taught Special Education, and now she will be teaching 2nd and 3rd Grade ELA at École! She lives in Opelousas with her husband, Anthony, their four children, and their son-in-law. They love camping, cooking, and spending time together.
Roxanne Guidry, 4th & 5th ELA Teacher
Born in Lafayette, Mrs. Roxanne is the proud daughter of Alger and Mary Dorita Augustine. Upon graduating from Lafayette High School, Mrs. Roxanne attended LSU, Southern University, and ULL, where she obtained a Master of Leadership diploma. She began teaching in 1991 and has remained passionate about education ever since. She has also held many positions outside of school, and traveled the country as an Educational Consultant for John’s Hopkins University’s Success for All program, of which she enjoyed every moment as a learning and teaching experience.
Mrs. Roxanne has two wonderful sons she adores, loves dancing, singing, and reading, and is now trying her hand at gardening, so any advice on that topic is always welcome!
Fady Eslama, P.E. Teacher
Fady Eslama has been teaching physical education in Belgium for a little over three years now, but he’s always been passionate about sports. He’s been practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for two years, and has been active for many years in different soccer, American football, and rugby teams. Obviously a team player, then, Monsieur Fady is sociable and charismatic, fascinated by getting to know people and making new connections.
Jamie Lynn Fontenot, Music Teacher
Jamie Lynn Fontenot, born in Louisiana, holds a Master’s in Education and a Bachelor’s in French. With over ten years of experience teaching French to a diverse range of students, she is currently a certified French Immersion teacher in Lafayette Parish. She also teaches traditional Cajun French song and dance at festivals and music camps. A passionate Cajun musician, Jamie plays Cajun guitar and sings, performing across the U.S. with her band, The Daiquiri Queens. In addition, she performs with the bands Chère Elise and Prends Courage, sharing her love for Cajun culture.
Lyle Alford, Learning Center Coordinator
M. Lyle is from Natchitoches, Louisiana with family origins in Sabine Parish going back 7 generations. M.Lyle has a B.A. in Mathematics with a minor in French from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. In 2020 M. Lyle received the Escadrille louisiane Scholarship from CODOFIL; thus, obtaining his Masters in Teaching from Centenary College of Louisiana. He is a poet, teacher and above all a human. M. Lyle is very passionate about Francophone Louisiana and has been working in the Francolouisiana community since 2020.
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Marilou Kubler, Teacher's Aide
Miss Marilou is from Alsace, a region in eastern France near Germany and Switzerland. She completed two years of certification in Strasbourg, where she studied literature, history, and the English language. Having always enjoying traveling, she decided to complete her third year of certification in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Since she was very young, Miss Marilou always wanted to become a teacher, and this trip to Louisiana is her final step in preparing to ride out that dream.