Job Description
General Summary : Provides instruction and support to Upper School world language students through innovative instruction for French language acquisition and competency, in alignment with the School’s curriculum goals. Leads students towards fulfillment of their potential for intellectual, emotional, social, and physical growth and maturation. Performs complex professional work while motivating students to develop skills in the subject area of the Francophone cultures and languages.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
• Advances student French language proficiency through evidence-based, proficiency-centered instruction, with oral language development and communicative competence as primary goals.
• Designs and delivers engaging, differentiated lessons aligned with USM’s World Language curriculum, weaving in your own expertise, interests, and cultural knowledge to bring the language to life.
• Administers and interprets oral proficiency assessments (OPI or equivalent) to inform placement decisions and individualize instruction.
• Develops and implements rigorous formative and summative assessments that are transparent to students and families, with feedback that is timely, specific, and actionable.
• Creates a classroom environment that invites intellectual risk-taking, values diverse perspectives, and expects students to think, speak, and write with increasing sophistication.
• Differentiates instruction across mixed-ability classrooms, meeting students where they are and pushing them further.
• Collaborates actively with the PK-12 World Language team and across the Upper School faculty to strengthen curriculum, share best practices, and build a coherent program.
• Partners with administrators to collect, analyze, and apply student performance data to improve outcomes at the course and program level.
• Contributes to the broader life of the Upper School through advising, co-curricular involvement, and other responsibilities that come with being a full member of the faculty community.
• Initiates and helps coordinate program enrichment opportunities that include travel, cultural events, language immersion experiences that extend learning beyond the classroom.
• Maintains clear, proactive communication with students and families about expectations, assignments, progress, and concerns.
• Prepares effective sub plans and attends to the administrative dimensions of teaching with consistency and reliability.
• Performs additional duties as assigned by Administration.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• Deep content knowledge in French language and Francophone cultures, with demonstrated command of proficiency-based instructional practices.
• Advanced or Superior proficiency on the ACTFL scale in French; Spanish language knowledge is a plus.
• Certification in or strong familiarity with ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) administration and scoring preferred.
• Skillful interpreter of student performance data, with the ability to translate findings into instructional adjustments.
• Effective classroom management skills to build structured, respectful learning communities where students feel safe to take risks.
• Collaborative by nature with the ability to build trust with colleagues, pursue shared goals, and strengthen departments as a whole.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write clearly and warmly to families.
• Highly organized and self-directed, able to manage competing priorities without losing attention to quality.
• Culturally competent and committed to creating inclusive learning experiences for a diverse student population.
• Emotionally intelligent with the ability to read rooms, build relationships with school families, and handle the full complexity of adolescent learners with maturity and care.
• Genuinely enthusiastic about independent school life, including its rewards and its demands.
• Proficient with instructional technology and digital learning tools.
Education and Experience:
• Bachelor’s Degree in French or French Education; Master’s Degree preferred.
Minimum 3-5 years’ minimum teaching experience.