James Francois has been teaching French at School Around Us since 2005 and he is loving it!

Born and raised in Haiti, James has developed a passion for education and languages as a teenager, and was capable of understanding and speaking four languages by the time he reached high school graduation. He obtained his first degree (License/bachelor) in philosophy in 2002 from Grand Seminaire Notre Dame in Haiti at the age of 21. James simultaneously studied computer technology and bookkeeping during that time.

Following his graduation, he became a volunteer religious missionary in San Antonio, Texas in 2002, where he organized and lead workshops for catholic schools in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. In the quest for higher education, James relocated to Maine and started working for the Scarborough school district in 2003 first as a substitute teacher, then as a soccer & basketball coach and an educational technician in a special education setting for 3 years. In 2005, James began to attend classes at USM on a part-time basis and indeed acquired a second bachelors in Philosophy in 2007. Additionally, James was recently admitted to a graduate education program at USM in which he intends to work on his master’s degree soon.