French teacher Ana Greab is a native French speaker who uses her love of travel to inspire her students. 

Greab was born in Romania where she spoke Romanian and French. She moved to the United States with her family when she was 13 years old, so she knows what it’s like to learn a foreign language. Before coming to the U.S., her parents hired an English tutor but she still had a lot of English to learn when she arrived. 

During college, Greab was able to live in Paris when she studied abroad at French Alliance in Paris. She has been teaching for 15 years. 

Greab creates a positive classroom that’s open to the world. She said her advice for students is, “Come to class on time, stay organized, stay focused, and be open to discover the world.” 

Sophomore Giselle Munoz and senior Melissa Moruzo are both in Greab’s French class. They both say they have fun in her class. 

Moruzo and Munoz say that when Greab connects French to their future, it is very helpful. For example, when they work on learning about travel to French-speaking countries. 

They said that Greab often talks about French-speaking countries. They find it interesting because they are learning about different countries which helps them. For example, if they want to go to that country, they say they already know how it looks.  

“We’re doing a travel itinerary to French speaking countries,” said Greab, “and I brought in my scrapbooks from various French speaking countries that I’ve travelled to.” 

“My big thing is, be a global citizen,” said Greab.   

Another reason they like her class is that it is fun because they get to play games that help them study for the tests.  

Greab also shares travel stories. Giselle and Melissa said these stories are useful in a language class because they are still learning about France and it helps them learn about what it would be like to travel. They do not know if they want to travel but it gives them ideas of how it feels to travel, making the classroom reach to the world.