Faculty and Staff

  • Vendula

  • Roger

    Roger

  • Manon

    Manon

  • Josiane

  • Sam

Vendula

TEACHER

In my free time I play the piano and I read a lot. I am very inclined towards music and literature so my lessons contain lots of them. I consider learning through rhymes as an easy and non-violent way to memorize the vocabulary. Learning a language should, in my opinion, not only allow you to order coffee once you are abroad, but it should also be an entire esthetic experience. Being from Eastern Europe, I can observe how intense contacts between France and the East were, particularly between France and Russia. Therefore learning French is a way to preserve our European cultural heritage.

Roger

TEACHER

The multi-talented Roger was born in 1946 in Vietnam, then French Indochina, where as a child, he and his family witnessed many turbulent years of war. Educated at French schools in Saigon, Roger was exposed to numerous cultures while travelling to places such as India, Egypt, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Japan. At 21, his family left Vietnam for the suburbs of Paris. Roger holds a degree in Literature and Modern French from the Sorbonne.

Roger’s love affair with Louisiana began when he was sent to Louisiana as a teacher with CODOFIL. In his many years as an instructor, he has taught numerous subjects, including French, Culinary Arts, Latin, and visual art. In 1985, Roger achieved his dream of becoming an American citizen. After nine years working for the French Consulat of New Orleans, he joined the L’Union Française faculty in 1991. Roger’s classes reflect his many passions: French language as well as its literature and cuisine.

Manon

TEACHER

A native speaker of French, Manon moved to New Orleans in 2016. In addition to l’Union Française, she has taught French at Cathedral Montessori and as a private tutor. Manon’s background includes art and art history, and she has led creative workshops in various schools and art academies in Europe for both children and adults. In the last ten years, she has lived in France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Manon looks forward to sharing her knowledge of French language and culture, and believes that making mistakes is part of the beauty of learning. She is excited to live in New Orleans and Louisiana as centers of Francophone and Caribbean culture. When it comes to teaching, she finds inspiration in this quote from Christian Bobin: « L’art suprême consiste à savoir donner sa langue au chat. »

A cinephile who has a real passion for movies, Manon channels that passion into her French Cinema Class which examines film, directors, and cinematic language.

Josiane

SCHOOL DIRECTOR & TEACHER

In 1981, Josiane came to Louisiana from Belgium as a French teacher with CODOFIL. Three years later, she began in the New Orleans Public Schools where she was certified to teach multiple subjects, including physics, chemistry, math, technology, and French. After Hurricane Katrina, Josiane taught physics and chemistry at Helen Cox High. There she met former L’Union Française President Kay Kerr.

Josiane has been teaching French at L’Union Française since 2013. She encourages her students to have fun while learning, and her classes are known for their wine and cheese breaks. She also enjoys exploring the cultural differences between France and her native Belgium in her classroom. Her classes tend to fill up quickly!!

Sam

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Sam (he/him), a native of New Orleans, is a musician and advocate for Louisiana heritage languages. A graduate of NOCCA and Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in Violin Performance, Sam works to raise the visibility of Louisiana French via his bilingual pop band Sweet Crude and through performing Cajun and Creole music locally and abroad. Sam has composed, performed, and acted for a host of Louisiana-centric short films and multimedia projects since the early 2000s, most recently MUSIQUE(S)! (Library of Congress + Nous Foundation, 2025), HÉRITAGE (Nous Foundation, 2023) and Film Quest (New Niveau, 2022). We are glad to have Sam at L’Union Française contributing both in a cultural capacity as well as with day-to-day operations at the school.