Elise serves as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) Coordinator at L’École Française du Maine. In this role, she provides instructional leadership to the teaching faculty and guides the schoolwide implementation of the PYP framework. She works closely with teachers to develop curriculum, design interdisciplinary units of inquiry, strengthen connections between the French national curriculum and the PYP, and ensure continuity and progression across grade levels. She also helps faculty incorporate the PYP’s philosophy, approaches to teaching, and approaches to learning into their daily classroom practice.
Elise played a central role in guiding the faculty and school community through the rigorous two-year candidacy and authorization process that culminated in L’École Française du Maine becoming an authorized IB World School in May 2023 on its first application. She continues to support teachers in developing and refining IB units, communicates PYP practices and philosophy to the wider school community, and serves as the school’s liaison with the International Baccalaureate. Elise is also the author of the school’s comprehensive Curriculum Guide, which explains the relationship between the French national curriculum and the IB PYP framework.
A Maine native, Elise graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2019 with a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree encompassing creative writing, English and French literature, and violin performance. During her junior year, she studied French literature at Columbia University’s Reid Hall in Paris and pursued advanced violin studies in the professional division of L’École Normale de Musique de Paris. After graduation, she joined the English classroom at L’École Française du Maine as an assistant before earning a master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh in 2020.
While completing her graduate studies, Elise also earned the Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA). She has taught English to learners of many ages, both in Paris and internationally through online instruction. Fully bilingual in French and English, Elise has attained C2 proficiency in French, the highest level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Elise also has extensive experience providing individualized tutoring and academic support to children across grade levels, as well as to secondary-school students and adults. She adapts her instruction to each learner’s age, goals, and level of proficiency, supporting students in English, French, literacy, writing, and general academic skill development. Her tutoring experience includes preparing older students for AP French and French-language proficiency examinations.
Elise’s connection to L’École Française du Maine began long before she joined its faculty. She was a member of the school’s first Grande Section class when it opened in Winthrop in 2002, making her one of its very first students. Her progression from student to faculty member and PYP Coordinator gives her a distinctive understanding of the school’s history, mission, bilingual identity, and educational development.
Now based in London, Elise works remotely while returning regularly to the South Freeport campus to collaborate directly with faculty and participate in the life of the school. Outside her work in education, she is the Fiction Editor at Orion’s Belt, a literary science-fiction and fantasy magazine. She enjoys traveling, reading, writing, baking, learning new languages, playing the violin, and spending time with her Maine-born tuxedo cat, Barnaby.
