About

Welcome to Teach Yourself French!

My name is Sharyn Sheldon and I am an instructional designer and corporate learning consultant with over 17 years of experience designing training programs on subjects ranging anywhere from basic sales management to retirement planning products. My real love, however (aside from my husband and three children) is travel and languages.

Since I was very young I yearned to travel the world and explore new places and cultures. My first real experience traveling in a foreign country was when I spent a summer in Shanghai studying Chinese. I was fresh out of high school and China hadn’t been open to the West for very long. There were only about 12 of us in the program at a university in Shanghai and none of our teachers spoke English. There were barely any other foreigners in Shanghai either. That’s what I call total immersion in a language! Needless to say, I learned to converse fairly quickly.

After that summer, I found every opportunity possible to travel to foreign countries. I went back to China and got a degree in Chinese studies. I spent a year in England studying Chinese and used that time to travel around Western Europe, practicing my high school French. Fortunately, I met my future husband in London and he has the travel bug as well.

Since then I have visited over 25 countries in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. I have managed to travel around the United States and Canada as well, where I’ve found some of the most beautiful vistas in the world. Where possible, I always try to learn a little of the language of the country I am visiting beforehand. While it is difficult to remember a language if you don’t use it regularly, it is never a wasted effort.

I hope you enjoy Teach Yourself French. Use the reviews and articles to find the right French language course for yourself and then make sure to come back often for tips on keeping your language learning fresh and exciting.

Please use the Contact Us form to send me any questions, comments, ideas, stories of your travels, or feedback on my site. I’d love to hear from you.

A Bientôt!

- Sharyn