All About "Monsieur H"

Bonjour tout le monde! (Hello everyone!) Thank you for visiting my page! My name is Mr. Ben Hawkins but the students call me "Monsieur H" (they have to, I make them! LOL). I have the immense privilege to be the French teacher here at East Carter High School and to get to work everyday with the high school students here in Eastern Carter County. I first came to ECHS in the fall of 2007 and since then I have been so blessed to get to do what I love: open the world to high school students through learning together about the language and cultures of the French-speaking world. Did you know that there are over 400 million people that speak and use French in their daily lives around the world? French is not just a European language! We have French-speaking neighbors to our north in Canada and to our south in Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana. We even have French-speaking regions here in the United States, in Louisiana and Maine! French is all around us!
My BackgroundI began my career of teaching French and Humanities here at East Carter High School in September of 2007 and, as mentioned earlier, I couldn't be happier! Before coming to ECHS, I taught for two years at two other schools in the region. In May of 2005, I earned a B.A. and a teaching certificate in French Education (K-12) from Morehead State University, eventually going back to the same institution to earn a Master's Degree in Secondary Education (2009) as well. Prior to living and working in Eastern Kentucky, I lived and attended K-12 schooling in Kenton County (northern Kentucky area), graduating from Dixie Heights High School in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky in 2000. I have been extremely blessed and fortunate to have made four trips to the country I love, France; my first being in 2000, then again in 2002, 2005, and more recently with a group of students and adults from Carter County in 2009. Each time I come back home to America from France it is always such a blessing though as I am also very proud to be an American! As Gertrude Stein put it, "America is my country and Paris is my hometown." I feel 90% the same way; I have several places that I would feel completely comfortable to call "home". My first hometown, however, will always be Bloomington, Indiana where I was born in the early 1980's. All in all, I count myself very fortunate to be able to call many places "home"! My current home is located in the next county over from Carter, in Rowan, within the city limits of Morehead, Kentucky, where I live with my wife, Susan, and our daughter, Audrey. Well, that's enough about me. In closing, it is an honor, a joy, and a privilege to work with the wonderful people of Carter County! If you (parents, students, colleagues) ever have any questions about French class, please feel free to contact me anytime at the information below:
Mr. Ben Hawkins East Carter High School 405 Hitchins Road Grayson, KY 41143 606-474-5714 (phone) 606-475-9200 (fax) [email protected] |
Qui est "Monsieur H"?Favorite Quotes:“Using English to learn another language is like trying to learn how to swim in a pool without any water.”
-adapted quote from Janine Erickson "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." -Ludwig Wittgenstein "The best teachers teach from the heart, not the book." -Anonymous "Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence." -Abigail Adams (First Lady) "By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn." -Latin proverb "I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a person's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or de-humanized." -Hiam Ginott “Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.” -Chinese proverb “To teach is to learn twice.” -Joseph Joubert “Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.” -Gail Godwin “Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” -Malcolm Forbes “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” -William A. Ward "In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety." -Abraham Maslow |