[INTERVIEW] Meet Cheryl Pegues, English trainer

Name:  Cheryl Pegues

Nationality: American

What are you teaching? Specialized English for Top-level Professionals in Government, Business, Media, Communication, Entertainment. English for Fashion Professionals

How long have you been teaching? 14 years

How did you get into teaching English? I was recruited to lead “English for entertainment professionals” workshops for les intermmitants du spectacle who were members of AFDAS; my 5 years of weekly work with them, along with my background as a chef cuisinière and fashion prototype developer morphed into the specialized language training and coaching I do today.

Do you have certifications ? I owe my position in the specialized English field to the fact that I do not have classic certification which tends to format pedagogy in a specific way; however, I do currently teach preparation for the IELTS test at the university level.

Where are you currently working? Are you looking for new opportunities? I have an ongoing translation contract with EDF-DME and a training contracts with EDE EDEV and the French Ministère de Défense , provide simultaneous and written translation services regularly at Sonia Rykiel S.A and at Karl Lagerfeld, teach English for Fashion and Fashion Marketing at Mod’Art International, and am part of the staff of English Coaching professionals at English Booster. And I am always looking for new opportunities, particularly anything that takes me into new arenas, new professional challenges, new things and people to see and know, and where I can evolve and grow.

Where else have you worked? I have trained many business leaders, several of the bilingual on-air TV journalists at France 24, a porte parole at the French Senate, participated as an English specialist in the election campaign of a French Député, have been a part of the training staff at the CFPJ, and coached actors, producers and directors and television execs in English for various French cinema and television production companies.

What do you love about teaching English? Watching my trainees succeed, develop, and win.

It is often said that French people are bad at English. How would you react to this statement?Too much of English training at the Education Nationale level focuses on written exercises, and English is not taught as a “language vivant”. When added to the psycho-social inhibitions inherent in the culture, which make perceived vulnerability a no-no, there is not much room for taking the kind of risk-taking involved in communication in a language not your own. This favors appearance (a good grade on your exercise, and the status it confers) over substance (the actually ability to communicate well verbally, if imperfectly, in English). The two languages also have different purposes. English is based on exchanging information in the clearest, most straight-forward and linear way, whereas French is a sometimes elegant, sometimes gritty and dynamic exercise in “linguistic bravura”, where subjects are conceptualized (“le dispositive”, “l’enjeu”, “l’affectif”), examined, and validated based on a pre-agreed standard of merit (you “defend” your thesis, and learn philosophical arguments that support your position). English involves a lot of question and answer-type exchanges, and most French English speakers are uncomfortable asking questions both linguistically and from an interpersonal standpoint. There are therefore a variety of handicaps involved, which have little to do with actual ability, and everything to do with “amenability”!

Is there a blog/a website on which we can find you? I have a blog, “Exoteric, Intelligible” and no time to keep it up – but I’ll need to get at it soon – I am writing a book in tandem with a French exec!