Living Leeside: French native Valérie David-McGonnell says 'the most important people to me are here’

Hard work has proved fruitful for French native Valérie David-McGonnell since first visiting the Rebel County in 1998.

A language teacher at Presentation Brothers College in Cork City, Valérie also teaches French at evening classes at UCC, is a board member of Alliance Française de Cork, and is co-director of the Cork French Film Festival which runs from Thursday, September 2, to Sunday, September 5, at The Gate Cinema, featuring 12 French-language films, including Sisters (Sœurs).

The academic has two master degrees from French colleges, which she completed while living in Cork, undertaking much of the coursework online and travelling to France to sit examinations. She also studied the History and Structure of the Irish Education System here at UCC.

“After I finished my BA in English Studies in the Université d’Artois in Arras, I was offered the opportunity to teach French to undergraduate students in UCC for one year,” said Valérie.

“I think these exchange programmes between Irish and other European universities are very useful to develop language and intercultural skills in students and teachers.

“After that year at UCC, I decided to stay in Cork. I worked as a French teacher and co-ordinator at Alliance Française de Cork for many years. This French language and cultural centre has been in Cork since 1947 and is part of an international network of over 800 schools. I then left Alliance Française to work as a post-primary teacher in Presentation Brothers Cork, where I currently work.”

Family life 

While Valérie likes to learn and teach, the French woman is also an excellent salsa dancer with fast feet and it was here in Cork at a salsa class that she met her husband Paul. They have a 13-year-old son.

While Valérie said her husband is an “okay” salsa dancer, she said the pair hit it off and have spent many happy years together living with their son just outside the city.

“My son is bilingual, which is something that is very important to me. I only speak to him in French and Paul speaks to him in English. It is an advantage to him to have both languages.”

Valérie is originally from Arras in the north of France, and the majority of her family is from Normandy. Her great-grandfather was Chinese and travelled from Asia to London and on to Paris in 1919.

“Cork is very multicultural and for me, as a French person with mixed origins, mixing cultures and languages is very natural and enriching.”

She says that she enjoys the laid-back attitude of Cork people and she likes when people make an effort to speak to her in her native tongue.

“Cork people are usually very relaxed and friendly, and many people here have learned French in school so they will say a few things in French when they know you are from France. The level of ability differs, but it’s fantastic for people to make the effort!”

Adopting the Cork accent 

Valérie says she thinks that over the years she must have picked up some lyrical intonations associated with the colloquial chatter of Corkonians as anytime she is in Dublin, the taxi drivers always know she is living in Cork.

“It is very funny, I get to the train station and when I get into a taxi they always know I came from Cork!”

Here in Cork, Valérie enjoys walking and appreciates the scenery at Fitzgerald Park and at The Marina. In her spare time, Valérie also writes articles in French for the Dublin edition of Le Petit Journal.com, where she interviews people and writes up pieces about events and individuals of interest.

“I am interested in the linguistics of language, more than the literature side of things, but I enjoy it.”

The language teacher is also the president of the AIPLF, the Irish Association of French Language Teachers, which was founded in May and has become the largest national association of French teachers in Ireland.

The organisation works to promote French in schools and developing awareness of the diversity of French-speaking countries by organising meetings, webinars, events, and competitions for French teachers in Ireland.

While Valérie is very settled in Cork, she said she sometimes misses the beauty and familiarity of her home town.

“I miss the beautiful Place des Héros town square in Arras which is stunning in daylight as well as at night.”

In saying that, Valérie said Cork is a nice place to live and to raise a child and she feels very much at home here.

“It is very hard to miss home when the people who are the most important to you are here.”