GGSB Management Consulting students

Students in the MSc Management Consulting program at Grenoble Graduate School of Business need your help. Khom Klanman explains.

The conference Mobile Devices: Is your social life in hand? which was held on February 24, 2011 at Grenoble Graduate School of Business received impressive feedback from stakeholders. The audience gained from the conference practical takeaways on leveraging the use of mobile social networks while being aware of potential impacts and concerns arising from this new technological and social trend. The students of the MSc in Management Consulting program were happy to inform society about the challenges posed by this development.

Presently, the students are working on a new challenging consulting project for a global enterprise in the mining industry. We have divided ourselves into four teams responsible for different functions – namely, client facing, engineering, marketing, and business development.

The client-facing and engineering teams are currently working on that project while the business development team has been working on strengthening and maintaining relationships with potential clients and consulting partners for further collaboration on consulting projects.

Along with the consulting project and business development initiative, the marketing team has been carrying out market research on the consulting industry in Grenoble area. The objective of this exercise is to gain insights into of the local consulting industry and to see where the goals of consultancies and client companies can meet.

To this end, we have formulated a survey, which will serve as a data source for our research. We hope to receive as many replies as possible from the online survey in order to gain a comprehensive view on the consulting business in the Grenoble area.

We would appreciate it if you could help us in this research. To do so, please complete the following online survey, which should take no more than five minutes of your time.

Consulting firms, please Click here

Client companies, please Click here

We will be glad to share the report with you this summer. If you are interested please contact Khom Klanman (Khom.klanman@grenoble-em.com)

Getting past no! Photo: Hey Tiffany!

Rebecca Skillman talks to Ellen François-Jacobs, facilitator of the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble workshop ‘Essentials of Successful Negotiation’, 28 May.

Rebecca Skillman: Why do you think the word “negotiation” strikes a note of fear in so many of us?

Ellen François-Jacobs: I believe it’s the classic “fear of the unknown”. In the United States, where I come from, we don’t get any formal negotiation training in school, and rarely even in college, unless we’re business majors. Yet it’s undeniably one of the most important skills we need throughout our personal and professional lives. Think about it … we negotiate for cars, apartments and houses, salaries and benefit packages, raises and promotions … but the majority of people have never acquired the basic skills to get the best possible outcomes for themselves. Instead, they end up “shooting from the hip” and just hoping for the best.

Rebecca: So, we have to formally learn how to negotiate in order to do it successfully?

Ellen: Well, not exactly! [laughs] Children are INCREDIBLE negotiators! Think back to when you were a child… didn’t you negotiate all the time with your parents? Bedtime, extra snacks, and later on it was curfews and car keys. A lot of it comes instinctively, I think. As kids, we even knew which parent to ask for which favors!

Rebecca: Well, then, why do we need to take a class if so much of it comes instinctively?

Ellen: Because, as adults, the stakes are often much higher. The location and size of our home, how much money we’re able to earn, the quality of education we can provide to our children, the vacations we’ll take … all of these are a direct result of our ability to negotiate. So it’s very important to put some structure into the process, and learn some basic strategies to help you get the best possible outcome when you negotiate. It’s also important to learn about situations where you may be able to negotiate, even when you don’t think you can. A few Euros here, a few Euros there … it all adds up!

Rebecca: Many of the members of WWNG are self-employed, independent contractors. How can this workshop help them in particular?

Ellen: As an independent contractor myself, I can definitely attest to the power of good negotiation skills in working with clients. I’m a firm believer in the “win-win” philosophy of negotiation, and that’s the method I’ll be teaching during the workshop. When you’re negotiating the scope of a project, the time frame, the price, the payment terms … It’s extremely important to be able to identify the interests and objectives of your client, and how they can dovetail with your own. When both of you come away feeling good about the outcome of your initial negotiation, it can form the foundation for a successful long-term relationship with the customer.

In order to do that, I’ll be covering some basic concepts in negotiating: you’ll learn how to identify positions, interests and objectives. You’ll learn why you can’t negotiate without a BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). And you’ll see how having a target point and a reservation point can actually give you more confidence during a negotiation.

Rebecca: Will the attendees actually be negotiating?

Ellen: Yes indeed! We’ll spend the morning going through some basic negotiation theory, and learning how to prepare for a negotiation. As with so many other things, 80% of the success of your negotiation will be the direct result of the quality of your preparation, so we’ll take time to do that right. During the afternoon, the attendees will partner up and do some actual negotiation simulations. Nothing tough … we’ll work on buying a car, negotiating a job offer … you know, the basics. And then we’ll debrief after everyone has negotiated to share outcomes and see who got the best deals … and how they did it. It’ll be lots of fun, and very ludique, as the French say.

Rebecca: And finally, what do you hope that the attendees will come away with?

Ellen: Confidence … absolutely. The understanding that negotiation isn’t some mystical, magical process reserved for used car salesmen or high level business executives — but rather, a skill that can be learned and mastered, and then used each and every day, in all kinds of personal and professional situations.

Ellen François-Jacobs is a freelance corporate trainer, and a visiting instructor of Intercultural Studies at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business and the London School of Business and Finance. She has taught workshops on Business Communication Skills and Relationship Selling since 1980 in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.

‘Essentials of Successful Negotiation’, a one-day, active-participation workshop, will be offered by the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble on Saturday 28 May from 9h to 17h, at the Grenoble Ecole de Management. This workshop is targeted to professionals who have never attended a professional negotiation course, but who wish to acquire basic skills which can be put into practice immediately. It will cost €30–45 for WWNG members and €85 for non-members. This includes the full-day seminar, lunch with the group, and two coffee breaks. You can register and pay online here.

iTU Espace Design interior

We talk to Charlotte Felix-Faure of iTU Espace Design, a new fair-trade boutique in Grenoble showcasing the creations of Southern African artists and artisans.

Grenoble Life: What and where is iTU Espace Design and when did it open?

Charlotte Felix-Faure: iTU Espace Design presents a unique collection of creations resulting from the rich artistic traditions and cultures of Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique …). The creations have been designed and handcrafted by artisans and artists working within non-profit organisations and by artists employing people from the townships and rural areas.

We opened our doors on the 1st of December 2009.We are situated at 5, rue Aubert Dubayet 38000 Grenoble, in the very artistic neighbourhood (and village within the city) of rue lakanal/place championnet (www.ruelakanal.com).

GL: What inspired you to open this boutique?

Charlotte: I studied sciences and business in South Africa and then went on to study for a Master in International Business at Grenoble Ecole de Management in Grenoble, completed in 2007. After a stint in the corporate environment, I decided to embark on a project that has been very close to my heart, opening a faire-trade art and design boutique working with Southern African artisans and artists. What inspires me most is the creativity that is blooming in Southern Africa these last couple of years, notably in South Africa. And I’m not talking about your typical roadside souvenirs or cheesy wildlife art, I mean Design! Originality! Hipness! Every time I go down there I get swept away by new amazing creations and their originality! I think to myself this really deserves to be shown to the world. I also love the fact that there is so much recycled material used in many of the products and there’s already a “green” culture that is growing within the society.

GL: How important is fair trade to you?

Charlotte: Fair trade is very important and very necessary. It actually has to be the normal way of conducting business. People should be paid according to what they judge their effort, skill and time are worth. By trading fairly with the producers we allow them to live a decent life and to be able to provide for their families. Then they’ll have no need to go far away in search of employment, leaving their loved ones behind and risking their own lives in the process.

GL: Where do you come from originally and why did you first come to France?

Charlotte: I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and I have been living in France since 2003. You’ll be amazed at things one is capable of doing for love [laughs]!

GL: How did you create your network of artists and artisans and where are they from?

Charlotte: My network of artists is from Southern Africa. I knew some of them and had heard of most of them before setting up my store. Because I’ve always liked these kinds of products and have bought them for my home, I already knew a couple of the artists and designers from before. I have a good network in South Africa as well, so I was able to be referred to some of them by friends.

Charlotte Felix-Faure

GL: Do you have to travel to Africa often?

Charlotte: Yes, I just love that because in that way I can always stay in touch with new developments in the art and design scene in that region of the world. I have just returned from a trip in Cape Town. I attended the yearly design expo called the Design Indaba which was breathtaking … I really love what I do!

GL: What were some of the challenges setting up a boutique in Grenoble?

Charlotte: My main challenge was to figure out who my customers were going to be in this mountain and ski town! Are people really interested in new and different things that come from a place that they don’t know much about? Especially products that are not your typical commercial stuff! Then I put my trust in the quality of the products offered and I was able to position my business accordingly.

GL: What organisations did you find helpful in setting up your business?

Charlotte: I first presented my business plan to my bank (thank goodness for business school education!) then, I went to the Grenoble Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie for advice on different legal stuff about setting up a business. I also went to see MCAE and they were really helpful because they provide advice from experts in business and entrepreneurship. After finding a suitable location I just went for it. The whole process took six months, from decision to opening!

GL: What has the reaction been from the Grenoble public?

Charlotte: Fantastic! I had vernissages for four days for the opening, from Tuesday to Friday, and each night there was a good crowd. People were pleasantly surprised even in my entourage; they did not expect to see the kind of things I’m selling. The neighbours are quite proud to have a beautiful boutique in their street. There has been very positive feedback and encouragement from a lot of people.

GL: What’s next for iTU Espace Design?

Charlotte: I would like to go further and organise for the young artists that I work with to come over and exchange with artists in Grenoble and vice versa. I would like to encourage cultural exchange, events and workshops between the French and Southern Africans. But I will have to see if there is interest on the French side first.

You can contact Charlotte Felix-Faure at:
iTU Espace Design
5 Rue Aubert Dubayet
38000 Grenoble
FRANCE
T. +33476472822
M. +33662701522
www.itu-designartisanal.com

Les timbres!

US newcomer Maureen Walsh reports on obtaining long-stay and student visas through the Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration for a year in Grenoble.

Arriving as newcomers to Grenoble from a small town in North Carolina in July 2010, my husband, Steve, and I were trying to carefully follow the letter of the French law regarding completing the steps necessary for our stay in France. He had recently been accepted into the AQ Bridge Program at the Grenoble Ecole de Management. This was an opportunity to spend a sabbatical year away from his position as the NC State University Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and explore new possibilities in a foreign country. So it would have surprised many of our friends to know that in our initial 2 ½ months stay in France, we hadn’t actually perfected all of the legalities. This was not malice aforethought, mind you, but only due to the timing of our arrival. Not until the middle of September 2010 did we get things settled! That was when our little yellow OFII (Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration) cards were pasted inside our American passports. We breathed a sigh of relief. We were now “bona fide”!

The process began in North Carolina. Since we hoped to stay in Grenoble for a full year, Steve applied for a student visa, and I needed a long-term stay visa in order to live in France. That involved a LOT of paperwork – there was the NC State Bureau of Investigation report, an FBI report, fingerprinting, certifications from our bank as to our financial worth, proof of health insurance, proof of purchase of airline tickets, certified birth certificates, marriage certificate, proof of acceptance into a French school, statements from me regarding the reason I was applying for entry into France along with a promise that I would not work while in France, and proof of a commitment to a residence in France (rental contract). It seemed like the list would never end.

We needed three copies of each item for both of our folders and this all had to be translated into French. In addition, there was the Long Stay Visa application form (Demande Pour Un Visa De Long Séjour) and the OFII form (Visa de Long Sejour-Demande D’Attestation OFII) with the top part filled out. A lot of trees sacrificed their lives for our trip to, and our stay in, France.

Once we had assembled all that, we made an appointment to go to our regional French Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia – a “mere” seven hour drive away. We made this appointment on-line and traveled there on an overnight trip in April. The meeting was not what we expected. I thought we would be invited into a cozy room to meet with a consulate representative to present our paperwork and be interviewed – perhaps accompanied by a glass of French wine, too? On the contrary, we arrived and soon discovered that the official Long Stay Visa application form posted on the website of the French Consulate in Atlanta that we had printed and completed, in “impeccable French” I might add, had just been completely changed the previous week. The new questions didn’t match the previous form. A sense of impending doom followed by a mild feeling of panic began to spread within the confines of my head. We stood at a narrow counter and worked to fill out the new form on the fly sans dictionnaire!

When the interview process took place, we were standing at another counter with the consulate employee sitting behind glass with a tiny slot through which we passed our massive paper pile in 8 to 10 pages stages. Time stood still. The employee would ask us questions (in French) and forget to turn on the microphone. We had to continually ask the him to repeat his questions and to turn on the sound – I thought I was living the drive-up window scene in the movie, Wayne’s World. He swiftly shuffled our papers, picked up the phone a few times to call France and kept looking at Steve suspiciously because he was applying for a Student Visa. This was the first line of defense those in America encounter in their quest for a visa to France! (Does the word perspiration mean anything to you?)

We left the office exhausted and made the return drive home. And waited … Our passports with our visas pasted in were returned to us about a month later in the prepaid FedEx envelopes that we had provided. Another hurdle passed. We were on our way to France!

Once we entered France via Switzerland, the next step for us was to find a permanent residence. We had arranged to stay in an extended-stay apartment for our first month in Grenoble, but we would need a more permanent address for the duration of our stay. In addition, we needed fixed and mobile phone numbers to put on the OFII form. Would it ever end? After the arduous work to acquire those, we sent off the paperwork by registered mail on August 4th. Timing for that was not, shall we say, optimum. We soon learned that most of France is not working in August because ils sont en vacances! Finally, we received letters telling us that our OFII forms had been received. We still had to wait to be contacted for our appointments to complete the process. A week and a half later, a letter arrived outlining what we needed to do for our appointments that were scheduled for the 16th of September for Steve and the 17th for me.

We were nearing the finish line! We needed to have a un examen radiographique, un photo tête nue, un examen clinique général and beaucoup d’argent. For the money part, we visited the Préfecture for taxe perçue à l’occasion de la délivrance du premier titre de séjour. This meant we had to buy des timbres á la caisse de préfecture in advance to cover the fee for the OFII validation. The timbres look like postage stamps and are similar to the stamps paid for when you complete a purchase on a house. For Steve that amounted to 55€ ($71.75) and for me, 340€ ($443.57) (exchange rate: 17/09/2010). We understand that in the U.S. the amount can be closer to $1,000.00 per person, so we think we got a bargain.

As a student, Steve had to first go to the Centre de Santé which is located near the train station in Grenoble and have a basic physical. Then, two days later, he needed to board tram C and head off to the Domain Université Centre de Santé to get a chest x-ray at one of those mobile units set up in a parking lot. A week later he returned to the first Centre de Santé to pick up his certified medical certificate. Finally, he was instructed to go to the OFII office with all his paperwork to complete the process. He was told they take a limited number of applicants each day. Since they don’t make specific appointments, show up early and try to get in the door – at 6’2″ and 90 kgs he was ready for action. He arrived an hour before the opening and was the first one in line. He presented all his pieces to the puzzle, and they pasted a card in the passport and covered it with a film cover. One down, one to go.

My requirements were a little different. As I am not a student, I was instructed to report to the OFII office at 13h 30 for my x-ray, and my medical exam would be at 14 h. I was pleased. It seemed that I had an appointment and would escape the running around that Steve had had; it would be “one-stop shopping”. Wrong. I arrived at 13h25 (the bureau is closed from 12h until 13h30 for lunch) and found a long line of people waiting for the opening. I joined the line, and I glanced at the paper the person in front of me held. It looked just like mine. Exactly! We ALL had the SAME appointment time.

The overworked employee at the desk dealt with people speaking many different languages. Some were anxious (like me), and some became belligerent when they were told their dossier was incomplete and that they would have to return with some other required paperwork. After sitting in the too-small waiting room for a half-hour, I was called back for the exams. The x-ray tech showed me to a dressing room and told me to disrobe to the waist. I looked around for the usual jacket I always get to put on when I have any upper body pictures taken. Nothing. Leave your modesty at the door. That done, I moved on to the nurse. She weighed me, stuck me for, as she said, “le sucre” (diabetes test), took my blood pressure, and then we proceeded to the height and eye charts.

If you know the French alphabet pronunciation, you remember that vowels and some consonants are pronounced differently from their English look-a likes. (i is “e”, e is “ai”, g is “jay”, j is “gee.”) We had to remind ourselves of that when responding. As a side story, we have an Australian friend who told us of her experience at OFII. She didn’t know any French when she arrived, and when she read the eye chart, she answered using the English (Australian) pronunciation of the letters. The medical people all thought that she was legally blind!

Getting our OFII stamps has given us the freedom we need to fully enjoy our experience here in Europe. Until we got that, if we had left France, we were told, we would not have been allowed to re-enter through the borders without returning to the U.S. and reapplying for a new visa. With our OFII stamps and our American passports, we can pursue our wanderlust. It didn’t take us long to pull out the map and start eyeing all the possibilities that became open to us with just that “little yellow card.”

To see our further adventures, please visit our blog: walshesingrenoble.wordpress.com

examen radiographique: xray
un photo tête nue: photo of a head without a covering
un examen clinique général: medical exam
le taxe perçue à l’occasion de la délivrance du premier titre de séjour: the charge collected at the issue of the first residence permit
le caisse de prefecture: prefecture cashier
centre de santé: health center

Daniel Mathieu at Cavavin Grenoble St-Martin D’Heres

Grenoble Life talks to entrepreneur-sommelier Daniel Mathieu of Cavavin Grenoble St-Martin d’Hères about wine, setting up his business and tasting sessions in English.

Grenoble Life: Tell us about Cavavin Grenoble St-Martin D’Heres. When did you open and what can we find inside?

Daniel Mathieu: I opened the shop five months ago, in September. My goal was to build a special place, nice-looking (with wood, color, lights), where you can discover the world of wine in a friendly atmosphere. I have music all day, jazz every evening, and organize a free tasting every Friday and Saturday; my so-called “happy apéro”.

I offer 1,500 types of wine, Champagne, whisky: I have a lot of affordable vins de copains, starting at €3, and I am a specialist of Italian and organic wines (BIO). Most mportantly, I also organize wine tasting courses every Thursday evening, when we take the time to taste wines, talk about each winery, and try wine and food pairing.

GL: Tell us about your wine-tasting courses for English speakers. What made you decide to organize them?

Daniel: There are lots of foreign people who come to Grenoble for a few weeks/months and are not comfortable enough in French to attend a French speaking course. They are students, scientists, or often the wife or husband of somebody coming to Grenoble. I invite them to discover an important part of the French way of life: wine, and wine and food pairing!  By the way, the next “Wine tasting basics” evening is on Thursday March 10.

I also organize private wine tasting evenings in English, for companies that want to have a fun and “French” event for their international seminars, sales meetings, supplier congresses etc.

GL: Where/how did you learn the wine trade?

Daniel: I had been a wine enthusiast for years, and decided to go further and learn the job of sommelier, which I did in 2010, graduating from the wine university of Suze la Rousse, near Orange.

GL: You have changed your profession. Why?

Daniel: My first motivation was to become independent and create my own business, locally. Then I felt I would learn more, and have more fun by doing something completely different – I had been working in the car, IT and consumer electronics for 25 years – in an area I really enjoyed. That’s what drove my decision.

GL: Tell us about wine from this region – any good? Give us some recommendations.

Daniel: I really like wines from Vallée du Rhone and Savoie. Some of my preferred ones?  Montez for St Joseph/Condrieu/Côte Rôtie, Dupasquier for Roussette/Mondeuse; or Quenard for Chignin Bergeron from Savoie.

I discovered local-local wines (I mean wines from Grésivaudan) only a few months ago in a wine tasting event at the Millesime festival in Grenoble. I was particularly impressed – and decided to sell this wine in my shop – by the Mas du Bruchet in Meylan: it’s a fruity, tasty white wine, made from a local grape called Verdesse and vinified like a Bourgogne: perfect match with a white meat dish or a strong cheese. THE Grenoble wine to try!

GL: What do you think of New World wines: Californian, Australian etc? How do they compare to French wines in your opinion? (I’m British, so I’m neutral here!)

Daniel: Even though we have great wines in France – maybe some of the best ones – I have always been curious to discover wines from other countries when I was travelling a lot. There are some really nice wines from California, Australia, South Africa and Chile: they are often tastier than French wines; definitely worth trying. Talking about foreign wines, I am a real fan of Italian wines: they have unique local grapes, a perfect climate and some great wine-makers.

GL: What are some useful contacts and addresses for people wishing to set up a new business in Grenoble?

Daniel: I found the Chambre de Commerce is a very good source of contacts and training. Then your personal and professional network is key get additional contacts and free advice … and they are often your very important first customers!

See you soon for a wine tasting!
www.cavavin-grenoble-smh.fr

Employment Opportunities. Photo: The Cleveland Kid

Rebecca Skillman talks to Nathalie Reynaud, career transitions consultant and guest speaker for the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble on February 17th.

Rebecca Skillman: What is “career sustainability”?

Nathalie Reynaud: For me it’s about keeping ourselves employable over a whole career – and not relying on one employer to look after us. Everyone’s different, of course, and it depends on our personality, constraints and environment. But we can all develop a sense of responsibility. So, rather than being the victim in a hire-and-fire culture, we are in control of our destiny, working when and how we want to.

Rebecca: Is career sustainability a recent, crisis-related trend?

Nathalie: Not for me! Right from when I left school I chose broad-based studies which allowed me to have a lot of opportunities. I had a scientific background in research – image processing – and enjoyed the work in that field. But I realized the job didn’t take account of what I needed in terms of people contact. I was behind a computer too much and it began to have an effect on my health. So I said ok, time to stop. Having a dual nationality I decided to go to Canada, to experience a different cultural perspective. I found that I really enjoyed tutoring and training – seeing the sparkle in people’s eyes when they understand how to move forward and get what they want.

From Canada I went to Mexico for two years, then returned to France as I wanted to work again in a francophone country. From there I decided to go for an MBA in change management, using previous skills and at the same time moving forward. But what really interests me is seeing where people are at, where they want to go, what their needs are and how to get there. Initially, I found a role in information systems consulting. But I felt I was losing sight of my target – people – so I changed tack and took a role in HR consulting in India.

Rebecca: You’ve worked in a huge range of contexts and countries. What’s the lesson from that?

That if you want something enough, you can have it. In each country I found the job I wanted, in my chosen environment, the way I wanted it. Even in India – where I was an ex-pat wife and everyone told me I’d never find a job, I was the only wife who had a job!

Rebecca: What would you say to someone who is having difficulty finding their own route through life?

Nathalie: You need to start from yourself. Think about what you want, what your needs and priorities are, and your skills – especially the transferable ones. Rather than sending CVs at random and focusing on what your needs are – a job – try to be pro-active, thinking about what companies need and matching this need to what you can offer. It’s a mutual process. And the global recession makes it even more important – because it can otherwise be so easy to get into a depressed “I just need a job” state.

Rebecca: What can people expect to get from your presentation to the WWNG?

Nathalie: We will share experiences – whether it’s about being unemployed, or adapting to a changing work environment, or adapting to the shifting work pattern of a husband. In all cases I want people to leave with hope of finding what they want and a better idea of themselves: where they’re at, where they want to go and how to get there.

We will talk about our personal and professional projects, and whether we are aware of the relevant values, skills, behaviour, environment and benefits. I will give some hints about how to always develop our competencies, even if we are unemployed; and how to find/create our own job, if necessary. We’ll consider possible marketing tools, how to make sure we have the right people around us, and a strategy/action plan in place. I like the metaphor of a sportsman who has to plan … one competition after the other. Which competition are you targeting? Which will be the one that will carry glory for you? The target? In the long and short term? Planning a career is no different. We have to prepare, physically and mentally, and have the right equipment to win those competitions that life throws our way.

Nathalie Reynaud of Reynaud Consulting will be speaking to the WWNG on 17 February 2011. For more information on attending this program, contact the association at www.wwng.net.

Nathalie Reynaud

Mobile Devices: Is your social life in hand? (detail from conference poster)

Students in the MSc Management Consulting program at Grenoble Graduate School of Business invite you to a conference they have organized on the mobile phone industry and social media. Andrea Becke explains.

February the 24th is coming closer and closer. This date might not mean a lot for most of the people here in Grenoble but for the students in the MSc Management Consulting program it means a lot. February 24th will be the date for our first conference on Mobile Devices: Is your social life in hand?

But let’s start from the beginning and introduce ourselves. We are 15 students studying MSc Management Consulting at Grenoble Graduate School of Business. What makes us special is our unique multicultural team. We are 15 students coming from 13 different countries, with an age range from 22 till 38. Working in this group is not always that simple, yet we form a great team whose diversity is what enables us to achieve great potential.

Planning such a conference is quite challenging. First we have a very limited budget; we depend on sponsors and on GGSB to support us with the logistics. Additionally since our conference will be held in English, this limits the potential audience for our event. We hope to go beyond the student and faculty body and wish to include everyone interested in this topic wishing to gain more knowledge about the mobile industry.

With our Professor Pat Brans, who is an expert in this industry, we are organizing a conference on Mobile Devices. The mobile industry is already a part of our everyday life and its influence is becoming increasingly significant. We wonder if people are really aware of what they are using? Do people actually know how far the reach of Social Media actually is? Not to mention the ever-present question arising in this context: is it safe to use? Is our privacy protected? These key issues and more will be discussed in our conference. We hope to address the big dilemmas – and answer some of questions – arising from this new trend.

We have invited experts in the area of mobile technology, social media, ethics and location based services to participate. With short, but precise presentations, those experts will bring the subject closer to everyone and give us the chance to ask specific questions during the round table discussion.

Among the speakers present: Kelly Rigotti, a Marketing and Communications Consultant and an expert in online branding and web 2.0 ergonomics. Kelly will discuss how social networks are becoming mobile social networks. Sharon Crost, an expert in reputation management and online commerce and a Marketing and Social Media Consultant, will bring us closer to a set of guidelines for handling the risks behind social interactions going mobile. Marie-Paule Odini is the Chief Technologist at Hewlett-Packard’s Communications & Media and an expert in the area of online branding, innovation and security programs. At the conference, she will talk specifically about social media used on mobile phones and the technology behind it.

We are all using mobile devices. Isn’t each of us wondering a little about just how much our social life is in our hands? Join us to find out!

The conference and round-table will take place on the 24th of February 2011 from 6 to 8 pm at Grenoble Graduate School of Business. The conference will be followed by a cocktail reception.

We are looking forward to surprising you!

Françoise Lerond (left) and Anne Dénaire-Jégard

Françoise Lerond, founder of Confluences Consulting and member of the Working Women’s Network Grenoble (WWNG), talked recently with several members about the WWNG Professional Enrichment Program (PEP).

Françoise Lerond: Why did the WWNG create this program?

Kelly Rigotti, KR Consulting: When we started the PEP in 2007, we were looking for a way to help our members receive more support and guidance – either because they were new to the WWNG and wanted to become more comfortable with American style networking, or because they wanted help in figuring out goals or objectives. We wanted to create a short but complete program that would help them get started on the path of successful networking.

Sara Freitas-Maltaverne, SFM Traduction: Five years ago, three of us – Mickey Farrance (President of the WWNG), Kelly and I – wanted to have a special welcome for our new members. We wanted them to acquire skills to get the most out of networking, help them present themselves, and share their needs with others. To be able to do that, they have to have a clear idea of what they want to do, and what their professional goals are. The PEP was born as a series of three modules:  Know Yourself, Develop Your Goals, and Present Yourself Effectively.

Françoise: Who facilitates these PEP modules?

Kelly: We have had many different talented people leading the modules, all of the WWNG members. I myself have facilitated a number of times and learned something new from each experience.

Françoise: And things change. Often, we have to reassess what we want to do, set new goals and present ourselves differently, right?

Sara: Yes, and because we change facilitators regularly, who offer different perspectives and methodologies, people can attend PEP several times and get something new each time.

I had the chance to facilitate the “present yourself effectively” module last year and it was a great experience. I was able to share my experience with my fellow WWNG members. It was also for me an opportunity to refine the training modules I offer through my company.

Véronique Rostas, Polaris Consulting:  I fully agree. When I facilitated the “know yourself” module last year, I validated new tools I was planning to use with my clients. At the same time, participants got some methodology to start their change process. PEP participants are generally very open-minded. They know they want to change something but don’t necessarily have a crystal-clear idea of who they want to be later. My purpose is to give them a structure, so that they can go from their comfort zone to a learning zone, with a safety net. That’s a first step. Françoise, you “graduated” from the PEP last year and will facilitate this year, so you can give us your feedback too.

Françoise:  Sure! That’s the beauty of networking, what you give out, you get back, and it’s win-win! I joined the WWNG last year just in time to sign up for the PEP.  It’s definitely a good start to build the future we desire, set new goals and position ourselves. I was in the process of creating Confluences Consulting, and so acquiring skills for networking and for presenting myself effectively was of great help. And since then, I’m enjoying networking “American style”!

This year I will present the “develop your goals” module, and it is really great for me to have the opportunity to give back to the network. I will share my business and project management knowledge to help participants set goals, follow up and achieve them, with a structured approach, hands-on tools and of course networking in mind.

Anne and Barbara, you participated in last year’s PEP too.  How was your experience?

Anne Denarié-Jégard, ComCBizArt:  The PEP exercises were really helpful.  We worked both individually and in small groups, and the energy you get from other like-minded people is very motivating.  PEP and the people in it really helped me structure my objectives.

Barbara Barrett, Repérages Vélo:  When I enrolled in the PEP, I was in the process of “reinventing myself.” For me the program was a transforming experience and I’m quite grateful that I’ve been able to make positive changes in my life as a result. The sessions were well planned, and the presenters were very professional and knowledgeable. I am looking forward to the 2011 PEP, and highly recommend it!

Françoise: Thank you all for sharing your experience with WWNG and the PEP program. Mickey, as President of the Working Women’s Networking Group, you may want to add something?

Mickey Farrance, WWNG President: The PEP program has built on success since its beginnings five years ago. I’m delighted that it has provided such a positive experience for so many of our members, who have become enthusiastic and productive networkers. We collectively invite other professional women who want to refine and apply their networking skills to join the WWNG, and register for the PEP – it’s free to members.  Don’t delay – the 2011 PEP will be held on Feb 5 and we need to approve new membership applications before then.  Membership application forms are available from our website at http://www.wwng.net/become-a-member.

Françoise:   Each year, WWNG members – middle managers, executives, academics, consultants or entrepreneurs – hone their professional skills through the PEP and build valuable professional relationships.  I hope to see some of our Grenoble Life readers join us there.

Pat Brans

Grenoble-based Pat Brans has published a book called Master the Moment, in which he shares the secrets of 50 leading CEOs on time management and workplace efficiency.

January is normally the time most people set themselves resolutions for the New Year but sadly it’s also the easiest time to break them. When the days are short and gloomy and everyone seems to be suffering from seasonal adjustment or at least a Really Bad Cold, it is not easy to keep your well-intentioned promises. However, if one of your goals for 2011 was to get yourself better organized and more efficient – it’s certainly one of mine – then Pat Brans‘s new book might make a good personal investment.

Visiting professor at Grenoble Graduate School of Business, Pat Brans provides corporate training on time management and personal efficiency. He has held senior positions with three large organizations (CSC, Hewlett-Packard, and Sybase) where he focused on applying technology to enhance workforce effectiveness. But don’t just take his word for it – Pat’s new book is the result of discussions with 50 leading CEOs, unveiling their tips for personal productivity.

Pat explains: “High achievers are not necessarily smarter or putting in more effort than those around them. But they do have different attitudes and are more careful how they use time. From their perspective they are moving at a comfortable pace. To the typical bystander, they are zipping past.

“It’s about knowing how to set goals and how to reach them. Too many people make a resolution to become more organised or to accomplish more, but then weeks later they see no difference. The problem is that they don’t internalise the ideas and turn them into habit. My book explores how you can turn powerful ideas into automatic behaviour. It provides a set of time management habits and a method you can use to make the changes you need to set you on the road to achieving your goals.”

Master The Moment features material from exclusive interviews with CEOs of 50 top companies and institutions including Curves, City of Grenoble , Columbia Sportswear, Southwest Airlines, University of Maryland , US Census Bureau, and Energizer Holdings. The ideas in the book are backed up with research by psychologists and physiologists in areas such as motivation, decision theory, procrastination, habit forming, and physical fitness.

Pat adds: “The value of Master the Moment is that each of the people included is highly successful, and each is in a position to observe hundreds of other people work. As such, this group has a unique vantage point from which to develop a well-founded opinion on what makes one person more effective than another.”

Not sure if you’re getting enough done in the time available to you? Take the quiz: www.bcs.org/books/timequiz

Take a look (includes contents, first chapter and index)

About the book:

Master the Moment: Fifty CEOs teach you the secrets of time management
Pat Brans, ISBN: 9781906124731, Format: Paperback
£12.95 Standard, €20.95 Euros, $21.95 US Dollars
BCS books are available to order from the online BCS Bookshop, all good bookshops and Turpin Distribution Services Ltd, Pegasus Drive, Stratton Business Park, Biggleswade, Beds,  SG18 8TQ, United Kingdom, +44 (0)1767 604951, enquiries to custserv@turpin-distribution.com

“5 min TOPS”, Marianne’s podcasts available on iTunes

Marianne Raynaud of Grenoble-based Quality Time ESL gives us an update on her new English as a foreign language resources for the teachers and students. 

I am currently producing three series of podcasts intended to help learners improve their speaking skills: “QualityTime-ESL Podcasts”, “Your English” and “5-Minute TOPs”. These podcasts are oral exercises that can be downloaded free of charge on the iTunes platform. My newest series “TOPs” (“Training with Oral Practice”) are based on quotes and well-known song lyrics. I am happy to report that these “5-Minute TOPs” have been cited on the iTunes platform in France in the category “nouveautés” under the heading “enseignement” and in the US in the category “What’s Hot” under “language courses”. All three series are currently ranked among the top one hundred foreign language audio podcasts in numerous countries. 

What is a podcast? 

I became interested in podcasts four years ago when I was looking for a way to brush up on my Spanish. I was amazed at all the wonderful resources available on the iTunes platform in a vast range of subjects. For readers unfamiliar with the term let me explain that the word “podcast” comes from pod, the acronym of “portable on demand”, and cast from “broadcast”. By downloading radio or television podcasts onto your computer and then transferring them to an iPod or a MP3 player, you can listen to or watch programs wherever you are and whenever you wish. You can be on the bus, in a train or standing in line at the supermarket and be listening to the “CBS Nightly News”, “2000 ans d’histoire” on France Inter or the language course “Notes in Spanish”, as was my case when I bought my first iPod. Today I am so enthusiastic about podcasts as an effective learning tool that I am conducting workshops on how to use podcasts in English language teaching. The positive emails I get from satisfied listeners who are progressing thanks to my podcasts encourage me to produce one or two new episodes every week. 

Go on a podcast spree 

If you are interested in this new way of accessing information just download the iTunes software, which is free, and then simply “browse” all the vast resources. You can scroll down from “podcasts” in the black toolbar on the top of the homepage and select the category you wish to sample. Or you can go to “advanced search” and define the type of podcast you are searching for. There are ranking lists in the right-hand column of many pages. Whenever you see “display all” (afficher tous), click on the button to get the complete list. Finally, at the very bottom of any page in small print you can find “explore” and get an alphabetical list of everything on iTunes including the podcasts. There is also a link “change country” in a column next to “explore” that lets see what music, films, and podcasts people are downloading in other countries. One important point: on iTunes music, films, TV series or programs and audiobooks require payment, whereas all podcasts can be downloaded free of charge. That is also the case in the section called iTunes U with audio and video recordings by well-known professors from different universities, institutes and academies across the world. 

The podcast system allows you to choose from a great diversity 

Personally, I recommend TED Talks for inspiring presentations by people who are really making a difference in the world and all the BBC programs. I subscribe to about ten series at a time including “CBS Nightly News” and “News in Slow Spanish”, which is excellent. I have just discovered “The History of Philosophy” with Peter Adamson from King’s College in London. Teachers often ask me which are the best podcasts for students. The fact is there are so many available that it is very difficult to choose “the best” ones. The advantage of the podcast system is that individuals can select the programs that suit them personally—what appeals to one person may not interest someone else. And a certain voice may be appealing to some and not to others. Using podcasts in teaching means students can choose what they wish to listen to and learn, which opens up totally new horizons. 

Sampling and subscribing 

When browsing you will see icons next to the titles and a button to subscribe (s’abonner). When you press on it, you will get the latest podcast of the series on your computer plus a list of all the other ones available in the series. You can then press on “get” to download certain episodes or on “get all” to have them all downloaded onto your computer. If you have subscribed, every time there is a new episode in the series it will be sent to you automatically. You can also just click on the title of the podcast or the icon and see the list of all the episodes. By clicking on any episode you can listen to it (or watch it) directly without downloading it—to get an idea of the content and the type of program. 

The theme of my own podcasts 

My own podcasts follow three different themes: “QualityTime-ESL Podcasts” for grammar training, “Your English” for vocabulary building and “5-Minute TOPs” for fun exercises with song lyrics and quotes. I use only English, as these exercises are intended for learners all over world. I would appreciate it if readers could recommend these podcasts to English teachers or to French people wishing to improve their speaking skills in English. They cost nothing—only the scripts require a minimal fee, but most listeners use only the audio files. Incidentally, when you stop listening to a series, the podcasts are no longer downloaded onto your computer, and you can delete them with a click of your mouse. 

To subscribe just type “Marianne Raynaud” 

To subscribe to my podcasts just type my name into the iTunes search box in the upper right-hand corner and then click on: “QualityTime-ESL Podcasts”, “Your English” and “5-Minute TOPs”. The more subscribers I get, the more motivated I feel to continue producing these podcasts. My goal is simply to get more people, young and old, up to a basic operational level in English. I have always believed you don’t need to know a great deal to be able to converse in a foreign language. What you do need is motivation and training like when practicing a sport. And we all know that communicating with people from different countries is a real joy. 

A few words about my book on DVD 

Of course, I do have a second less altruistic goal. I hope teachers will go to my website, read about QualityTime-ESL: The Digital Resource Book and purchase this book on a DVD with over 1,500 modifiable files in MSWord, PDF, PPT and audio formats (€29). I have written about my experiences as a teacher/coordinator at Grenoble-INP (Grenoble Institute of Technology) for 24 years, and I have included all the materials I developed for the different courses. As the files are customizable, teachers can easily adapt all the exercises and activities to their specific needs. I have also made a fifty-minute film “Scenes from an ESL Classroom” where you can see students working and performing using the materials from the book. This year I will continue conducting workshops for TESOL France and naturally I plan to go on listening to podcasts and producing more of my own.

John Evans

Shonah Kennedy interviews the eponymous founder of John Evans Anglais, Grenoble’s long-standing language school.

Who is John Evans? This was the question chorused at a TESOL event my collegues and I attended when we had to announce where we worked. This questioning of a company with such a positive reputation and which has been in the area for over 30 years surprised me, and prompted me to ask John to do an interview for Grenoble Life. It only took six months, but I am very happy that he finally said “yes”!  So, I’m extremely pleased to present the below interview with John Evans, of John Evans Anglais.

Shonah: How and when did John Evans get started?

John Evans: Everything got started in 1981 when I decided to resign from the school where I’d been working for four years  and simply set up in business as an independent, freelance teacher. It was only in 1991 that I hired my first full time teacher – who is still with me – and new teachers have been steadily joining us ever since and we now have a team of ten teachers.

Shonah: Why did you decide to go into business for yourself, rather than work for one of the other numerous schools in the area?

John: As I’d been working in a school for four years, I just felt that I’d gone as far as I could go and that the time was right for a change. I don’t remember having had a burning desire to be an entrepreneur but I did like the idea of being independent, choosing  the way I worked and the teaching methods I used and not having to be answerable to anybody – apart from my customers. On top of that, running a small business has given an extra dimension to my professional life and – as much as I enjoy teaching – I like the business side involving managing a team of teachers, maintaining our relationships with our customers and even the administrative side.

Shonah: Over the years you have been in business, what major changes have you seen in the industry?

John: In my opinion, the biggest change of all has been in the shift from working with private individuals to working more and more with professionals and companies. No language school today can survive if they don’t have a solid customer base among local industry and if they don’t provide the solutions that the professionals need.

Teaching English 30 years ago was very general and language based whereas today most courses have to be customized and adapted to the specific needs of each trainee or group of trainees. The result for the teacher is that they also need to understand how companies work.  However, it does provide for greater job interest when you find yourself working with people from all fields of industry and in different company departments.

The other major change on the teaching side has obviously been the arrival of new ways of language learning thanks to new or improved technology – telephone lessons, e-learning, computer based exercises and all the possibilities offered by the internet with podcasts etc.

On the purely business side of things, there has been a shift in power within companies themselves and we now find ourselves dealing more and more with purchasing departments rather than training departments. Purchasers are looking to find one language provider for their nationwide needs and that is why I’m now a member of Canspeak – a nationwide association of independent language schools. As a result we can provide our customers with a global solution while, at the same time, retaining our own identity.

Shonah: Who are your main clients?

John: We have very different clients ranging from large, international customers such as Becton Dickinson, Soitec, Avery Dennison, Rolls Royce and Alcan to medium-sized companies like Petzl and EFD or scientific research Institutes and also small companies or start ups like Spartoo.

Shonah: How can somebody contact you?

John: First of all, it’s easy enough to find out about us by looking at our website and anybody can get straight through to me at the office 04 76 48 22 35.  Whether they’re looking for training courses or a teaching post.

Shonah: What are the future plans for John Evans?

John: There are no predefined plans as such. We just try to keep on doing what we do best and to keep on giving our customers the best possible service. Until now, this has always proved to be a successful recipe.

Shonah: Do you have any advice for teachers starting out in the industry, or those that have been in the industry for some years, but need some inspiration?

John: I think the first thing I would tell any young teacher is to “be yourself”. Every teacher has a different personality and teaching style but I think it’s important to cultivate that rather than try to fit into a mould or do things that you are not comfortable with. Listen to your trainees and try to deliver what they want and expect and ask them for regular feedback so that you can constantly “fine-tune” your courses. Be interested in your trainees and try to motivate them as much as possible. You mustn’t forget that some trainees are not always happy to be having language lessons and the day somebody tells you that you are the one who has made language learning an enjoyable experience for them – it’s the best compliment anyone can pay you.

One final thing – don’t be afraid to make mistakes! We’ve all made them and we’ll all continue to make them but as long as we learn from them, that’s all that matters. It’s also important to remember that it’s impossible to make all of your customers happy all of the time and that your own teaching style will suit some people but not others.

Shonah: Any anecdotes to tell after so many years here and doing what you do?

John: When I look back on 30 years of teaching I think that the most rewarding part of it has been meeting people of all ages and from all walks of life. I’ve worked with people between 15 and 85, from every walk of life and with extremely diverse backgrounds. Many of the people I have worked with have become close, personal friends and it has meant that teaching is not just “a job” but a very rewarding and fulfilling experience.

Ayurveda massage

Grenoble Life talks to Karl Di Foggia about Ayurveda massage, his international background and getting started as a small business owner in Grenoble. 

Grenoble Life: What is Ayurveda and how does it differ from other kinds of massage? 

Karl Di Foggia: Ayurveda is a traditional Indian healing system. It comes from the sanskrit word ayu, meaning life and veda, meaning science. So ayurveda means the science of life. It is considered to be a holistic medical system, recognized as such by the World Health Organisation. We encounter ayurvedic clinics in countries such as India, the UK, the USA and Mexico. 

This system is based on prevention and takes into consideration the patient as a whole person at the level of body, mind and spirit. There are ayurveda textbooks that are over 5000 years old, and it is commonly admitted to be the world’s most ancient healing system. 

Ayurveda massages vary: full body massages with hot oils;  revigorating hand massages; head massages with warm oil, for flushing away stress; foot massages for improving sleep quality; pranic massage using breathing and the properties of crystals and minerals; deep massage using reflexology points all over the body … and many others to discover. 

GL: What are the health benefits of such massage? 

Karl: For prevention or in treatment for curative purposes, massages are commonly used in ayurveda. They are adapted to fit the patient’s ayurvedic profile and symptoms. They are specially designed to stimulate circulation of blood and lymph, give energy, enliven muscle tensions, detoxify the body, joints and organs, harmonize the five elements, as well as transmit the medicinal properties of plants cooked in sesame oil (tailam). It’s an efficient way of treating the body, making oneself feel united in body mind spirit, that is to say alive and happy. 

GL: Why do people come to you? 

Karl: Nowadays many people are starting to have ayurvedic treatment to discover an exotic form of relaxation through massage, and many get into it and come back regularly to embrace the full benefits. 

The motivation comes from different sources: stress at work, back pain, sciatica, poor digestion, depression, headeaches, need for relaxation or simply to discover. It can also be part of a personally designed programme following a session to determine your ayurvedic constitution and offer personalized health and dietary advice. 

GL: Who are your clients? 

Karl: My clients are local and international, depending on the sites I am working for. At the Spa at Chateau de la Commanderie, I have both business and private clients from both France and Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and England. 

For Hewlett Packard it’s about the same mix, with a broad spectrum of people. And at my offices in Eybens or Meylan, mostly locals from Grenoble and around. 

GL: Tell us about your background – when and why did you come to Grenoble? 

Karl: I was actually born and raised in Grenoble and the Alps. Although I lived in Alpe d’Huez for my first seven years, my family later moved to Seyssinet and we stayed there throughout my childhood. I moved away later on to finish my studies in England, and graduated with an MBA in engineering management. After two years missing the sun, I then settled down in Spain for a couple of years for my first job as an export salesman. After four years abroad, I needed to come back to my family and friends and I changed my career in order to work with people, as a psycho-corporal therapist. I’ve been back in Grenoble for 10 years now. 

My first experience with ayurveda was in 1997 after a trek in Kashmir, we had a rest in a beautiful place in the Himalayas with hot termal water and ayurvedic massages, lovely! 

I graduated as an ayurvedic therapist in 2004, and constantly refine my understanding of it through books, training, and sharing with other practitioners. I’ve also been doing yoga, which is another part of ayurveda. Since last year I have been sharing my passion for ayurvedic massage through training sessions. 

GL: What can people do to learn more about Ayurvedic massage or train in this method? 

Karl: To learn more about ayurvedic massage you can start with web research, texts, books and videos. You could visit my website and find the links page with selected videos on ayurvedic massages.

I am also giving training sessions in the ayurvedic massage ‘Abyangha’ in Meylan, a 3-hour session all year long on a forthnightly basis. Or over a set of seven weekends divided into themes such as back, neck and arms; legs and feet; head and face … from November to July. More info on my website.

GL: How did you set up your own business? Which organisations did you find useful in helping you set up? 

Karl: I chose to be independent under the auto-entrepreneur status. To choose the best legal status I got advice from Chambre de Commerce de l’Isere and personnal sessions with a specialist in company-creation through Pole Emploi. 

I’ve also heard that ADIE would be helpful for small businesses needing finance. 

GL: What do you love about Grenoble? 

Karl: Not the city as itself – although it still remains at a human level (the flattest city in France, people say), you cross the centre in a 15-minute walk – but the surroundings. I mean the fact that you can escape to a lovely place in the mountains in a short car drive.

Check out this teaser for the documentary ways2winter about life and snowsports in the local resort of Les 2 Alpes made by British filmmakers.

ways2winter is a feature-length documentary following two British seasonaires in the local resort of Les 2 Alpes through the winter season 09/10. It’s not your average snowsports film. Sure, there’s plenty of riding but there’s also hard work and strong personalities, showing the reality of seasonaire life.

The two subjects – Will & Heather – were chosen for their commitment to the resort, contrasting jobs and talent on the mountain. The film includes riding sections filmed in 2 Alpes’ celebrated Snow Park, the nearby freeride itineraries of Alpe d’Huez, St Christophe and La Grave, as well as the Derby de la Meije, the Sarenne Snow Bike event and the 2 Alpes Derby. But it’s not all riding. Video diaries and interviews bare Will and Heather’s souls as they overcome personal and work issues, struggling to find a balance between life on and off the mountain. It gets pretty intense at times, and their honesty gives viewers an insight into their feelings and contradictions.  

The film was made by Vickie Allen and Simon Parfitt, who have spent the past four years in Les 2 Alpes. Simon’s speciality is snowboarding and ski films, while Vickie comes from a background in journalism and short films, such as those at Destination Oisans. ways2winter is their first joint-project and their first documentary. Made without a budget, the filmmakers’ motivation was to create an authentic representation of winter seasons and promote the ski resorts of the Oisans region.

Sarah Setton

Grenoble Life talks to Sarah Setton about Feng Shui and Traditional Chinese Medicine ahead of an open evening at Les Sources wellness center in Meylan on Friday November 26.

Grenoble Life: Who are you and what do you do?

Sarah Setton: I’m an American who’s lived in France for the past 20 years. Professionally, I’m a practitioner of Feng Shui (a technique that improves and optimizes the impact of your environment on your quality of life) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), meaning I care for my patients using acupuncture, massage and herbal therapies. Globally, I help places and people heal.

GL: Where do you come from originally and why did you come to France.

Sarah: I’m from the east coast of the United States, I was born in New Jersey, grew up in Delaware and went to university in Virginia.  Most recently, I lived in Philadelphia before moving to France to follow my sweetheart, who was French.

GL: Tell us about Les Sources: what are the different services offered and how did it come into existence?

Sarah: Les Sources is a wellness center in Meylan that I helped create three and a half years ago with a few friends who also practice Chinese Medicine. We imagined a locale where different sorts of practitioners could share their passion for alternative therapies and practice their different techniques. When we undertook the project, there weren’t really any wellness centers in the region, but within six months or so, a few others had sprung up. 

At present we have around 30 practitioners and teachers at the center. There are a few ‘classic’ therapists including an orthoptiste (vision therapist), a kinestherapeute (physical therapist), psychotherapists and two nurses who specialize in wound management. There are also less well-known disciplines like lithotherapy (therapy with stones), reflexology plantaire (foot massage), kinesiology (working with the bodies subtle energies), shiatsu, naturopathy, sophrology and various sorts of well-being massage including Californian, Ayurvedic, and Balinese massage. Not to forget Traditional Chinese Medicine and Feng Shui!

I’m really excited that an esthetician recently joined us from a well know local spa. I think her presence is extremely complementary to the other services and opens up other possibilities for feeling good about oneself and moving toward improved physical and emotional health. 

In addition to the therapists practicing at Les Sources, there are weekly classes in our Great Room on the second floor.  This year the courses include Yoga, Tai Ji and Qi Gong (Have you seen images of lots Chinese all following the same choreography in a park?  That’s what we’re talking about here!), Do-in (auto-massage for relaxation), Ayurvedic massage, and MLC (Method de Liberation des Cuirasses, a very gentle and effective way of un-tying deep, chronic physical/emotional tensions.)

Starting in January, there will be monthly conferences on different health related topics. For instance on January 21st. I’m participating in a roundtable on nutrition and health with a naturopath and a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine. We’ll be discussing the impact of how we eat from the three different perspectives, and then we’ll be taking questions from the audience.  It should be very interesting, and perhaps useful after the holidays! 

Finally, there are evening and weekend workshops throughout the year. The topics are extremely varied, but to give a few examples, we’ve hosted workshops in Indian and African Dance, Meditation techniques, Yoga, therapeutic singing, astrology, sophrology, Tai Ji and Qi Gong, Tantra, Raising one’s personal energy level….the list goes on!

GL: When and where did you learn about Chinese medecine and Feng Shui?

Sarah: I did all my studies on ‘subjects Chinese’ here in France, at Feng Shui France in Paris, and at the CEDRE in Valance for the TCM. I was fortunate that when I moved to France. Those things I did professionally in the US were no longer open to me, and I had to recreate myself.  At the time it didn’t seem like much of a gift, but in retrospect, I realize how lucky I was! I was obliged to re-examine who I was and in doing so, I realized I wanted to help people in a very hands-on way. 

I ‘fell’ into the Feng Shui when my mother left me a book on the subject. I was intrigued by this technique that claimed to change the quality of ones’ life by ‘rearranging the furniture’ (It’s MUCH more complicated than that, but I didn’t realize that at the time!). After some experimentation, I realized it really worked  (I was amazed!) and I sought out a teacher to help me learn more. I was lucky to find a serious, three year long practitioner training course and I enrolled. 

After getting my practitioner diploma and practicing for a while, I realized the majority of my clients had health problems. With Feng Shui it’s possible to improve a global situation that leads to poor health and other difficulties, but it’s less effective than working directly with the person to improve their well-being. That’s when I decided to become a practitioner of TCM as well. I’ve now been practicing Feng Shui for 15 years now, and Traditional Chinese Medicine for seven. I’m very fortunate to wake up every morning and be excited about what the day holds in store for me!

GL: Tell us about your open evening on November 26th.

Sarah: The practitioners and teachers at Les Sources have organized an ‘Open House’ evening to give people the opportunity to meet everyone, see the center and perhaps learn about unfamiliar therapies. It starts at 17.00 on Friday November 26, and finishes at 21.00. There will even be a few mini-workshops offered in the great room from 18.00 to 20.00 to entice people to try the various techniques offered by the teachers! There will be ample time for people to meet the various practitioners and at the end of the evening there will be an informal moment with refreshments. The event is open to everyone and there is no set starting time, people can come and go as they please.

GL: What do you love about Grenoble?

Sarah: I love the museum of art, walking up to the Bastille, Cabaret Frappe!  Grenoble is a cozy city blessed with an extraordinary environment. It’s a pleasure just to look around when I’m in the tram and discover the lovely details in the buildings or to watch the mountains come alive at any given season as the light and shadows change the scenery.

GL: If there are questions about the Open House evening, how can our readers get more information?

Sarah: They can call me at 06 72 99 52 00. We are creating a website for the Les Sources, but it isn’t yet a reality. In a few month’s time though, if you look up Les Sources à Meylan on the internet, you should be able to read about all our activities!

Slack lining in Parc Paul Mistral

In the second post of his blog ‘From Admission to Graduation’ MBA student Joseph Schott shares his experiences studying in Grenoble and tells us about slacklining.

Two months into the MBA program at Grenoble Graduate School of Business, and I already feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. Traversed a long, dark tunnel of French bureaucracy? Check. Met classmates from all around the globe? Check. I’ve even finished a few modules. Now its time to settle in and enjoy all that the city has to offer. So far, the relaxed vibe and multicultural atmosphere has been just what I was looking for. There are so many universities and innovative firms located in Grenoble that I keep running into interesting people all the time. I still have a long list of new places to see, but today I want to write about something new I found a few weeks back.

Walking through Parc Mistral, I noticed a man floating in the air between two trees. I took a quick look around. The trees were swaying gently in the wind and the sky was clear. There were families picnicking on the grass. I checked again, and sure enough he was now walking, carefully suspended about one half meter above the ground. Someone was beating out a rhythm with drums near La tour Perret. Beneath him, I could just barely make out the shimmer of something stretched between the two trees: my first look at a slackline.

In slacklining, you try to find your balance and walk back and forth on a band of flexible material that can vary in length, width, and elasticity. The material is very thin, which is why I couldn’t see it very well from the side, and the elastic fabric stretches with each step, making it very different from tight-rope walking.

Slacklines can be connected to any two anchor points, like trees in a park. Since the line is so close to the ground, when you lose your balance you just step back on the grass. If you go up in the mountains and anchor the line between two sides of a crag, it is called highlining. In this case, you’ll need to wear a climbing harness and attach a safety cord that travels with you around the line. Go up even higher to where the air starts getting thin, and you have something people call skylining.

A slackline

For me, it was satisfying enough just managing to walk back and forth between two trees. The flexibility in the line causes it to wobble back and forth beneath you, and it must have taken me two hours to just barely stumble to the other side. It’s all about balance. Making it through requires a kind of Zen concentration to clear your mind and focus only on your body and the line.

A beginner mistake is to stare at your feet, but since your feet are moving around with the line, this makes it hard for your brain to know where the ground is in relation to your body. It’s much better to stare straight ahead at something that doesn’t move and raise your arms for balance. You need to keep good posture, with your hips forward. As people get better, they start to add tricks. Jumping around on the line, sitting down and standing back up, doing splits, yoga, whatever you can think of. What used to be known as “what rock climbers do when they’re bored” has really come into its own.

My MBA program is moving fast, and I’m meeting people, learning a lot, and getting ready for my next career move. Our course on international negotiation in particular is extremely hands on and engrossing. Some days though, when I’ve done too much accounting and just need to clear the numbers out of my head, a Saturday afternoon slacklining is a great way to do it. Best of all, the slackliners I’ve met around Grenoble are always welcoming of new people who stroll by and want to see what is going on. This communal atmosphere makes it a great way to meet new people and get connected to an interesting international crowd.

For some more information, you can check out the wiki here and two great videos, here and here.

Present perfect verbs. Photo: jeffmcneill

Many of our readers and contributors teach English in the city. This anonymous post by one such Grenoble Lifer asks for your experience and opinions about the different employers of language teachers in the region.

by A. Teeshur

There comes a point in every English teacher’s life when, as much fun as the job is, the employer just doesn’t seem to keep up. Maybe we want more chances to move up, more opportunities to work more hours (and thus get more money!), or just work fewer hours at a better rate.

Changing jobs can be scary—leaving one company for another sometimes feels a little like a trip to the casino. Roll the job-seeker dice, land an interview, snag that job, and you may get lucky or you may not.

Some of us have played the English-teaching game here in Grenoble longer than others. I thought it could help fellow teachers to put luck on their side if we shared our experiences, letting others know what companies are worth our hard work and which ones need to realise just how much their teachers are worth.

I propose that the Grenoble Life community build up a sort of English School Review Board. If you have had experience teaching somewhere, tell us about it. Do it anonymously, and I would suggest leaving out any details that could make your post identifiable, like precise employment dates.

Here’s an idea of how to post your review, but feel free to add or leave out any info as you see fit.

COMPANY:

ROUNDED HOURLY WAGE:

TYPE OF CONTRACT (CDI, CDD, vacataire, etc.):

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE?

REASON FOR LEAVING:

ANYTHING IMPORTANT A POTENTIAL TEACHER SHOULD KNOW?

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS SCHOOL TO A TEACHER LOOKING FOR A JOB?

Also remember, that just like restaurant reviews, each posting recounts the experience of a single person. Some famous guy (I forget who…) said that your appreciation of an experience comes 10% from the situation itself and 90% from your attitude about the situation! Now, if a particular school turns up with nothing but bad reviews, well, you’ve been warned!

Véronique Rostas. Photo: Gilles Galoyer, studio Jamaisvu

Véronique Rostas will be facilitating the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble (WWNG)’s upcoming seminar, Exploding the Myth of Cultural Stereotypes, on 27 November. She talks to Rebecca Skillman about her background in management development, and how the seminar is relevant for all of us who have chosen to live or work in another country.

Rebecca: Véronique, how did you first get into working with cultural awareness?

Véronique Rostas: Ever since my Masters – which I did in England – I have been aware of the cultural differences between countries. I arrived in the English university system and found that my French grande école background didn’t mean a thing to anyone. So I was left to my own devices, navigating the system. This gave me an opportunity to reflect on how every country has its own value system and it triggered my interest in how different cultures work.

In the 1990s cross-cultural awareness wasn’t high on the agenda for most companies. But I was lucky to work for a company that was an early adaptor. I was asked to run a series of two-day courses on doing business with the French, to help companies across the UK, US and Netherlands to understand better how the French operated – and hence to increase their motivation to do business with the French. Running the courses was a big eye opener. I started to understand just why the French operate the way they do.

Rebecca: Will any one individual be a focus in the seminar?

Véronique: Yes, Fons Trompenaars, the “guru” of cultural awareness. I met him just after starting the training courses and found his seven-dimensional model a superb way of analyzing interactions. It does justice to a whole culture and is completely non-judgmental – it’s absolutely not about which country is better than another. We’ll be using this model during the seminar.

Rebecca: “Dimension” – what’s that?

Véronique: For example, “universalism versus particularism.” Big words but in fact pretty simple. Universalism means “There is a rule and it applies to everybody regardless of whether you are the President of the US or a farm worker”. Particularism means “It depends”, a favourite of the French! In other words, it can be applied in different ways depending on the situation – there are more exceptions than rules. It’s a fascinating way of looking at the world and I’m looking forward to sharing it with people during the seminar.

Rebecca: What will participants be doing during the seminar?

Véronique: I’ll need to do a bit of talking – to explain the dimensions – but most of the time we’ll be in groups of five or six working on case studies for each dimension, to really understand them. Then we’ll do role plays based on three or four dimensions.  It’s a very good way to internalize the dimensions. And the seminar will also be about using participants’ own experiences to gain insights into behaviours and situations. The group will be from many different countries, with a mix of “old hands” and “new bees”, so there’ll be a rich inter-cultural environment.

Rebecca: Why is this seminar relevant?

Véronique: The common theme – regardless of the country – is frustration, because living in a country means having to deal with the administration. Most of us arrive with assumptions about how a system works, and we’re usually wrong! So we get mad when the Préfecture official won’t answer our question because it isn’t his job, or because something simple requires a sequence of forms that send us in ever-diminishing circles. And that’s before we try something more complicated like setting up as a freelancer or letting out a bedroom on a B&B basis…!

Rebecca: Why do you think it will be worthwhile coming to the seminar?

Véronique: First of all participants will gain a better understanding of their own culture and their own personal style – because it’s only when we understand these that we can look at what separates us from how the average French person operates. At that point we can look at how to flex our cultural style so as to make the most of being here and in order to perform better at a personal level.

Rebecca: “Performing” sounds as though the seminar will be most useful for people in work situations?

Véronique: Yes, it is definitely relevant there, but also for anyone experiencing difficulties or frustration due to cultural differences. It will be useful both for those who have just arrived, or who have been banging their heads against a wall for years and want to operate more effectively. Knowing about Système D – the Alpha and Omega of the French system (Débrouille or démerde!) – will save time, frustration, energy and money…! It’s all about finding shortcuts, going around the system. That’s why France doesn’t come to a standstill!

The seminar will help people make sense of what’s happening on a daily basis. You can then either say “I’ll play with the system”, or go around it because then I’ll get what I want. So rather than waste time arguing with the guy, you say “ok I’ll come back later” – and find another way.

Rebecca: When, where and how much is the seminar, and how can I book?

Véronique:  The seminar will take place on 27 November 2010 from 9h to 17h, at Novotel, Place Robert Schuman (next to the Grenoble Ecole de Management). It will cost €45 for WWNG members and €85 for non-members. This includes the full-day seminar, lunch with the group, and two coffee breaks. You can register and pay online here.

Véronique Rostas created Polaris Consulting in 2010. She now works as a coach, offering management and organizational development, and multicultural and performance management, to a variety of clients working with organizational change. 

For all your administrative nightmares: Binders. Photo: nick findley

Grenoble Life editor James Dalrymple had to do a Validation des Acquis Professionnels et Personnels (VAPP) and survived to tell the tale. Here’s what happened and why.

Master your subject

For those wanting to one day take the competitive teaching exams or concours de l’enseignement (CAPES, Agrégation) to become a teacher for the French state system, you may be aware that things have changed. The government have scrapped the institutes (IUFMs) that provided teachers with practical training after these exams to gear them up for life in a classroom. Instead, it is now an obligation to have a Master’s degree in your chosen field before taking the concours, the second year of which orientates wanabee profs in two directions: a master’s in pedagogy (for those teachers taking the CAPES) and a master’s in research (for those wishing to take the agrég).

Setting aside the questionable French wisdom of abandoning practical teacher training for more theory – and thus a greater insistence on what you know as opposed to can you teach? – the shake-up has a number of consequences for anglophones intending to run the gauntlet. Firstly, you will require a master’s degree or equivalent in order to take the exams; secondly, the requirements for entering into these master’s programmes have become much stricter.

Getting a head start

When I arrived in Grenoble I knew several anglophones who had been able to enter directly into the second year of the Etudes Anglophones master’s programme given that they had a Bachelor’s degree in their native country and were seen as having an advantage over French students who had studied English literature to degree level in France. Therefore such people were able to obtain a master’s level (aka, Bac + 5) having completed what amounted to one term of classes evaluated via graded written work and oral presentations, and a dissertation on the research subject of their choice. One of my friends even wrote an article here about it. However, upon applying myself, I was told that a Bachelor’s was not sufficient to enter into Master 2, and my claims to know people who had done this were met with indifference. Something had changed, but no-one would explain what and why, nor was there information online to this explicit effect.

Formalising experience

At 32 years old with a job and a family, I was not able to commit to the full two years of the programme, especially frustrating since I knew people who had – with the same BA-level qualifications – gone directly into Master 2 with minimum fuss. There are two potential administrative procedures for people in my position: a Validation des Etudes and a Validation des Acquis Professionnels et Personnels (VAPP). As I hadn’t done enough additional post-degree study according to the new rules to claim the equivalence of the first year of the master’s, I failed in my efforts to pursue the former (lighter) route. Given I have worked (first in publishing and then in teaching) for around ten years, I had to opt for the VAPP. This also applies if you are over 28 or have interrupted your studies for more than three years (check for me on both counts!).

As far as I know, the VAPP doesn’t exist in anglophone countries but is a necessity in France where qualifications weigh so much more than work experience. It is not enough just to submit a CV. In France your experience has to be formally recognised by a commission and involves the supply of copious justificatifs (i.e. proof), explantory detail of all your acquired skills and knowledge and certified translations of your diplomas and certificates. In effect, the VAPP dossier becomes less of an application than a lengthy project that must be printed and bound six times.

Luckily for me I have a patient wife who was brought up in the French education system and has a black belt in admin. Without the help of such a person, you might as well forget about doing the VAPP. It is not just a question of being able to write French perfectly, but of knowing the specific terminology adopted within France’s idiosyncratic employment culture to explain one’s skills and knowledge. This requires hours of research in itself.  

Beware sworn translators

Worst of all, we had a dispute with a sworn translator, unbelievably British in origin herself, over grade equivalences. If you have a 2:1 Honours degree from a British university, this is the second highest mark you can receive after a First. Thus you would expect this to be translated as Mention Bien, the second highest level in France. Our translator, however, on whom we depended to certify the document as well as translate it, wanted to put Mention Assez Bien, effectively demoting my grade by one level. On this issue she would not budge despite our protestations. In the end we had to settle for her leaving the grade in English, and translating the rest, and hoping that the commission presiding over my dossier could understand the value of a 2:1.

Jumping through hoops

My dossier has been approved, but I can’t shake off the feeling that this was just a hoop thrown up for me to jump through – that the detail of my application was less important than my having tackled the time-consuming obstacle thrown in my path. I imagine that, in undertaking such an arduous task, I have proved to the commission who approve the VAPP that I am genuinely motivated. Wouldn’t a simple interview have sufficed ?

Feel free to use the comments box below to share similar experiences and advice or your own administrative nightmares.

Grenoble ... 'a rich intercultural nature'. Copyright Agence Prisme / Pierre Jayet

Mary Zaccai, international press officer at Grenoble Ecole de Management, hits back at the negative and sensationalist media coverage of recent events in Grenoble.

I have this frustrating feeling that all the hard work I am putting in each day promoting Grenoble Ecole de Management (Grenoble Graduate School of Business) and by extension Grenoble itself is being severely put into question by all the negative media frenzy about the city.

Listening to and reading international press, it is as if Grenoble is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, hit by crime and drugs … are we talking about the same place?? Am I living in such conditions? Certainly not.

Just by running a google news search on Grenoble, I noticed that usual news about mountaineering, football etc. has been dramatically replaced by news about the speech president Nicolas Sarkozy delivered in Grenoble, days after one neighbourhood of the city was hit by riots. The riots began when 27-year-old Karim Boudouda robbed a nearby casino and fled to his neighbourhood, Villeneuve. When cornered by the police, he opened fire and the police shot him dead. The riots were limited to a small area, but the media frenzy made it as is the entire of Grenoble has become a war zone. As for the speech, as the Financial Times mentions: “Never before has a French head of state made such an explicit link between immigration and crime.” And he decided to do so in beautiful Grenoble, forever linking the city to shocking suggestions such as citizenship-stripping proposals to deal with immigration.

The irony of all this is that the attraction of Grenoble lies primarily in its rich intercultural nature. The school is a prime example with 96 different nationalities from all quarters of the world. Walking through the streets, our students are always struck by the many different languages they hear, delicious smells from the American cookie shop or the Arabic cake stands, the sushi bars, the Italian quarter … a melting-pot with all the advantages that this has to offer. Not to mention: its history, beautiful sites, booming economy largely based on international connections, and vast student population that brings this vibrant feel to the city.

Grenoble, the city I was born to, the city I came back to after living in the UK for seven years, the city I promote - is for me a safe haven, a thriving and dynamic city, enriched by a multitude of cultures. A place to meet the world.

Joseph Schott anticipating life in Grenoble

Joseph Schott has come from the USA, via Japan, to do an MBA at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business. We will be following him ‘From Admission to Graduation’ as he blogs on life and learning in the Capital of the Alps.

Hello, my name is Joseph Schott. I’ll be starting at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business as an MBA student in September. I’m originally from the United States, but I spent the last four years in Japan with the JET Programme. While I was there, I taught English as a foreign language, did some translation and interpretation, and led a small non-profit that performs some support functions for the JET Programme.

While the cities in Japan are beautiful and convenient, the whole country is also full of mountains. It is a great place to be if you like hiking or rock climbing. It was hard to leave! I originally studied social sciences in the US, but working in Japan with people from around the world made me want to get more involved in international business. So after considering the great location of GGSB, (and drooling over pictures of French cheese) I put my interests together and applied at Grenoble.

I’ve been asked to write about my hopes and fears, as well as what I’m doing to prepare for my new life in Grenoble. I’ll start with the juicy bit and go right into my fears. It goes without saying that moving to a new country is a very complicated process, and a lot of the time I’m just glancing at my calendar, hoping that nothing goes wrong. However, my biggest worry about coming to Grenoble is the language. I only just started studying French a few weeks ago, and I’m an absolute beginner.

I’ve been told that Grenoble has a very large and vibrant international community, and from what I’ve seen on this blog, the range of people you can meet is one of the city’s highlights. At the same time, I’m not under any illusion that I’ll be having an easy time without speaking any French! In Japan, I was usually the one helping other people navigate bureaucracy and solve communication problems, but in Grenoble I’ll be back to being a beginner. On the other hand, I’m excited to pick up a third language to use in business and for making new friends. And for that I’m going to need to speak a lot more French!

I’ve found lots of French language resources and language tapes, and I’ve been carrying my beloved Anki around with me everywhere. If you’ve never heard of Anki or other similar tools (they are usually called spaced repetition systems or SRS), I’d definitely recommend checking one out. The idea is that you can store huge amounts of small facts as virtual flashcards, and the program will take care of scheduling which cards you review. So for example, you might eventually have 3,000 vocabulary words, and Anki will bring up about 100 each day. It can make sure that difficult phrases and words are brought back frequently, and things that you’ve already memorized are brought up sparingly. It works from my mobile, and I use it while I’m on the train, waiting in a line, or when a conversation is waning. Best of all it’s open source.

I’ve also been brushing up on my math and finance, and reading some books to get ready to go back to school. I’m currently reading a book on job hunting and just finished an interesting book on Google’s business model and path to success. I’ve also subscribed to a few rss feeds from business blogs. I’ve seen some interesting articles on www.voxeu.org, www.deadlysins.info/wordpress, blogs.hbr.org, as well as many others. Reading these keeps me excited for the intensive studying that will start in September. I also watch many of the presentations from the TED Conference, which are very short, but center on global issues and very inspiring.

However, wrapping up my life in Japan and saying farewell to everyone I’ve met has been the most difficult part of my preparation for Grenoble. Changing location so often, especially between countries, gives you a chance to meet lots of interesting people, and with social networking services like facebook, mixi, and so on, it is easier than ever to stay connected. At the same time though, these applications can make it easy to give yourself the illusion of being connected and ignore the real value of the relationships you’ve made. Before moving my focus to Grenoble, one of my biggest tasks has been to properly say goodbye to all of the amazing people I met in Japan.

As I finish these preparations and the start of classes draws closer and closer, I find myself feeling more and more excited each day. I can’t wait to meet the other members of my class and get started on my new life. I’m also looking forward to checking out the climbing gym near the school, relaxing at one of the cafés around the city, and trying out the hiking in the three surrounding mountain ranges.

I first got involved in climbing in Japan, where it is just starting to really become popular. Actually, people there use some French terms as loan words too, such as gaston (ガストン). I did mostly bouldering, so I’m excited to learn more about top-roping and outside routes, which I’ve heard are more popular in France. The nearby mountains look they’ll be great for hiking, and maybe I can even spot a Dahu!

Essential Questions. Photo: banlon1964

Grenoble Life editor James Dalrymple shares five pearls of wisdom gleaned from teaching English to professionals in the city.

This month presents a watershed moment for me professionally as I end my stint as a teacher-trainer – of mostly professional adults – at a private institute and prepare for my first taste of l’éducation nationale française. Having obtained a post on campus as a lecteur, I will complete the job that has defined my experience in France since my arrival, and take a step into the unknown.

Some might say that the move from formateur to lecteur will be a case of “out of the frying pan and into the fire,” but, as a cathartic act of drawing a line under my experience, I have compiled a list of five pearls of sagesse concerning teaching professional English in France.

1. Everybody speaks English now, right?

Wrong. Even if English has gone global, there will be times when you are confronted with students who have apparently never spoken it before, let alone knowingly seen or heard it. Even in cosmopolitan Grenoble, expect to have to teach some adults who are closer to vrais than faux debutants.

Why should everyone speak English? I have had the unenviable task of trying to teach people who had neither significant professional need to speak the language, nor a lifelong burning passion to begin doing so. At one time I had to manage a contract with a medium-size manufacturer, at which all the shop floor operators were obliged to have English training. For many of these mostly middle aged men (and some women) from the shop floor, whose modest education was a distant memory, the effort spent in learning English vastly outweighed the reward.

No doubt these same men could acquire certain technical skills faster than I ever could, yet English remained alien and abstract despite many hours in contact with it. During my time with these people, I am ashamed to admit that I may have learnt more from them (about industry, about how things are made) than they learnt from me.

Most English teachers in the private sector will probably relate to my feeling that many student-trainees have been permanently damaged by a school approach to language learning that was, for many, didactic and dogmatic rather than communicative or intuitive. It is often difficult to get the French to let go of the idea of grammar as language’s evil twin, and that speaking a language is akin to navigating a minefield of punishable mistakes.

2. « On est nuls en Anglais en France »

Despite what I said in observation one, many French people speak excellent English. Countless times I have met students who, upon eloquently introducing themselves, feel the need to add the little disclaimer that their English is terrible and how embarrassed they are to speak it. Normally I point of out the window at this moment and ask them which country they live in, where they grew up, and why on earth they are not prouder to be able to express themselves in another language, even if only a little.

Maybe it says something about the French attitude to their own language that they would prefer not to speak another if they can’t speak it beautifully. Compared to Britain though, where learning foreign languages has been in serious decline since a law was passed making it no longer mandatory after the age of 14, the French are a nation of linguists.

3. Time = results

Not necessarily. Interest and enthusiasm for the language and the culture remain paramount. Too many people are sent for English training as if sent to learn any other professional skill. I have often been confronted by a belief that time spent in the classroom will automatically be rewarded with improved TOEIC scores, for example. Professional need is no substitute for passion for the subject, and the fact that many adults in France come to training out of obligation rather than choice engenders a passive attitude to learning which is often an obstacle to meaningful progress.

4. I want to speak Business English

Unfortunately for teachers, human resources and training managers – not all known for their broad knowledge of language pedagogy – often insist upon certain thématiques for the ESL classroom. In my opinion there is too much interference from companies who want to impose skills-based English upon their employees. However, you can’t run before you can walk, and it is very frustrating being told to teach students how to participate in a meeting in English, or speak on the telephone, for example, without having mastered the basics.

5. Grenoble needs an International House

Grenoble has an enormous market for English teaching, but no focal point to promote excellence or provide training for its teachers. For us long-term formateurs, we need to do more to share our ideas and improve standards. Hard-working teachers also need to feel that their efforts be rewarded with the possibility of professional development, whereas often the door to such progress seems permanently closed. As far as I know there is currently nowhere to do the CELTA in Grenoble – an internationally recognised English teaching certificate that does not hold nearly as much weight as it should in France – although Marianne Reynaud organises TESOL-affiliated seminars.

Given the size of the English teaching sector in Grenoble, there should be an innovative and internationally-accredited institute like International House where teachers can be trained and learn to train others. Such an institute could act as a catalyst for improving standards and, by bringing teachers together, raising the morale and pride among the ESL workforce.

Graines de Polyglottes

Grenoble Life editor James Dalrymple chatted to Elisabeth Malandrino, Directrice at Graines de Polyglottes, a new language centre for children in the city.

Grenoble Life: What do you do at Graines de Polyglottes?

Elisabeth Malandrino: Graines de Polyglottes is a language center that welcomes children from 3 to 11 years for them to learn foreign languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian.

In small groups of 5 up to 8 children organized by age and level, children come one hour per week. 

GL: How, when and why did get involved?

Elisabeth: Graines de Polyglottes was born naturally - coming myself from a multicultural family, the idea of speaking several languages has emerged very early.

My mother was born in Spain, my father was born in Italy, one of my sisters lives in the United States, I have a American nephew and a German one.

At my daughter’s birth, I thought that other parents would also like their own children to learn other languages.  Graines de Polyglottes was then born!

It’s a project which required several years of preparation and we welcomed our first students in September 2010.

GL: What is the Graines de Polyglottes philosophy and method?

Elisabeth: Our philosophy rests on the pleasure of learning through play.

In a child-friendly environment, children are happy to come and share these moments with their teachers and other children.

They learn without effort, having fun and, of course, they repeat words.

For this we use an active, structured and playful method.

We aim at awakening auditory, visual and gestural language for the youngest (3-6 years) by mobilizing all the sensory abilities of children. We use puppets, rhymes, songs, drawings …

For older children (7-11 years), we develop the understanding and expression, both oral and written skills by role playing, the media …

GL: What is the typical profile of the parents of children at Graines de Polyglottes?

Elisabeth: We have many different cases:

- French families, who understand the importance of foreign languages and want to give their child this advantage.

- Mixed families who speak one or more languages at home and want to improve achievement.

- Families coming back from abroad to France who want their children to continue speaking and writing their new language.

GL: What is the typical profile of a teacher at Graines de Polyglottes?

Elisabeth: The teaching team consists of language teachers with a proven track of several years of teaching experience with young children.

Their knowledge of the French educational system and the one of their countries of origin is a valuable asset in developing programs.

Our teachers bring their professionalism and enthusiasm in the centre.

GL: What is the ideal age for children to start learning a second language?

Elisabeth: The sooner the better, babies are able to distinguish the sounds of all languages.

A baby’s mother and entourage will make him or her familiar with the phonemes of the language spoken within the family and little by little, he will keep only the sounds that are part of that language.

That’s why the more a young child hears different languages, the more he/she retains more language skills, both for listening and speaking.

At Graines de Polyglottes, we welcome children from kindergarten age for practical reasons.

GL:  Why have you set up a Graines de Polyglottes particulary in Grenoble?

Elisabeth: First, for personal reasons because Grenoble is my hometown.

Then, for reasons peculiar to the city, Grenoble became multicultural and cosmopolitan. Many families around the world come to live for a year or more for professional reasons.

Increasingly, we hear other languages in the street.

I think Graines de Polyglottes responds to the requests of many parents.

GL: Will you have any recruitment opportunitues? What are the advantages of working at Graines de Polyglottes?

Elisabeth: We recruit motivated graduate teachers with experience of teaching young children.

We work in an atmosphere where everyone works together and exchange between cultures takes place naturally.

GL: How can people contact you?

Elisabeth: You can contact us by phone 04.76.87.37.01 or by email:  contact@grainesdepolyglottes.fr.

For more information, see the website www.grainesdepolyglottes.fr

Montessori school shelves with toys. Photo: 3neus

In a three-part blog Camille Bromley describes a day in the life of a teacher at the Montessori International School of Grenoble. Read part I.

7:38 am

Bus stop, Place Verdun.  As the number 31 bus to Meylan: Maupertius approaches I’m hastily devouring the remaining third of my Big Chocolate, freshly purchased for 1 euro from Sandwich House located behind the Maison de Tourisme tram stop, outgoing side. Ordinarily the Big Chocolates from this Sandwich House are not especially good pain au chocolat, but they’re easily the size of two regular pain au chocolat, a good bargain at 1 euro (the American in me is always a sucker for bargains), and in the morning when they’re warm they’re still pretty darn tasty.

The Big Chocolate is the ritual first step in my once-weekly workday as an English teacher at Montessori International Primary School in Meylan, as this is the only day in the week I exit the house early enough to catch one while still warm. The other days of the week I work as an English assistant in public primary schools.

Teaching at Montessori International School is not like teaching in French public school.  It’s vastly different, in fact.  If you’re not familiar with what’s called the Montessori Method, I’ll briefly explain: The Montessori Method of children’s education was originally developed in the early 20th century by an Italian educator named Maria Montessori. It’s an alternative approach to schooling, encouraging a child’s individual self-directed learning using the support of materials and teacher observation. 

From what I understand, while many schools worldwide function under the heading of Montessori School there are no defined guidelines for the specific practical application of this education system. However, the general idea is that children learn best when they follow their natural instincts and interests. In other words, it’s self-study for kids; less academically-put, the kids do what they feel like.

This “do-what-you-feel-like” philosophy is most decidedly not the norm in French public schools, from what I’ve seen in my year’s experience there, the essential part of a teacher’s oral utterances consisting of phrases such as, non, tu n’as pas le droit!; vous levez la doigt pour avoir la parole!; TAISEZ-VOUS! [yelled shockingly loud]; vous êtes insupportables aujourd’hui! [tone of resignation and accompanying sigh]; and finally the much-loved Bravo!, with exaggerated sarcasm. Thus, Montessori International reputedly offers an alternative to parents who prefer their kids to receive more positive encouragement than negative during the first 6–9 years of their educational development.

However, I haven’t given an entirely clear picture of the Montessori International School in Meylan. This school is foremost an international school, with instruction provided in French and English. I am the English-instruction teacher (on Mondays anyways), and a woman with a confounding last name, Martine Grzelak, functions as school director and French-instruction teacher. 

We take care of the primary-age children, age 6–12. The children in this group, about 25 of them, are mostly Francophone, with a solid group of Anglophones and couple French-English bilingual kids. There is another, separate class of students at the school, the pre-school age group (ages 3–6), also Francophone or Anglophone or both, headed by Emilie Ballivy. The pre-schoolers are called Les petits castors, which gives an accurate impression of their work ethic and focused accomplishment under the guidance of Ms. Ballivy.

The school makes use of an impressive collection of Montessori materials and supplies, and the curriculum is organized around the French National Education program, so that children are expected to cover a similar material to public school students. More on the Montessori Method as the day progresses.

Part II

Part III

Paul Waters at The Cake Shop

Grenoble Life meets Paul Waters, The Cake Shop‘s young British pâtissier, to ask him about leaving the UK to make British and American style cakes in France.

Grenoble Life: What’s your job at The Cake Shop?

Paul Waters: My job is a mixture of things – with there only being two other people that work at The Cake Shop and so many things to do the work gets shared around. I mainly design and create the cakes but I also help out in the shop front stocking the shelves and serving clients.

I also get to make the cupcakes and other tasty goodies that you see on display when you come to the store, as well as teaching people my skills and helping to organise events. But I mainly stick to designing and creating cakes. If it’s been made with sugar paste nine times out of 10 it will have been made by me. I literally eat and breathe sugar paste – it’s my life, and a tasty one at that!

GL: How were you recruited and where did you train? 

Paul: I trained at The National Bakery School at South Bank University in London. I intended to do a two-year course there but, due to government funding, it was cut to one year. Nevertheless I left with my Diploma in craft studies. I studied pretty much everything from bread to chocolate.

It was my mother who found the job at The Cake Shop. She was flicking through my Cake magazine when she saw there was a job going for a store in France. At the time I was happily making a mess in the kitchen making something tasty when she approached me with it. I was highly interested and desperate for an adventure, not thinking I would get anywhere because at the time I was only 16 and just starting college, although I have been baking and creating cakes for people since I was eight. But my parents assured me to go for it I distinctly remember them saying “if it doesn’t go anywhere it’s all good experience.”

After sending the email, the following day I received a phone call from the owner, Ariane Zenker, who gave me a mini-interview on the phone. After the call ended I was so excited, my imagination went into overtime as I began to dream of what could happen next. After lots of talk and conversation via email I arranged to go out and see her in February during half term with my mother. After that things just took off and one thing spiralled into another.

GL: Tell us a little bit about your background?

Paul: Well, I grew up in an area called Essex just outside of London, when I was about 11 my parents sold the house brought a smaller one and another one in the south of France. That sparked my love for France and from then on it has been a never-ending love affair, holidays spent with a wall paper scraper in one hand and a paint brush in the other, whilst trying to figure out what ‘plaster’ is in French.

GL: Why did you decide to move to France?

Paul: Well the fact my parents already have a holiday home in the south and they plan to move there permently next year was a big deciding factor. I knew what to expect from my time spent there I had a basic understanding of French life and language. There have also been a lot of problems in my family, a lot of upset; I wanted to get it away from it all as well. The English weather also leaves a lot to be desired.

GL: How have you adapted to life in France?

Paul: I have adapted very well mainly because of my parents having their holiday home in the south but also, because I was so desperate to leave the UK to see the world, determination has kept me going. My advice to anyone moving to this country is to relax, clear your mind and embrace the culture. Do not make comparisons with your home town don’t try to live your life like you normally do, change it to fit the environment.

When I first moved here I was just 17 a lot of people never took me very seriously at first, not to mention the fact that my parents had to sign everything for me as I had no signing power! I couldn’t even take out a phone contract or internet as a result but now at the age of 18 things are a lot better.

I also find the French attitude to being free/open and expressing your self very strange. Paris is a place of art, fashion, the weird, the wonderful, and is filled with some of the most beautiful things. Yet when you come to express yourself through fashion and art you raise a lot of eyebrows and get some very strange looks. It seems the rest of France has no desire to follow in the shadow of Paris; if this has anything to do with French people disliking the Parisians I have yet to find out. 

GL: Tell us about a typical day at The Cake Shop?

Paul: Well I usually arrive at 11:00, Ariane will brief me in on the plan for the day, she will say something along the lines of; “you have that wedding cake to start and the cookie class at 3:00”, “I also got an email from the woman that you did the Princess Cake for, she was very happy”. Then I make a start on my jobs for the day. I could have a long list of cakes to decorate or, if a delivery has just arrived from the UK, it needs unpacking, pricing and being put on display.

I may also get the chance to develop new products or create new classes. I may be teaching people in the evening or doing things on the computer. Every day is completely different – you never quite know what obstacles you will need to overcome or what you are doing. I usually finish about eight in the evening after shutting up the store for the night.

GL: What’s the best thing about your job?

Paul: I love what I do and so many people don’t get the chance nowadays to do what they love. The best thing about my job is it’s so different, I am never bored, never creating the same cake twice, or sat around with nothing do. Working at The Cake Shop can be fun, crazy, hectic and stressful but it’s all worth it in the end.

GL: What are some of the more difficult experiences you have had working at the cake shop?

Paul: Working at The Cake Shop can be very difficult at times – when you have a lot of work to do the pressure is on to meet your deadlines. When things go wrong everything seems to go wrong at once but, because of the nature of my job, some of my worst experiences are also some of my best. For example, you have a cake rapidly melting in the heat and it’s causing the icing to stretch and expand at the sides, you have to act quickly and work out why it went wrong and how to stop it. I will then learn from that and move on, turning it into a good experience.

GL: What do you love about Grenoble?

Paul: I love the way Grenoble is so small yet has lots of big name stores here and nice shops, it gives it a city feel but at heart it has the community of a town. It’s very hard to explain but it makes it a very nice place to be, surrounded by all the mountains. I also love Grenoble’s cosmopolitan feel, the mix of all different nationalities and the students.

GL: What are your plans for the future?

Paul: I would love to take The Cake Shop to Paris; I would love to get back to the buzz of the city, its pulse runs through my blood. I would definitely consider doing my own business in Paris – what would be really good is if I could set up a company in France that manufactures or imports all the products that you can’t get here, all the kinds of things we sell in The Cake Shop. That way people like Ariane wouldn’t be my competitor but my more like a colleague as I would be helping her keep her shop stocked with my products.

Part III

12:00 pm

Lunchtime. The microwave cart is wheeled in, desks are cleared, chairs fetched. The students eat in the classroom. The children are expected to be settled quietly in their chairs, ask to go wash their hands, and then ask to get their lunchboxes before they are allowed to eat. Meanwhile, the child in charge of setting the table this week goes to get the silverware and dishes.   

12:30 pm

Everyone is finally sitting and has more or less the complete tableware set in front of them: plate, fork, knife, little yogurt spoon, and plastic cup (Martine’s cabinet has slowly but surely been rid of all the glassware glasses, not intentionally).

The table setting procedure always takes much longer than is logically necessary, probably because the child assigned to set the table is for some reason 90% of the time the same small boy, who due to his diminutive size and severely ADD nature seems the absolute worst person in the room to give the task of distributing various separate pieces of cutlery to students sitting in disorganized clumps around the big room, not to mention that when you see him trying to lug the heavy glass water pitchers around to each table you get the sinking sense of futility of watching someone trying very hard to complete a Sisyphean task. Half the pitcher will have been emptied on the floor by the time he gets to the table, and he’ll be sent to get more in five minutes.

I send the children in groups of two or three to the cloakroom to get their lunchboxes. I imagine that you can tell a lot about the home life of individual children from their lunchboxes. A lot of the older children seem to have the freedom to creatively fashion their own concept of a meal; there’s a group of three girls (who aggressively defy the assertion that social cliques don’t exist in small schools) that bring their lunches in family-style portions to share with each other: a bag of Lay’s potato chips, a Tupperware box of pasta and sauce, an entire sleeve of Speculoos cookies.

The Anglophone children belong to a different breed of household, one that clearly holds in contempt the irresponsible consumption of low nutrient-to-calorie ratio foods and environmentally unfriendly packaging. S—, a six-year-old with extraordinary feminine style (how a child of that age is able to exude such class is beyond me), declares matter-of-factly that she hates ice cream and cake. Her treat of choice is the green pressed seaweed paper that sushi rolls come wrapped in — in French it’s translated as algae, which expresses better, I think, the total bizarreness of a six-year-old reveling in the taste of a seaweed wrap (imagine an apple cheeked little girl saying with a charming missing-front-tooth smile, “My favorite food is algae”).  

1:15 pm

The kids are fairly hopping to get outside after a full morning of being together in one room. They go into the cloakroom to remove their slippers and put on their outside shoes, most of which resemble work boots or what English people call “wellies” rather than the slick bright white Pumas or the metallically shiny girl-sized heels (!) public school children wear. This is because the playground provided for amusement and the venting of various child frustrations during the lunch recess is not actually a playground, it’s an empty field behind the Montessori school building accessible only by a quick jump across a ditch (a wide step for you or me, a brief air-bound thrill for the 11-year-olds, and an unbreachable chasm for the 3-year-olds, who nevertheless enjoy the jump immensely so long as you’re holding their hand.

Supervising, I can’t help thinking that innovative playground developers, with their tangle of curved colored bars and knotted rope systems, are entirely missing the point — the kids have more fun rolling around in the grass and throwing rocks at trees than with any preconstructed equipment education authorities can buy. I’m reminded how innocent and sweet children are at heart when I hear G— and S— playing a sort of tag-zombie game which seems to consist of yelling “I’m going to suck your brain!” and attempting to grab the skull of another player.

2:00 pm

Emilie and I file the children back into school, past the company workers in button up shirts and pencil skirts taking their smoke break. Monday afternoon is devoted to art class and Spanish class, and the children are sent in small groups to participate in those activities. Otherwise, the students can continue the projects of the morning. The students complete impressive individual projects throughout the year that don’t sacrifice depth or quality for the lack of collaborators.

S— is working on a postcard project; she’s contacting friends and acquaintances across the U.S., asking them to send her postcards at the Montessori school address, teaching her about their town or state. She’s gathered a large number of postcards and will organize them into a visual presentation. O— has completed a project about the state of Israel, its history, people, and culture, and the poster is hanging on the classroom wall.

One of the goals of the Montessori school is to effectively link all subjects together in the child’s mind; to create a truly interdisciplinary understanding of the world. This objective makes for very creative project ideas, and the results are evident in the variety of student-made artwork and presentations on display around the school.

3:30 pm

The school day is over, but many students will stay for the next one to two hours, playing the gymnasium or participating in an activity Martine or Emilie has organized. I, however, say my rounds of “See you next week” and am out the door.

The next day I’ll be at one of the public primary schools in Grenoble. Not being an education expert, I’m not going to offer my judgment of the effectiveness of the education system in public schools compared to the Montessori approach. The purposes and needs of the two school systems are vastly different and require different methods of teaching and classroom management. Montessori schools may give more individual attention, but they also provide a lot less guidance and structure. This may or may not work well, depending on the character of each individual child. One thing I do know, however, is that I’ll be doing a lot more yelling in my public school.

Part I

Part II

For more information:
http://www.montessori-grenoble.com/UK/school-montessori-grenoble.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori

Part II

8:12 am

Terminus on the number 31 bus line. The bus halts in front of a grouping of new, enterprise-y looking buildings with big reflective glass windows framed in a shade of blue that suggests innovation and forward-thinking. The school is rather unexpectedly housed in one of these buildings, towards the back of the complex, sharing quarters with some kind of company that requires men and women in business attire to enter and exit through the same doors as the free-spirited, frequently-in-high-speed-motion Montessori kids.

The school is essentially three large rooms, the primary schoolroom, the pre-school room, and the gym, which is carpeted and doubles as an art studio and Spanish nook. There is also Martine’s office, a nap room for the preschoolers, a storage room, and a cloakroom where the children hang their coats, bags, and change their shoes into indoor shoes. They are only allowed to wear slippers inside the school, as it is carpeted. This reminds me of Japanese schools, except that here the children are allowed to bring their own slippers. In Japan the slippers are part of the uniforms and must be regulation color and design.

8:45 am

The kids wander in the room one by one and are by this time more or less all present. After some general comments and reminders, Martine starts the weekly routine of designating “responsibilities” onto each child. This is performed by use of a chart listing cleaning tasks to be completed each day and a small canvas sack containing the names of each child on Velcro tabs.

It took me a few months to figure out that the responsibility entitled Muffin referred to the class hamster. Insisting that the responsibilities be assigned by a random pull from the bag, Martine cheats openly on her own rule by fishing for names that she believes merit a particular nasty chore this week. The kids either suffer tremendously from the injustice of this favoritism or get a kick out of it, depending on how you choose to interpret the situation.

The responsibilities I find to be an ingenious system for ensuring an attitude of collective care and respect from all the students towards the cleaning and upkeep of the school room and materials. By being allowed to choose, in a fashion, what chore they do each week the child is given some autonomy and feels like she’s making a voluntary decision to contribute. This is probably a distinctive Montessori touch. Japanese schoolchildren also clean the school as part of their daily duties, although there they are responsible for the bathrooms as well, which I remain convinced is a mistake (imagine how what kind of clean job a second-grader might do on a bathroom — then repeat that every day for the whole year).

8:52 am

Work time. The children are either broken up into groups or sent to a desk to work individually. All the primary school kids, from 6 to 12, work in the same room, some in groups and some independently, and they pursue different activities. Martine keeps an eye on all of them and remains aware of how they’re doing and what progress they’re making, a remarkable feat for about 15 different students and different levels.

There are no set subject periods or age groups. The children have more or less the choice to work on one activity the entire morning or change subjects freely. There’s no morning recess, although there is a snack, which the children are expected to provide, following a rotation schedule. If the children tire of one activity and want to do some less-strenuous but still constructive activity such as reading, it is permitted within reason.

I take the group of English speakers. There are two first grade girls, a third grader, a fifth grader, and sometimes a first grade boy. We either do a language-arts activity all together, harder versions adapted for the third and fifth graders, or I split them up to work in pairs or alone. It’s my choice based on what we’re doing that day and how well the children are working together. When the English speakers take breaks to work on another subject, I choose a group of French children to do an English language lesson.

11:00 am

With Martine in the room, the classroom functions smoothly. With some notable exceptions, the children work quietly, although their rate of productivity is subject to debate. Clearly, some children are more ideal Montessori students than others. A group of three boys writes a bilingual dialogue together concerning an inept motorist and a driving instructor for their upcoming play. Another boy does French grammar exercises on the computer. A girl visualizes multiplication with wooden beads and a counting board.

Meanwhile, little G— sulks at his desk, complaining that his work is “too hard” and he doesn’t “understand nuffing,” and I— doodles on the margins of his essay and gazes out the window. I remind I— to get back to his work and Martine appears over G—‘s shoulder to investigate the veracity of his claim.

Part I

Part III

Guida Bulba: Corps & Voix

Grenoble Life’s Shonah Kennedy meets Guida Bulha of Corps et Voix, a trainer and consultant in oral communication.

As a teacher I have the privilege to meet a vast array of people.  I am constantly amazed, entertained and, more often than not, pleasantly surprised.  One of the people I had the pleasure of meeting was Guida Bulha of Corps et Voix.  Below Guida explains what she does, how she does it and what benefit it could be for you.

Shonah: How do you describe what you do?

Guida Bulha: Well, I am a trainer and a consultant in the oral communication area – working the body and the voice.

Shonah: What does the process do for people?

Guida: This helps people to speak with greater confidence and conviction, and communicate more effectively in both business and social environments.

Shonah: What have been some benefits for past clients?

Guida: To develop their self-esteem has permitted some of them to find new customers.  For some public speaking with more confidence and for others to find jobs, etc.

Put simply: to develop their skills in their professional field.

Shonah: How did you start in your business? What is your background?

Guida: I began my career as a language teacher and translator; after that, I worked in several companies. Today I bring together my experience in international business, communication and marketing, and my experience in the voice field.

Guida Bulha working with a client

Shonah: When did you start doing this line of work and why?

Guida: I started in April 2008. More than ten years ago, I participated in a vocal workshop. There, I discovered that the voice – my passion – was much more than a simple emission of sounds. The voice is “something” fragile and powerful. It was a great surprise for me. Therefore, I decided to push my discovery further and I undertook training in this area.

Shonah: What is the link with workshops or training sessions – such as public speaking, telephone interactions, front-line workers, sales, team building – and the body and the voice?

Guida: People who work in these areas use their voices to communicate.  You know, the most important part when you communicate is the non-verbal language, and that the voice is embodied in … the body. To equilibrate these three parts of communication. I mean; the body, the voice and the word, are fundamental. If you want to be heard and understood.

Shonah: How long have you been in Grenoble?

Guida: I have been here for 19 years. I saw the mountains and I fell in love.

Shonah: How do you help people to help themselves?

Guida: I help them to find – or to be conscious – that they have in themselves the resources to communicate. I accompany people to find the confidence in themselves.

Shonah: What are your plans for the future? 

Guida:  Well, I want to develop in other directions. I think particularly in the English speaking community. I want to propose to them workshops and training sessions to improve French or to improve their skills in public speaking or other themes. In French or in English. It is also possible to work the voice to sing or to speak. Just to find the pleasure to be confident.

Shonah: Thanks so much to Guida.  If you would like to contact Guida for further information you can do so through her website at Guida Bulha Corps et Voix.

Guida Bulha in action

Thierry Grange

Grenoble Life talked to Thierry Grange, Dean & Director of Grenoble Ecole de Management, about educational reform, shaping the future of Grenoble, and designing and building motorcycles.

Grenoble Life: What is your role at the Grenoble Ecole de Management and what does this involve?

Thierry Grange: My role is to provide human and financial resources to deploy properly our mission which is to contribute to companies’ performance by providing skills and knowledge. It implies structuring academic activity to set goals and to control their execution.

GL: Tell us about your experience in Africa and Asia . How did your time working in developing countries inform your later decision-making and career choices?

Thierry: I was working as a project manager for setting up industrial facilities – steel work, paper mills, and cement plants – in emerging and developing countries. This has given me good experience in human resource management and in creating a capacity to achieve goals.  I developed, in this first part of my professional career, my great interest for entrepreneurship. Probably, this is the reason why I accepted to work right from the start on the Grenoble Ecole de Management ‘project’.

GL: You once founded and ran a motorcycle manufacturer. What are some of the similarities between working in this environment and running a business school?

Thierry: The similarities are in the importance of the production process. A business school is about transforming brains from a student perspective to a professional perspective just as designing and producing motorcycles is a process of transformation – fortunately on a much less sophisticated ‘raw material’.

GL: In your opinion, how must the French higher education system develop to make itself more competitive?

Thierry: The French higher education system is undergoing a major reform which will transform its mission from public service towards contractual learning. This will involve carrying forward the universities’ contribution to the improvement of society and not only to the development of bright students.  

GL: What three professional achievements are you most proud of?

Thierry: I’m most proud to have contributed to the development of a business school that is now recognised as a European player. Another pride is to have had the chance to go to the end of my dream: designing and building motorcycles. Finally, I am very proud to have professionals that have worked with me for years and that still say hello to me every morning – human relations is the greatest achievement for me.

GL: How has the business environment changed in France since you co-founded Grenoble Ecole de Management, and how has the school contributed to this change?

Thierry: The business environment has definitely become more global, more competitive and offers more opportunities. Our school contributes to this evolution by accepting the rules of global competition and by teaching the necessary skills to create value within this new reality.

GL: How has the learning and training environment changed since the school was founded?

Thierry: The learning environment has changed by becoming more pro-active: students have good ideas on what they expect to learn and business schools have better knowledge of the specificities of corporate demand in terms of what professional profiles businesses require.

GL: How is the Grenoble Ecole de Management involved in changing the future of Grenoble ?

Thierry: Grenoble Ecole de Management is a leading institution in the world competition both in training and research and is contributing to the global visibility of the city. Grenoble Ecole de Management is one of the founders of the GIANT project, alongside Grenoble-INP, the CEA, ESRF, ILL and EMBL, that will greet an integrated campus combining industry, research and education in the Western part of the city. 

GL: What do you love about Grenoble ?

Thierry: The culture of proximity that helps anybody meet easily, if one is looking to improve professional achievements. It is a real collaborative spirit that is offered to everybody regardless of origin, position in hierarchy, age etc. You could call it natural diversity.

Judith Bouvard, Dean of Grenoble Graduate School of Business

Grenoble Life talks to Judith Bouvard, Dean of Grenoble Graduate School of Business, about her background, the changing business and training environment in France, and why students should consider coming to Grenoble.

Grenoble Life: Where do you come from originally?

Judith Bouvard: I was born in a small town near Manchester in the North of England. 

GL: Why did you come to Grenoble ?

Judith: When I left Manchester I went to live in Romans in the Drôme, to work in the luxury shoe industry. After a couple of years there I came to live in Grenoble to resume my studies.

GL: What kind of work did you first do on arrival in Grenoble ?

Judith: When I arrived in Grenoble at the same time as I was studying I was working part-time for a UK firm as a marketing consultant helping them to develop the market of protective clothing for building sites and road works. I then started to work in the training and continuing education business by doing some teaching and helping some French companies to set up in-house training courses.

Then I started working at ESC Grenoble – this was the name of the school before we became ‘Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM)’. I was involved with the school right from the day it was founded and I was even a member of the entrance juries for the Grande Ecole program before the building was finished.

I started teaching at the school and little by little I increased my contributions by developing the international relations. Then, in 1995, I created the Master in International Business (MIB), which was the first international program to be offered by GEM. I really felt there was a niche market for such an Master in Management program taught in English in Grenoble.

I gradually introduced more international degree programs taught through the medium of English and continued to develop the portfolio of international programs until GGSB became one of the schools of GEM.     

Parallel to that I continued my studies on the Henley DBA program and also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Consultancy.

GL: What three professional achievements are you most proud of?

Judith: Developing a whole new international school from nothing and setting up all the programs; putting Grenoble on the map in international rankings, such as those of the prestigious Financial Times. I am also very proud of the careers and success stories of our graduates further to qualifications that I designed.

GL: Apart from the quality of the course programmes on offer at GGSB, why should potential students consider coming to Grenoble?

Judith: They should certainly consider coming for the dynamic nature of the city. It is easy to get by in Grenoble for non-French speakers. There is not a day that goes by without me hearing English on the street. However, most of our students become quite fluent in French rather rapidly as they experience true French culture. Our students are also sure to build a large international network of friends they can rely on in the future due to the fantastic diversity of the student population at GGSB.

GL: You have created partnerships between GGSB and schools around the world, including those in Iran and Saudi Arabia. As a woman, did you face any challenges in this respect?

Judith: The challenge was for me to actually challenge the pre-conceived ideas of what people had warned me about in advance. In those countries, people actually respect you for your intellect, status and qualifications regardless of your gender. Qualifications come above anything else and with more and more women gaining higher education degrees, the challenge for them is lessening. The other challenge was the dress code, but only from a comfort point of view. Wearing a head scarf when it is 40 degrees outside can be quite uncomfortable when you are not used to that!

GL: How has the business environment changed since you arrived in France, and how has GGSB contributed to this change?

Judith: Over the past 30 years, I have seen more international exchanges – both academic and corporate – and better means to conduct these exchanges, thanks to technology. Technology has definitely changed the way people do business. We can now work with different parts of the world without feeling that it is far away. For example I can be talking to a colleague in China or Singapore in the morning and to another colleague in Mexico in the evening. Of course the result is that the working day can be quite long!

At GGSB, we train qualified managers capable of working beyond national borders with a multitude of cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Our graduates are increasingly working in virtual teams spread over different countries. The contact with colleagues all around the world definitely adds a different dimension to business. 

GL: How has the learning and training environment changed?

Judith: We now have access to more information, thanks to the internet. What used to be called a ‘correspondence course’ is now called a ‘distance learning course’; technology has made learning more user-friendly. Furthermore, whereas years ago classes were made of one single nationality, the learning environment has become highly international, offering numerous opportunities for students.

Also the faculty members have become more like facilitators than lecturers. At GGSB gone are the days of long monologues by a lecture standing in front of the students. Now there is far more interaction and exchange between the lecturer and the students. Also I think that business schools have realised that it is important to have a good blend of lecturers with a more academic approach and business professionals who bring their work experience to the classroom.

GL: What is next for you and the school?

Judith: I’m very excited about our new Global Executive MBA that will begin in January 2011. This new course will run in eight different locations: Grenoble – Geneva – Moscow – London – New York – Singapore – New Delhi – Beijing, and is aimed at top managers who will travel to each location for specific courses and country case-studies.

This Global EMBA is the result of all the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years, after observing how companies function and their different needs. I’m also an AMBA auditor, so I’ve got to examine various programs, their pluses and minus.

I’m also preparing the future of GGSB when I will no longer be there to ensure the continuity of GGSB. I’m busy getting the right people in so the school will keep the same prestige and have the possibility of progressing. I’m proud as I see the next generation come in to be trained by GGSB. Often, children of those who I taught come to seek advice and are keen to live the same enriching experience at GGSB as their parents did.

Listen to ETR in your car! 'Pump up the volume'. Photo: Travich

The June 13 English Talk Radio took place at Grenoble Graduate School of Business. The guests are: Thierry Grange, Dean of Grenoble Ecole de Management; Elizabeth Gorilla, Marketing and Admissions Manager; Michelle Mielly, Marketing Programme Director; graduates Beatriz Diez and Denis Coupe; students Ben Pawson, Jay Anandou and Timothée Bardet; and Pat Brans, writer, consultant and time-management guru.

Listen to the full show: here

English Talk Radio is a talk show in English on 90.8 Radio Campus Grenoble. We talk about film, theatre, finance, restaurants, travel, and have a variety of topical guests. There are four presenters: Kristine Minski talks about finance, Christina Menez talks about China, Mary Zaccai talks about student issues, and Vivian Draper – animatrice/rédactrice – hosts the show. Every Sunday at 12.30pm, and every Wednesday at 7pm on 90.8, Radio Campus Grenoble and live on www.campusgrenoble.org – and also here on Grenoble Life.

Nicola Piroth at work and at play

Nicola Piroth is a play therapist with a private practice in Grenoble. She talks to Grenoble Life about creative approaches to psychotherapy, her international background and setting up a cabinet in France.

Grenoble Life: Tell us a little about your methodology.

Nicola Piroth: I practise as a play therapist, which means that I use a creative approach to psychotherapy. Play therapy recognises that children naturally use play as a creative form of self-expression and communication in order to grow and develop, as well as to address traumatic and painful issues from a safe distance. Children that are faced with distressing life events may not feel comfortable talking about their emotions, but through play therapy they can communicate and explore their feelings, learn skills and tools to heal their emotional pain.

In my cabinet, I mostly see children and adolescents in individual, regular play therapy sessions.  However, I also use another approach called filial therapy with some families. Using this alternative method I train parents to conduct individual play sessions – similar to play therapy but with their own children. This way of working can be so helpful when communication hasn’t been possible between parents and their children – for any number of reasons, but often simply because we don’t get any training to be parents even though it is quite possibly one of the hardest tasks we are faced with as adults. Children communicate through play – it is their innate language. By teaching parents the language of play, and how to use play therapeutically, the communication gap between parent and child can be closed.

Perhaps it is surprising, but I also use play therapy, and more specifically sandplay therapy, with adults. Using small trays of sand, clients sculpt the sand and position miniature objects and figurines to create scenes, worlds or designs that are expressions of their inner world. Sandplay therapy gives the client direct access to their internal self, allowing them to understand issues in a deeper way. As adults we often get stuck in certain situations or circular ways of thinking, and it is helpful to use a creative non-verbal tool to explore our inner workings, alongside more traditional dialogue.

GL: Does this methodology differ to established methods in France?

Nicola: As far as I know, traditionally, psychotherapy here has mostly been a verbal, intellectual process, perhaps based on a more medical model of psychiatry concerned with cause and effect. This relies mostly on talking things through. In play therapy we additionally use non-verbal, creative approaches that give space to the intuitive Self – the part of us that knows what it needs to heal, even if it can’t explain it. Experiencing our Self at this level allows us to integrate what we feel and what we know intellectually in order to move on.

Another aspect of the predominant model of psychotherapy in France is that it is still largely ‘adult’ led, with the doctor, psychiatrist or therapist seen as knowing more than the patient who is a passive recipient of the treatment.  In my own work, I believe it is essential to follow the client’s lead, to trust that – given a safe and accepting environment (as in child-centred play therapy) – children have within them the desire and strength to find their own way to heal and to grow.

This non-directive approach facilitates the development of self-responsibility, self-control, and appropriate self-esteem. It is my responsibility as the therapist to provide that safe and containing space in which the child can explore who they are, how they feel and ‘play out’ different solutions.  This also has larger implications regarding how I work with parents. I believe therapy must be a collaborative effort. For the child to have the safe space in my office is one thing, but regular meetings between the parents and I give parents the support they need in order to be able to accompany their child on the journey towards growth and change.

GL: Who comes to you and what are some of the reasons why?

Nicola: I see clients between one and 100 years of age … Traditionally play therapy was developed to work with the specific needs of 2–12 year olds, but I practise a more general creative psychotherapy that I feel applies to all of us…

Why do people seek psychotherapy for themselves or for their children? It’s a very big question that has as many answers as there are people in therapy… adults come to work on existential issues, difficult life experiences (such as divorce, a loss, or adapting to a new country), or to further their personal development. Children and adolescents are referred for equally diverse reasons, for example, their parents have noticed low self-esteem, depression, or the development of challenging behaviours at home or at school. Perhaps the family or child has recently undergone a traumatic experience – ranging from maltreatment to moving homes, the birth of a sibling, long-term illness and hospitalisation, adoption, bullying … to name but a few.

Yet other children have difficulties ‘fitting in’ (whatever that means!), struggle at school, or have been diagnosed with developmental difficulties that require a little extra help to develop their sometimes hidden potential.  Play therapy is useful for a whole range of emotionally-based problems of behaviour and adjustment.

GL: Are these reasons different in any way to those you have encountered working in other countries?

Nicola: Regarding my work with children, I would say that generally the reasons are the same here – parents come because they are worried about their children –  and though the way I work using play is unknown in France, it attracts a lot of people looking for a more child-centred approach. International families often come to the cabinet when they feel misunderstood or judged by more traditional French therapists who might be unfamiliar with different child rearing and cultural practises (for example long-term breastfeeding or co-sleeping), or the challenges facing  multi-cultural families.

I certainly do not pretend to understand the cultural background of all of the families I work with, but through my own personal experience, I am aware of some of the daily struggles one faces just trying to adapt to something as potentially stressful as a new school system …

GL: Where do you come from and where did you train as a therapist?

Nicola: That’s not such an easy question for me to answer… I was born in Germany to German parents, and have since lived in six different countries across four continents. I originally trained as a psychologist specialising in child development in the UK, but after a short career in a major child and adolescent psychiatry unit in London conducting psychological research I decided to train as a play therapist.

I think I realised that I am much better suited at playing Peter Pan with four year olds than at establishing a diagnosis or quantifying human experience in order to plug the results into a computer for analysis.  Don’t get me wrong, I respect and value psychometric testing when it’s necessary and well-carried out by a sensitive psychologist – but those are not my skills and no longer the approach I practise. My training as a psychologist remains extremely useful to me and it definitely informs my work, but I have tried to move away from ‘putting problems in boxes’ to working and thinking problems ‘out of the box’.

GL: What languages do you work in and why?

Nicola: I work using the languages I am fluent in – that is English, German and French.

GL: Why did you come to Grenoble?                   

Nicola: Our move from the USA to Grenoble was not an easy one for me – I loved living in California, but at that time it was necessary for our family to return to Europe. Luckily we were able to settle in Grenoble since it’s so central in this fantastic mix that is Europe.

GL: What difficulties, if any, did you have in setting up your cabinet in Grenoble?

Nicola: Perhaps the biggest hurdle for me was that play therapy didn’t exist here – at all. There wasn’t even a French translation for it, so I made up my own, la Thérapie par le Jeu. I am affiliated and registered with several international play therapy associations – but none of my foreign qualifications were recognised in France. Coupled with an attitude I frequently encounter here of “no one’s every done that before, so surely there is no point changing things by trying something new now….” I took a risk setting up my practise without any professional network.  And now, of course, that the cabinet is up and running, the French reaction is extremely positive and open minded with reactions such as “why don’t you train people here”!

GL: What advice would you give people setting up their own businesses/private practices in France?

Nicola: I’m not sure about giving advice, other than don’t be put off by all the scary looking forms and impressive civil servants. It does sometimes feel like everyone is trying to dissuade you from even trying, either by piling useless and endless paperwork at you or by sounding generally negative and complicated about relatively straightforward business. But if you have enough time to stand in queues and patiently rephrase your question for the third time, often that very same administration (like the URSSAF) can actually be a goldmine of information. France really is ready for some innovative business ideas, if you can just navigate and bully your way through the system.

Hoping to relocate to France?

Sylvie Leroux is account manager at ETC Logos, a company specialising in relocating foreign employees to the Grenoble area. Here are some of her top tips for successful relocation.

That’s it, your management has made the decision!  

THEY need YOU in Grenoble, to exchange your skills with the French team … 

You might have a sense of mixed feelings and certainly a whole load of questions left unanswered by your company (at home or in France). 

Well, here are a few basic tips … 

First, you need to decide wether you want to be helped or not. You can get a relocation agent, someone who knows the town, the area; a local company being better than an international group. They will advise you on the right place to live according to your criteria and they know the right people, which might be just as important as having the right documents. They have good contacts with real estate agents, bank managers or French administration staff and with a phone call,  they can settle any problem which would be trivial at home but can become huge when abroad. 

“We, at ETC Logos, have been working in Grenoble for more than 15 years and we’ve got a very good network,” says Isabelle Callard, Relocation Manager. ‘”When I came back from the USA in 1986, I started with the concept of relocation, people didn’t really know what it meant, today, it’s easier as we are well recognised in this field.” 

Second, be patient! Immigration process: 3–4 months; house search: 2–4 weeks; getting a plumber to come and fix a leak: from 2 hours to up to five days! 

The concept of time and priorities is different all over the world and France tends to be very slow on some issues. 

Again, the person who deals with your relocation will follow up these issues and make things easier for you. You can get down to work and they’ll think about calling the plumber one more time! 

A third piece of advice I would give is that you need to be prepared to face a different culture. 

Although we’re living in a global village, the concept of culture is engrained deeply in each one of us, often without us being aware of it. 

France is in Europe, France is a developed country, France is part of the G20, but France and French people have their own social and working habits which you’ll need to get used to. Grenoble even has its own culture, being a very cosmopolitan, expensive and provincial town. 

The relocation agent can understand those differences and try to work with you on them by providing cross-cultural seminars. 

But beware, a number of people call themselves consultants in relocation or relocation agencies … so make sure you or your company selects one that has a comprehensive range of services, starting from the immigration process before the move to getting someone who will accompany you during your stay and assist you when the assignment is over. 

These people will be the ones you put all your trust in: they will get you to sign official documents in French – of which you may not speak a word – for your house, your immigration file, your bank account. 

Now you can still decide to do it all by yourself, but remember that it might be the recipe for a disastrous relocation.

URSSAF - another elegant French acronym

Patrick Owen shares his experience starting an English teaching business, becoming an Auto-entrepreneur and dealing with France’s particular administrative complexity and love of acronyms.  

So as I come to the end of my ACCRE, I’ve contacted the URSSAF who told me to contact the APCE.  I also contacted the RSI and the CIPAV but had no response.  Therefore I sent an email to the CNAVPL.  I must, also, remember to send my annual report to the DRTEPF.  If all of this sounds like double Dutch, welcome to my world, since I started my own business.  I knew the French administration loved acronyms having lived in France for eight years, dealing with the CAF, EDF, GDF, etc.  However, when I set up my own company I entered a whole new ball game. 

After working in various language schools I decided to work for myself.  Everyone warned me against it; “It’s really complicated,” and, “The charges are really high,” were just two of the comments I heard.  It is amazing that France has so many small businesses, when you hear all the negative reactions.  In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what type of business to create with various projects in mind.  However, I soon discovered that in France, once you have trained to do one thing changing direction is not easy. Changing careers involves financial and time investments that I did not have.  I therefore decided to set up a language teaching business, since this was what I knew best. 

Now, it might be useful to explain why I had decided to set up my own business.  Many language schools will employ teachers on freelance contracts, as I had discovered during my first year in France.  The problem is that to work for a business school or university, where the better pay rates are, you need a principal employer.  In addition, for a reason that I can only speculate at, few employers are willing to sign the paper agreeing to be your principal employer.  There are two solutions: one is to use a société de portage, the other is to be your own employer.  The société de portage acts as your employer, in the sense that they take care of all the administrative paperwork, of course for this service they take a fee.  My feeling was that the fee charged didn’t really justify the work involved,  I therefore decided to set up for myself. 

I attended an event held by my local Chamber of Commerce, which didn’t turn out to be much help.  I was unable to get answers to my questions and, as I was not setting up a commercial activity, they were not the right people to ask.  In the end, it was internet forums that proved to be the most help.  I typed my questions into Google and sifted through the responses.  It was here that I learnt I would have to see the URSSAF.  They seem to be the organisation that catches the companies who are not commercial or tradesmen.  I also discovered that provided I didn’t earn too much and didn’t employ anyone else, the process was fairly simple. 

I printed a form on the internet and headed for the URSSAF.  I had been told I didn’t need an appointment.  This worried me slightly, as I had experienced the queues at the Social Security and the Prefecture.  I was pleasantly surprised to be received within ten minutes of my arrival by a pleasant and helpful adviser.  She rapidly entered my details and answered my questions, in less than an hour I was in business, literally.  She offered me a free appointment with an accountant and, best of all, showed me I was eligible for a dispensation of social taxes for one year.  I left the URSSAF with a whole different image of the French administration. 

The dispensation for one year is important and a big helping hand.  Normally a company’s charges are fixed for the first and second years.  Then the third year’s charges are calculated on the real income of the second year.  The problem is that, although, the first year’s charges are relatively light, in the second they double and this kills a lot of small businesses.  Now, certain categories of business creators, the unemployed for example, can ask for a first year free of charges.  I qualified because, although I resigned, I had been looking after my kids one day a week and received income support.  This taught me that you have to read everything because there is often an advantageous exception which you may not always be told about. 

While surfing the internet, I also discovered that if I wanted to teach in companies I would need to make a déclaration d’activité with the DRTEFP (Direction Régionale du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Formation Professionnelle).  In France, companies are obliged to pay a tax towards the training of their employees.  This tax is often collected by organisations which manage the training funds.  These organisations will only accept training courses run by companies who have made the declaration.  Many people wrongly refer to it as an agreement, however the DRTEFP are very strict in their literature that it is not an agreement from the state, merely a declaration.  

I discovered that with the right documentation, a curriculum vitae, a casier judiciaire vierge (a document you can order online showing you have never committed a crime), and your first training contract the procedure was straightforward.  It is the contract which can be a little complicated, if you haven’t got a declaration number how can you sign a contract?  I got around this problem by noting that my declaration was being processed, and offering my first client a clause whereby if I didn’t get the number the contract was null and void. 

I treated starting my business rather as a challenge and as time went on it became a puzzle, for which I was never sure I had all the pieces.  To be honest I enjoyed pitting myself against the French administration and proving those who said it would be hard to do wrong.  It must be said that I chose the simplest possible structure and being a teacher, who teaches in companies, I have very few overheads. 

It is worth mentioning in conclusion that a law was passed in 2008 making it even easier for freelance teachers.  The status of Auto-entrepreneur is designed for people who may have multiple employers as well as working for themselves.  The process of setting up is very simple and can even be done online.  The real boost however comes in terms of charges and tax.  The Auto-entrepreneur can choose to declare his turnover each month or trimester.  The social charges and tax are calculated based on what he declares and paid immediately.  This avoids the nasty bills arriving one year after a good year.  It also means that if you have a month with no income you pay nothing.  This regime is much more sensible for someone like me. 

Unfortunately, and here is the downside of my experience, getting information about this new status has been hard.  I have read the law and the Auto-entrepreneur’s handbook.  As a sole trader I can ask to benefit from the same regime, and I have done so which brings us back to the beginning of the article.  The acronyms are all the people I have contacted to ask for help changing my status.  

On the whole my experience has been positive; the principal problem has been people.  Everything one needs to know is on the internet.  When dealing with employees of the various administrations it is a case of pot luck.  The first person I saw was excellent, others have been less so.  I once made the mistake of phoning on the day of a strike, my call was answered after prolonged ringing by a harassed and unhelpful lady.  I blame myself for this one, though, after three years in France I should have known you don’t phone the public service on strike days, I was lucky someone answered.  My advice is to be determined, do your research and treat the experience as fun, and you will be fine. 

Patrick Owen
www.englishcoach38.com
letter-from-france.blogspot.com

LEROY & SCARPA: neutral-toned, softly-chic faux-fur throws and pillows

Nearly one year on from their first meeting, Grenoble Life catches up with Kris Leroy, the American founder of Grenoble-based soft furnishings design company LEROY & SCARPA, France, previously Chic Throws.  

Grenoble Life: Why the name change? 

Kris Leroy: As Axelle and I are now associates, both managing the company and aiming to launch a luxury brand, we definitely needed to change the name for a fresh start. Chic Throws was also impossible to pronounce in French! I had originally had a direct e-commerce strategy for the business in place but realized that it was best to focus on my designs, our originality and leave the B2C to others more specialized. 

As most designers, it is important to keep your name in the frontlines and not hide behind a meaningless company name. We have invested in our new name/logo which I think reflects a more luxurious brand. 

GL: Who is Axelle? 

Kris: Axelle Scarpa and I used to work together at Ericsson Hewlett-Packard Telecommunications (EHPT) over 10 years ago. We have remained friends ever since and over lunch I’d told her my dream associate would be someone like her, an expert in supply chain management and purchasing. She was just finishing her tenth year at HP and was ready for a serious change in environment as well as an entrepreneurial challenge and quality of life improvement. She said, why don’t I come to work with you and I’d thought she’d had a bit too much wine at lunch …

Since April we’ve combined forces, and mutually thank each other for ‘our new life’. It’s great as we prioritize family time (i.e. working four days a week) however often meet online after hours to achieve our goals. We have moved our offices to a business park where our communications agency was located. It’s only 100m away from our last office but we have much better natural light (so I don’t have to go out on the roof to see the true fabric colors) and air conditioning! 

Kris Leroy and Axelle Scarpa

GL: What is there to do now that you’ve joined forces? 

Kris: We need to basically start all the business filings again in SARL format with the Chamber of Commerce and choose partners with whom we want to launch our new brand. (accountant, notaire, fabric suppliers, communications agency, etc.) You are only as good as your partners.

I am working on the new Winter 2010 collection for the first professional fair in Annecy in June. This will be the test for the B2B market where originality should prime over the traditional ‘mountain décor’ suppliers to ski areas in France, Switzerland and Italy. We are really targeting the chic boutiques in the ski areas in Megève, Chamonix, Courchevel, etc. and hope to ‘wow’ them with our new collection, for their international clients. I have spared no expense on the fabrics that come from top and unknown designers in France, Italy and the UK for the Courchevel Chic collection. 

Since the crise clients are craving color and that is what we will bring them as well as neutral-toned, softly-chic faux-fur throws and pillows (see top image).

GL: So you are ready to hit the market now? 

Kris: Now that Axelle is on board, I finally can focus on my added value which is sales and marketing. This past year has been spent getting our supply chain in place and prospecting both the B2B and B2C markets. I literally haven’t had a chance to really hit the pavement running with our collections. All sales have truly been through word of mouth. 

We just need to finish the website, the catalogue and the samples for each collection, photograph all and then I’m set to meet clients and take orders … Now that production is confirmed and we have about a two week lead time on production (better than our competitors who are importing from abroad), we can really stand out. 

Also, we need to perfect photography which is difficult to capture a large throw on a thumbnail-size photo and is quite a challenge for our internet resellers. We are currently testing photographers and have a great photo shoot in place that should all come together in May.

Leroy & Scarpa

GL: In terms of design are you comfortable in this new market? 

Kris: Axelle and I just came back from London where we attended the Kelly Hoppen school of design. This program really helped me fine-tune what I was designing to be in harmony with Kelly Hoppen’s style which caters to the same clientele. I have finally overcome my fear of neutral linens and can expertly decipher the difference in taupe and sand tones.

We have also joined forces with our communications agency and www.ateliermartinberger.com to create www.cocotte-design.com, which is a blog for girls who like to talk about girls in design. We are having loads of fun with this project that just launched last weekend and are meeting a lot of interesting people in design. 

GL: What has inspired the new collection? 

Kris: I have found three new fabric designers that are really in tune with my style and blend well with what we have already. I have also found a sculpture-designer that can make the buttons that I’ve been trying to find worldwide as a final touch to the collection. We will also be designing our own buttons as finishing touches with our new logo. 

As we are actively targeting the ski areas, we are using a lot of faux-fur in bright colors and neutral tones. We only use French and Belgian top-quality fabric and the result is an ultra-soft, emotional / sensual product. It’s not just a throw! 

We are also launching some furniture at the fair in June: plush, patchwork chairs and cube tables. 

We have been lucky as the press has sought us out and especially the new magazine ‘Cosy Mountain’ which is the first ski-area magazine for contemporary design. Once our packaging is complete with the new logo, we should have a four-page spread in their fall issue. 

GL: And then what? 

Kris: Once summer arrives, I need to start designing the Spring Collection for 2011 which will include outdoor fabrics (pillows, lounge covers, poufs, plush chairs). We also have lighter throws planned for cool evenings and brightly colored pillows to match. 

I am also working with a graffiti artist to design some eclectic throws for artsy and adolescent clients. I am inspired by Banksy’s wall art in the UK and hope to transfer others artists’ designs onto throws, headboards, etc. 

We are working on our first chic-boutique deal in London and then who know where outside of France … For the moment we will focus on our home-base and slowly branch out to Switzerland, Italy and other foreign markets. 

We do want to maintain a ‘boutique-brand’ and not sell to large department stores. The idea is to remain exclusive and maintain a smaller, very happy clientele.

Need advice on giving constructive criticism? photo: rocksee

The Working Women’s Network of Grenoble (WWNG) will hold a Personal and Professional Development Seminar entitled “The Power of Feedback: Using Criticism Constructively” on Saturday, June 5, 2010 at Grenoble’s Mercure President hotel.

The seminar comes on the heels of the successful March 2010 “Personal Branding through Social Media” workshop facilitated by WinSoft International Social Networks Manager Kelly Rigotti. The WWNG seminar series provides unique opportunities to benefit from the insights of high-level international professionals. The June 2010 seminar will be facilitated by international trainer, facilitator, and certified coach Marie-José Astre-Démoulin, who works for a leading NGO in Geneva and who delivers workshops for private clients on an exceptional basis.

Turing criticism into opportunities in the workplace

Have you ever had to tell an employee that they must make improvements in their work? It’s hard to tell someone they are not meeting expectations – and yet all managers should know how to do this. Have you ever had a negative performance appraisal yourself? It’s not enough to defend yourself well – you also need to hear what’s behind the criticism and address the underlying issues. Have you ever had a customer vocally dissatisfied with your services? Hearing negative feedback is one of the most difficult communication issues that professionals face.

This full-day, hands-on seminar given in English will provide you with effective tools to handle these difficult situations with grace and turn them to your professional advantage. Trainer Astre-Démoulin will take participants step-by-step through a proven feedback process designed to reduce tension and increase cooperation in the workplace.  

Space is limited to 24 participants, and the seminar program will be customized to meet participant needs based on a personal questionnaire. Translation company owner Sara Freitas-Maltaverne, who attended this seminar in 2009, explains, “Going into the seminar, I was getting ready to ‘let go’ of a client due to increasingly tense relations. Marie-José presented a process that helped me turn the relationship around. A year later not only am I still working with the client, but our relationship has deepened and we have even developed new business opportunities together.”

Registration for the WWNG Seminar is open to the public. Registration is €85 for WWNG members and €105 for non-members. The registration fee includes the full-day seminar, lunch with the group, and two coffee breaks. For more information or to register, visit the website.

Odyssey Intercultural

Michelle Mielly is MSc Marketing Program Director at Grenoble Graduate School of Business. She talks to Grenoble Life about her background, adapting to life in France and Odyssey Intercultural, the training consultancy she founded.

Grenoble Life: What is Odyssey Intercultural and who is it for?

Michelle Mielly: Odyssey Intercultural is a brand I created four years ago in my work as a consultant with Act’Rmc here in Grenoble. Its name reflects the long and multi-faceted journey that one experiences when working and living interculturally.

The training I have developed targets individuals, teams, and organizations wishing to acquire greater intercultural competency. They may be involved in an acculturation/expatriation process, working in a multicultural team environment, experiencing the ins and outs of a corporate merger or international joint venture, or managing any form of diversity in an organization. Any of these common situations requires intercultural competency.

GL: What are some of the dangers of poor intercultural understanding and management?

Michelle: Stated simply, failure is the biggest danger. Failure in business ventures is often attributed to incompatibilities in strategy, business models, operational technicalities, or management styles. However, when one looks at some of the most spectacular failures in international business, the hidden dimension of culture is often the origin.

The examples are multiple: Disney’s implantation strategy in France and in Hong Kong, the Daimler-Chrysler merger, Lucent-Alcatel’s missed mission, Schneider Electric’s difficulties with a number of its foreign subsidiaries, and many more. Some of these examples illustrate that cultural issues create great obstacles, but the good news is that you can overcome them with hard work and the investment of time.

Another danger is missed opportunities. Creating a bad first impression takes a long time to correct, so it’s better to go into international business with an open mind and conscientious preparation. Many opportunities are lost due to individual cultural differences that inhibited the establishment of a long lasting and productive relationship.

When people don’t feel respected, if they perceive a lack of interest on the part of the other, if they lack the fundamental trust at the foundations of the relationship, or if they think they are being stereotyped negatively, they go into defensive mode. Most of the time they actually start behaving in ways that may confirm the other’s stereotypes!

It must be stressed that in speaking of cultural differences in the corporate context, we are often talking about corporate, and not national or regional cultures. There are dozens of examples of mergers or acquisitions between the same national cultures, but the corporate cultures involved were profoundly imprinted and elusive to change.

GL: Odyssey Intercultural specializes in European-North American relations. Could you elaborate on how these relations can be complicated or sensitive and why Grenoble in particular might require such a service?

Michelle: Cultural differences exist between any two cultures: just looking at Western Europe’s dazzling diversity is overwhelming! Statistically speaking along national cultural dimensions, there are much greater differences between France and Denmark for example than there are between France and the US.

So why train people to work better with North Americans (Canadians and US)? Precisely because there is an incorrect perception, due to excessive and sustained commercial and popular culture exposure, that these cultures are familiar, superficial, and that there is not much more to know about them.

Upon closer examination, however, one finds differences of deep and significant import. It is one thing to watch American sitcoms, eat at McDonald’s, study the English language, visit Toronto or the Grand Canyon for two weeks. It is absolutely another to work, communicate, and negotiate with North Americans on a daily basis.

One example: the perception of time. First, is time a disposable resource? What is an acceptable turnaround time in responding to an email (reactivity levels)? What is the best way to organize time allocation for a project, or just for a meeting? How does one divide one’s personal time from professional time and is this necessary? Should people be available during vacation periods? How much vacation is necessary? What are the expected working hours in companies?

Grenoble’s high tech economy provides a stunning example of how globalization has simultaneously simplified and complicated our work environment. And this environment has an impact on our personal lives as well (increased travel, the need to work odd hours to accommodate conf calls internationally, etc.).

Managers now have teams working 24/7 on their global projects, so deep integration through collaborative technology is a reality today. An industrial project, for example, involves teams in multiple time zones with multiple local environments that contrast sharply from one site to another.

While technically we have the means to run long and short term projects across the globe, on a personal individual level, we often simply do not have the intercultural tools at our disposal to sustainably manage the complexity of the different cultural realities that each site and international counterpart presents throughout the project lifetime.

Partnerships in many forms between Grenoble-based organizations and North American organizations are extremely common and new ones are forming constantly. Due to the perceived similarity of our cultures, most of my clients do not see a need for my services at the start of the project, but usually begin to perceive the need once the challenges have begun to appear.

GL: Why and how did you set it up?

Michelle: I set up this activity to be able to develop trainings that had begun to be requested by local companies to whom I had been referred. As in any activity, a couple of companies ‘took a chance’ with me and offered me a first opportunity to develop a training on French-American intercultural communication.

Thanks to their confidence, I was able to get my grounding in this fascinating field and to develop and test my trainings on people directly working in the corporate environment. My work with people on both the French and American sites of these organizations has helped me see the importance of working with people on both sides of the fence.

GL: Tell us a little about your background

Michelle: Ethnographically speaking I fully identify myself as a southerner: born and raised in Texas to parents from Louisiana and Oklahoma. I grew up in a small town outside of Houston, where I spent a great deal of my time riding my horses and learning the value of simplicity and the happiness of being outdoors.

I started learning French when I was about 15 and then switched from the rodeo circuit to the international summer exchange circuit. I worked my way through undergraduate studies, three graduate programs including Pennsylvania State U and Harvard, and in between got some great experience working in the field.

Trained in linguistics, foreign language pedagogy, intercultural studies and anthropology, I’m politically progressive but culturally conservative. I am proud of my roots and the values I received from them and encourage my students and clients to never lose sight of those values, no matter how much adaptation they must do internationally.

GL: You’ve also worked in Africa and Central America, can you tell us a little about this and how it influenced your thinking.

Michelle: In my 20s I spent a lot of my time backpacking—Europe, Latin America, SE Asia, Africa. Studying comparative literature with a focus on contemporary Central American writers led me to Costa Rica where I had an exceptional experience. I wrote for the local English speaking paper in San José, translated the poetry of Ana Istaru, and had the chance to manage an ecotourism outfitter in the Northwestern pacific region of Guanacaste with 14 employees. This experience made it clear to me that development work was for me.

When I went on to study for the Ph.D. at Harvard, I focused on Francophone African civilizations with a focus on modern day cultural producers and how they contribute to economic and cultural development. I got to live and work with the extraordinary artist Werewere Liking in the Ki Yi Village, Ivory Coast.

These experiences involved huge amounts of negotiation, adaptation, and exhausting reappraisals of my priorities. I initiated as a part of my doctoral thesis for example a US tour of seven African artists in the US in 2004 involving 10 universities across the US, from New York all the way to Ohio.

I began to recognize that I had a certain ease in working with very different cultures and in coordinating among diverse partners in complex situations, constantly negotiating for the best compromise for all. I had in fact through these experiences developed my own working philosophy and own tools, but not until my work in intercultural management had I actually started thinking about them in terms of knowledge transmission.

GL: Concerning European-North American relations – as I’m British, where do I fit in? Do your clients ask for intercultural training on British working and cultural habits? How are we often perceived by others (wrongly or rightly)?

Michelle: Well, you and I have a lot in common in terms of cultural heritage. The US could be considered to simply be the most successful colony of the Commonwealth! And yes, I have actually been asked for help in companies working with the British, but I always involve a British colleague or graduate student in order to legitimize my work on that culture, to provide the most authentic training possible.

In terms of perceptions, the French have the perception that the British are not as trustworthy as the Americans. I think both cultures (French and English) perceive the other as ‘perfidious’, as traditionally both sides of the Channel have portrayed the other as capable of treason. Idiomatic expressions such as filer à l’anglais or ‘to take French leave’ illustrate the mistrust. And who can blame either? There is a lot of water under that bridge of collective memory.

Another perception that the French have is that the British have a more complex communication style with more ‘code’ and irony. And that is one that I fully agree with!

GL: What are some of the difficulties you have faced adapting to life in France and how have you overcome them?

Michelle: In terms of my greatest difficulties to adapting to France in particular, I think most of them were due to differing communication styles and my own unrealistic expectations. These created great obstacles for me here, and it took me some time to have close French friends.

I had learned from my southern American upbringing and values, what we call southern gentility, that there are certain things you just cannot do, for example:

It is impolite to confront or challenge others’ ideas in public, particularly if you do not know the person well. It is impolite to say provocative things about another country or civilization in front of the person representing that country. It is not kind to interrupt someone when they are speaking. It is not good manners to correct another person’s accent or pronunciation if they are learning your language. Finally, outside of communication issues, it is extremely rude to jump in front of someone in a line (or a queue as you say in the UK).

I progressively discovered to my astonishment that all of these behaviors were common in France, part of the way people operate here generally. It is perfectly fine to criticize others in order to spark a debate or discussion, to see whether you are capable of holding your own when it comes to rhetorical skills (of which the French have plenty).

It’s part of their philosophical heritage to critique other civilizations and to look upon the outside world as less attractive than France, but they actually want you to convince them otherwise. That’s why they provoke heated discussions which are in no way unfriendly. A sign of a strong relationship between two people here is to be able to argue heatedly and passionately with each other, often in public.

Frequent interruptions in France are normal and common in discussions, formal and informal. Correcting someone’s French is the only way to help that person avoid sounding ridiculous to others, and having someone else correct them later.

Last but not least, if you do not have a strong territorial strategy for defending your place in a queue, people will simply cut in front of you. It was me who needed to adapt my behaviors and expectations to this new environment, to shift from passive to active mode.

GL: Could you give Grenoble Life readers some tips on adapting to life in France?

Michelle: I think the above description could suffice: it’s all about changing your expectations and recognizing your cultural limitations in order to move on. If French people seem strange, rude, or complicated to you, they may be thinking the exact thing of you! You have to be a lot more flexible in another country than you are at home, you have to tolerate a lot more discomfort and sense of displacement.

It can really be frustrating at times and often discouraging. The movement from one place to another, literally translatio, requires a self-reflexive capacity for adapting to the new environment and to those with whom you are in contact. Yet more important than any of this is having a strong dose of empathy. In other words, forcing oneself into the uneasy position of the other, and trying at all times to imagine things from their perspective.

See www.odysseyintercultural.com for more info.

Trudi Penkler: Active Adaptation Counselling

Trudi Penkler is a psychologist, psychotherapist and ‘Intercultural Consultant’ with her own practice, Active Adaptation Counselling, in Grenoble. In the second of a two-part interview, she talks to Grenoble Life about the experiences families can have adapting to life in France.

Grenoble Life: What kind of difficulties can families have adapting to life in a new culture?

A lot has been written about culture shock, but in my experience few difficulties in adapting to a new culture can be attributed to this alone. Certainly there are some very real challenges to be faced in making our lives work in unfamiliar surroundings. Actually living day-to-day in a new country is very different from a holiday visit. Sometimes we can feel completely ‘outside’ of what is happening around us, disconnected, as if we’ll never understand or be part of where we are. There can be a sense of loss when nothing seems to be as it was before.

Although we have risen to the challenge of relocating to a new country and find the differences we encounter interesting and stimulating, we may not identify with anything within the culture around us to begin with and may feel that we are having to live in isolation, surrounded by a world we have no part in. The social support network of family, friends and people who shared our way of life before, is very much missed and it takes time to recreate this again.

We may feel robbed of the roles that gave meaning to our lives and defined our social identity before. Generally this proves to be temporary as we start forming new habits and patterns, new friendships and connections which bring meaningful structure to our lives again and also when we realize that the previous chapters of our lives are still important. If, however, sustained helplessness, anger or resignation emerge, with continued feelings of anxiety, disorientation, confusion and depression, this requires attention.

When we establish our homes in a new environment, we’ve stepped out of the rut of our own ‘normality’ for a while. Any day-to-day challenge we would have managed in familiar circumstances will require more of us in unfamiliar ones – more concentration, more energy more time. Being prepared for this and accepting it upfront as part of the adaptation process, rather than resisting it and hoping for things to feel the same as before, is helpful.

We also need to be aware that we take ‘ourselves’ with us wherever we go. This means that pre-existent problem areas like fragile marital situations or wobbly self esteem, parenting difficulties or dependency issues will not go away or magically be ‘fixed’ in the new situation. Not only will they re-emerge, but they will be amplified by the stresses of moving. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes being brought face-to-face with difficulties that we’ve been carrying with us for years, but can no longer ignore, pushes us to address them.

Education is usually a very important priority for globally mobile families and whereas younger children generally adapt relatively easily, moving older children may be more difficult. Adolescence is of itself a time of change during which young people begin identifying more with their peers than their parents. Resentment, disengagement, helplessness and unhappiness can set in, if these young people feel they have been uprooted against their will and they will need empathetic understanding rather than motivational lectures from their parents. It is important to keep communication lines with teenagers and younger children open, especially about choices concerning them, at all stages of the relocation process.

When couples move, one partner’s career has often been favoured and the other may have renounced their own professional development and feel that they have lost too much, particularly if they are unable to resume a professional activity in the new country, because of language, legal or family constraints.

Leaving parents who are aging or in ill health behind in our home countries may be difficult.

GL: What other advice would you give families considering making a move to a new culture?

We don’t only take our weakness with us when we move across cultures, we also take our strengths, sometimes strengths we didn’t even know we had. We all have the resources within us to adapt to change, if the conditions are there to allow access to those resources …

But we do need to be very clear on the reasons for a move like this. Each individual family member may not be equally enthusiastic or benefit as much from the change, but each will be happier to be part of it all if the reasons have been clearly discussed and they makes sense.  

When we’re going to embark on an adventure like this, preparation is indispensible, not only in terms of the logistics of the move, but in familiarising ourselves with information about the new culture. Knowing more about the documented “do’s and taboos” of another culture is not going to prevent us from encountering obstacles and making mistakes anyway though.

A very important aspect of good preparation will involve also thinking about how we’re going to deal with change. Our emotional reactions and personal experience of a new situation are so much more positive when we’ve considered this beforehand and are consciously prepared to develop a tolerance for difference and uncertainty.

Things will be new and exciting, but the ease with which we did things in a familiar environment will not be there to begin with, especially if acquisition of another language is part of the equation. Simple tasks that we did without thinking before will take more time and effort. Although this may be frustrating, this doesn’t mean we’ve become less effective.

Coming to grips with the language of the country we’ll be living in will be essential, but there is no rule book as to how best or how quickly this should happen – we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be bullied into feeling inferior, while we’re actively learning and not yet proficient in a new language. Adapting to a new culture is not an end-point or a destination. It is a process, a learning process. We’re on the path and we are continuously progressing as long as we keep going. The pace of our own individual progress should not be measured or dictated by self-appointed ‘experts’ we may meet.

We’ll need to be gentle with ourselves, set realistic (yet ambitious) goals and respect the values and protocols of our host culture, without compromising our own. For a while our judgement will be a little cloudy while we’re learning about a new culture. It is important to consciously switch on the ‘data gathering radar’ in our minds, observing curiously all the time and verifying our conclusions by asking questions, rather than assuming we’ve understood what we’ve experienced. Most people will not find our questions bothersome and on the contrary, will enjoy being considered wise enough to be consulted.

Everything is easier when we feel stronger, so looking after ourselves health-wise should be a priority. Children should be kept informed of family decisions all the way (they’ll the need reassurance that their parents are ok, if a little lost and confused, still ok and still in charge).

We shouldn’t give up on the things we love or do well, music or painting, football or throwing a frisbee, but we’ll need to put effort into finding how to continue these activities in a different way. We also shouldn’t push ourselves to do things we don’t really want to, even though everyone else seems to be doing them. Some people really don’t like skiing or really aren’t interested in discovering the wonderful French wines here – and that’s just fine!

Keeping regular and ongoing contact with faraway loved ones will be very important too. You won’t have ‘betrayed’ them by coming to France and the more part of your experience they remain, the easier the separation will be for everyone.

And we’ll need to take the time to have fun and enjoy being where we are. This is not a test of endurance but an adventure and an “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” (Amelia Earhart)  

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Please do not hesitate to contact me. My office is at 2 Rue de la République, in downtown Grenoble, just off of Place Grenette opposite Haagen-Dazs.

Tel: 04 76 98 93 85 e-mail: trudi@aac-intercultural.com website: www.aac-intercultural.com

Just landed in Grenoble? Don't worry, there's a club for you. Photo: Guillaume Brialon

Just landed in Grenoble? Grenoble Life editor James Dalrymple gives his rough guide to Grenoble’s expat clubs and Anglophone businesses and services.

I have been asked by the French Entrée website to write a post with general advice for expats in Grenoble and the surrounding area, including relevant clubs and associations to join. Where to begin? Maybe you have already heard claims that Grenoble has one of the biggest Anglophone communities of any French city. I’m not sure of the real stats, and I will resist the temptation to invent some here, but suffice to say you stand a good chance of meeting other English-speakers whether you wish to or not.

It can be a bone of contention. Some people get defensive about the expat thing, saying something along the lines of, “I didn’t come to France to meet other [insert relevant English-speaking nationality here], I came to meet French people etc.” I don’t really subscribe to this view. When I lived in the UK, I always gravitated towards people who were very international in their outlook, and counted many cultures among those I called my friends. Just because I came to live in France, doesn’t mean that I should only spend time with French people just to feel good about myself. Among the expat groups and associations listed below, one may find many Anglo-French couples, so-called ‘third culture kids’, and all manner of general pan-European activity that belies the widely held view of what expat communities are.

Most new English-speaking Grenoble residents, particularly those with families, are likely to encounter Open House, the city’s long-established and possibly largest expat association. Among the activities Open House organizes are children’s parties, excursions, wine tastings, lunches, outdoor activities, book groups, coffee meetings and French-English language exchange.

The more student-orientated Happy People 38 organizes intercultural social events and language exchanges. Meanwhile, Celtic Connection promotes Irish and Scottish culture and sport in Grenoble and hosts Hallowe’en and St Patrick’s parties, a Burns’ supper, and summer picnics. Scottish expats and a host of other nationals can also be found at a weekly Knitting Bee at Café Leyritz, Place Vaucanson, every Tuesday afternoon at 2pm.

Although not Anglophone I feel duty-bound to make you aware of the lovely people at Le Club Danemark – Rhône Alpes, who are known to organise Glögg parties, Danish lessons and excursions, including cross country skiing. For more info contact: danemark-rhonealpes@live.com

English Talk Radio, presented by Vivian Draper, is a bi-monthly show on 90.8 Radio Campus Grenoble.  The show talks about film, theatre, finance, restaurants and travel, and has a variety of topical local guests; every Sunday at 12.30pm, and every Wednesday at 7pm on 90.8, Radio Campus Grenoble.

For those expats who want their young children to have plenty of contact with the English language, there are some associations which can help with this, including Communication Café and ABC Anglais. Alternatively, French language classes for adults can be obtained from a variety of institutions and associations outlined in depth here.

If you are looking for American or British style cakes there is The Cake Shop and Bookworm Café. The latter also hosts book and poetry groups, language classes, local artists’ exhibitions and occasional musical performances. They also buy and sell second-hand English books, and have English newspapers and magazines to peruse. Furthermore, if you meet French friends yet to be convinced of the potential merits of American cuisine, Pumpkins might be wise place to convert them.

If you can’t find the book you are looking for at Bookworm Café there are two Anglophone libraries, La Bibliotèque Anglophone de Meylan and the English Library at Babel, which also runs book groups for teenagers and adults. Many municipal libraries also have English-language selections, particularly the International Public Library.

Given the dubious French proclivity for dubbing foreign language films into la langue maternelle, you may want to exercise caution when going to the cinema. Le Club (rue du Phalanstère) and La Nef (boulevard Edouard-Rey) are two theatres with dependably interesting programmes, all in version originale. For more info on the city’s movie theatres and film festivals, check out this comprehensive guide.

For church-goers, members from about 10 different denominations and 15 nationalities are welcome to attend The English Speaking Church of Grenoble, which also has a programme of social activities including dances, crafts nights, family evenings, visits to local attractions and walks.

In terms of professional development, the most dynamic and active association is the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble, which organizes networking lunches, workshops and seminars, and is run by a very helpful and efficient body of women. For opportunities to do volunteer work there is VSArt, an association that brings cultural opportunities to disadvantaged and elderly people. The Grenoble chapter was set up and is run by American Meredith Charreyron.

Grenoble also has a number of amateur English-speaking theatre groups. Students of different ages from Cité Internationale Scolaire de Grenoble participate in an annual pantomime and Upstage, respectively. The latter puts on very high quality plays every year at Ste-Marie-d’en-Bas, a 166-seat theatre off Place Notre Dame. Likewise, students of the English department at Stendhal University put on productions on campus every year. English-speakers are also invited to join a new Grenoble English Theatre Group, run by Nathalie Joshua. Novices welcome. For more information contact her at nathaliejoshua@hotmail.com

For health and well-being, Anglo-style therapeutic massage and aromatherapy can be obtained from Amy Cannata (waterfallwellness@me.com) and Shiatsu massage from Rebecca Skillman.

Finally, of course, I mustn’t forget to mention your very own Grenoble Life, which has articles and practical info for English speaking residents past, present and future. It also includes photo sharing, free classified ads and interviews with prominent members of the Anglophone community.

If I have forgotten any essential clubs or organizations, please use the comments box below to add to the list.

Managing Your Professional “Brand” through Social Media

Mickey Farrance, President of the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble, announces a seminar on Saturday, March 20 at the Grenoble École de Management called Face-to-face to FaceBook: Managing Your Professional “Brand” through Social Media. Find out more here.

“‘To google’ is now a verb, and it doesn’t just refer to looking up information about things, it also means looking up information about people.  That means you, me, the next person applying for a job, or somebody I might consider working with.”  — Kelly Rigotti, blog, marketing and web presence consultant.

What do you find when you google yourself?  For professional people—entrepreneurs, business owners, consultants, job seekers, or anyone with a career in progress—this is an important question.

A professional image means conducting business professionally, dressing professionally, networking professionally— today, a professional image also includes what is out there about you on the Web.

What does that set of links returned by Google say about your professional image?   And how do you “manage” that information?  It’s random, isn’t it?

Not quite.  In fact it’s possible to manage your professional image— and not as hard to do as it might sound— through the appropriate use of social media:  LinkedIn, Viadeo, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Here’s an opportunity to find out what this means and how to do it, at a half-day professional development Seminar, in English:  Personal Branding:  Manage Your Image through New Media, presented by the Working Women’s Network of Grenoble on Saturday, March 20 at the Grenoble École de Management.

It’s open to anyone (men as well as women) in the Grenoble area interested in learning how to develop a “Personal Brand” (a good reputation) and manage that online image using the new social media. 

Grenoble Life readers are a tech-savvy bunch, but it seems there’s always something new to discover.  If you are not sure what this “new media” is all about, or how to manage the increasing flow of incoming and outgoing social media communications, this seminar is for you too.  Bring your expertise along, as it’s also an excellent opportunity to share.

To sign up, download the registration form here.

Classroom. Photo: sfar

Gregg West is an American history and geography teacher at Cité Scolaire Internationale. He also handles the school pantomime, organic gardening club, interpersonal communication classes and music club.  In this explosive article for Grenoble Life, he describes his career-long efforts to change the education system in France.

It would be preposterous to assume that any education system in the world does its job correctly, when one observes the amount of poverty, crime, violence, drug addiction, alienation, loneliness, pollution, general unhappiness, and other symptoms of human foolishness, frailty, or limitations.  But one could just say, “Oh well, people do their best and one can’t ask more of them than that.” Nevertheless, when one is a teacher and has to face an educational system day in and day out with its many constraints, it can be very trying, for even if he or she sees many kids succeed and go on to brilliant careers and happy, if not totally unperturbed, lives, there are a lot of others who will live troubled existences.

Over the last 37 years, I have tried to learn to teach and have perpetrated my teaching upon unsuspecting people, both children and adults, in North America, Scotland and France, but I have also had these teaching systems (pardon my syntax) perpetrated upon me. The following observations about the French system are not at all intended to exonerate other systems from similar criticism.

More is better

Since settling permanently in France in 1983 I have witnessed a system which believes that more is better despite the famous saying of Montaigne (loosely translated) that a “well-made head is better than a full head.” Indeed, in the Connexion of February 2010, the minister of Higher Education, Ms. Valerie Pécresse went so far as to say to a journalist “you seem to be contradicting yourself when you cast doubt on the level of lycée students passing the Bac but then suggest reducing the number of hours.”  Really, Ms. Pécresse, this is a national disease, thinking that more is always better. So why not give children 16-hour school days? Children need time for other things than school work to become thinking, feeling, well-balanced individuals. I thought everyone knew that … hmmm.

A second aspect of the French system that is curious for those of us from English-speaking cultures is the belief held by many that school is only for instruction of specific subject matters, does not require a global education of children in terms of understanding their social and psychological context, learning to motivate them, inciting them to improving their citizenship, social relations, and so forth and that, therefore, teachers do not need to learn anything but their own subject matter at university. No interpersonal communication, no group dynamics, no pedagogical methods, no interdisciplinary knowledge to coordinate interdisciplinary projects … It apparently threatens many whose work status and contract only commits them to knowing their subject … even if inspectors put pressure on them to teach better … and the French government has just decided to shut down IUFM (teacher training institutes), something highly consistent with this view.

In this extremely cerebral environment, a third characteristic of the French system, at least insofar as it concerns university-bound students, is that they needn’t develop artistic, manual or day-to-day skills like typing, driving a car, first aid, or cooking at school. (Well, they DO learn road security, but only the theory … ) In short, learning does NOT involve doing things, except writing essays, carrying out a few carefully limited classroom experiments, doing research and other relatively abstract tasks. So these other skills surprisingly only get developed among a minority of people who have the money to do them outside of school or have families patient and qualified enough to help them learn these things. When I see high school kids pecking away with their fingers on a keyboard, when I have to fork out over 1000€ for driving classes, or when I see the beginnings of obesity among French young people like in my native America, I do wonder about these priorities.

Lip service

Finally, as with many other school systems, the French speak of democracy, but practice dictatorship, pay lip service to cooperation and solidarity but practice competition, praise acceptance of differences, but punish those who do not “fit in” with ridicule, humiliating grades, and other forms of social exclusion, lecture people about human rights while submitting high school students to 50 hour weeks (35 hours of class plus 15 hours of homework a week), claim to be ecological while using throw-away pens, producing millions of tons of new, bleached, non-recycled fibre paper waste that are not even recycled, and brag about their great cuisine while abandoning their children to canteens that serve poor quality, poorly balanced meals that contain pesticides, instead of making quality and organic food priorities.  What is the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do?” Problem is, it doesn’t work that way and, as Leonard Cohen said, “Everybody knows…” Kids’ strongest learning experiences stem from doing and from example.

In such an unnatural neurotic environment, is it any wonder then that many French kids suffer from depression, insomnia, smoke a lot of cigarettes, become fashion victims or anorexics, drop out due to a lack of motivation (around 10%), or decide not to care about politics or association activity, plunging into a life of semi-blind consumption as adults, with no personal artistic side that they can cultivate to express themselves healthily? Is it any wonder that they become recalcitrant at suggestions that they drive less (so little physical exercise during their childhood), watch less TV (when did they learn how to entertain themselves?), vote more (when did anyone ask their opinion anyway?), or think about important issues (weren’t they only supposed to give teachers the answers required?), or question notions the media and political elite expound as evident (nuclear energy and genetically modified organisms aren’t dangerous, are they, or THEY would tell us … like our teachers … wouldn’t they?) Once you’ve got people conditioned, it is very hard to change them. Some would even suggest that this conditioning has been done CONSCIOUSLY to preserve the privileges of elite, but I’m not much of a conspiracy theory advocate, so I’ll leave this idea aside. I think it’s just force of habit and past conditioning … an unwillingness to question what came before.

Unfamiliar future

At any rate, all that I have described is what one would call a SCHEMATIC, OVERDRAWN picture of the French Educational system. Of course, there are positive sides, but you all know those; France is one of the world’s leading countries in social programs, economic productivity, democratic freedoms, and so forth … well, for the moment at least … But is this preparing us for an oil-poor, resource-poor future in a world where company relocation to Newly Industrialized Countries may force us to reorganize a great deal of our economy and learn to share, be happy with less, and use our imagination to find new, workable ways of life?

But of course changing things is never easy. People are afraid of unfamiliar ways, they think that what they know is the only way, there are vested interests, it involves calling habits and training into question, it doesn’t suffice to throw money at problems, and even good ideas, if poorly or insufficiently applied will lead to failure. In short, it isn’t a technical impossibility, but it remains a political improbability.

Political debate

I decided in 1987 to try to do something about all this. I spent five years in a minor political party which seemed highly motivated to lead change in society as the chairman of their education commission, consulting hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and others involved in education, as well as union representatives and school directors. We worked out propositions to change school radically (more on what these were later) … something in line with the party’s desire to “create a cultural majority for change.”

I sent the propositions to the hundred or so representatives of various regions in the party’s governing committee a few months before it was scheduled for debate on the agenda. But the day of the debate, there were “more urgent matters” so debate was pushed back till the very end of a Sunday afternoon when one third had already left to take their trains, leaving only 10 minutes to debate a topic that concerns every single citizen of a democratic country. Of those remaining, fully half were teachers … and a plurality of these opposed all the measures which might require them to retrain to handle new functions. So without any guidelines on HOW to change our propositions, we were sent back to the commission to “work on the propositions some more…” Thoroughly disgusted, I resigned as commission chairman.

An alternative school

In the U.S., as a young teacher, I had already experienced the difficulties of even modifying one local system of education, so I reasoned that if what I considered the most progressive political party in France and its host of teachers were unable to be open towards real change, then there was little hope of changing such a huge system from within. I worked for the next seven years on the idea of creating an alternative school, parallel to the system, in hopes that an example outside the system might show people what is possible. But here too I was to be foiled. Among the enthusiastic parents supporting this idea, most were penniless; among the enthusiastic teachers supporting this idea, most, not surprisingly, wanted to be paid! Real estate was too expensive to rent in large towns, and small towns placed obstacles in our path, fearing we might lower already precarious enrolment figures, provoking the closing of their public schools. There were also dreamers who talked about “borrowing seven million francs” from a bank as if any bank would ever entertain such an idea. A subscription among political activists raised some 135,000 francs, but we were never able to establish a three year budget that promised any hope of surviving, even on minimum incomes, so we were obliged to abandon the plan and send people’s money back.

At this point I decided to give up. I had a good job in a public school and began trying to develop extracurricular activities to compensate for the unidimensional aspects of school. I created a music club and later a theater program where kids could learn self-management, cooperation, create, express themselves, develop their confidence, teamwork and self-esteem, associate with older students and adults as role models instead of submitting to age segregation, and receive recognition without grades from those around them.  I found no need to involve parents for the music club, but broke an additional taboo when I got parents involved heavily in the theater program … something few French school teachers like to see … parents in the school working with kids … perhaps because it threatens their own prerogatives to teach as they see fit … but this was only outside of class …

In my own classes, I developed a method of teaching involving considerable debate and discussion, with occasional projects and games, but the program was often so immense that time was always pressing us to return to a teacher-centered curriculum.

Moving the mammoth

I suppose this is why when I was approached by a sympathetic political activist, I accepted getting involved in an association whose goal, like mine, was to move the mammoth (change the educational system) even though I remained very sceptical about the possible success of such an effort.

Over a period of about three years, we developed a support group of some 300 people, including thirty to forty teachers and three school headmasters, and we elaborated propositions very similar to those the education commission I’d managed had put forth only to be rejected. We outlined a plan for creating special schools, particularly in the junior high years (collège), and hopefully one or two in each department, which would function differently and thus serve as an illustration of alternative approaches to education. The basic ideas behind these schools included:

• Only four hours of academic solids per day, so less Math, less French, less language, less science, less history and geography (oh dear!!!). Interdisciplinary projects as a way of exploring basic subjects.
• Groups for enrichment, remedial work and orientation for one hour a day.
• Workshops to learn practical subjects, develop artistic abilities, and physical education 1 hour a day.
• Collective expression and action a few hours a week to put democracy into practice.
• A severe limit on homework and no grading, but still evaluating and testing.

One can like or dislike these propositions, but the fact remains that they allow schools to handle a number of the objections mentioned above and the existence of a certain number of schools of this type in the Northern part of Europe tends to confirm that they can be a positive experience, developing well-rounded, independent, thinking students … if properly applied.

We sent a 10-page summary and a longer 40-page detailed version of the project to various people in positions to make decisions. We met with those in charge of education at City Hall and the Conseil Général, as well as the man in charge of innovation at the Rectorate and the Academic Inspector of Isère. All reacted favorably, saying the idea looked great. When we said we also had a list of teachers and an administrator to run the school though, the Rectorate and Academic Inspection suddenly began hemming and hawing about the fact that they would need to talk to unions about it, that they couldn’t name people on the basis of aptitude or motivation, but only on the basis of seniority points (meaning the death of the project) and that they would have to check with their hierarchy on whether this was all possible (i.e., if it wasn’t pursued, it wouldn’t be THEIR fault …) Despite attempts to get them to put this on paper, they refused and they began doing what bureaucrats do when they don’t want something to happen. They sat on it, refusing further meetings, correspondence or any other indication of their position, killing the project.

Things I can do

So, at age 57, tired of spending so much energy for nothing, I chose to devote myself instead to things I CAN do without political games and support from people higher up. I continued with my teaching job, interpersonal communication classes, the music club with its concerts and CDs, the theater program with up to five shows and 750 spectators per year (our headmaster even had a stage built for us … and other groups in the school to use.) And I created an organic gardening club in our school.

None of this however will make the changes I believe that France (and other countries) desperately need in their education systems if they want to create a vast majority of real human beings capable of adult behaviour, wisdom, commitment, values, and coherent behaviour emancipated from the manipulative, narrow channels that current systems carve for them.

Villeneuve d’Uriage

Rebecca Skillman talks to residents of the hamlet Villeneuve d’Uriage, near Grenoble. She shares with us her discoveries about issues of sustainability and community in Alpine village life.

Perched above the thermal spa town of Uriage, the idyllically located hamlet of Villeneuve d’Uriage is home to around 150 people. I was curious about what attracts people to live here; how people relate to each other in the village; and whether there is more to the hamlet than simply “Grenoble satellite”? 

I talked to three couples who have made the village their home. The interviews reveal the similarities and differences in how we view “nature”, our overall need to connect with each other and our search for sustainability in the 21^st century. 

Kelli (Project Manager, HP) and Olivier (Sales Manager, HP)  

Kelli: I was born and raised in Boise in the US. The decision to move to France wasn’t difficult – this was the right place to be at this time in our lives. What was hard was leaving family and friends. I told myself: part of my cost of living is getting back to the US as often as possible. That’s how I talked myself into making it work, and it has. 

People here have been very kind. At the same time I miss the feeling of community I had back home. In Boise, when you do something like running errands, you have a list of people you’re gonna do things for. You walk in and out your neighbours’ homes – you don’t knock – and it’s very informal. You garden together and you build your houses together. One time my mother’s basement was flooded and suddenly there’s a whole crowd of people fixing the problem and drinking beer, making a party out of it. If there’s an issue, you sort it but have a good time doing it. But here in the village it’s just the two of us. 

I’m very happy here but if I could change anything it would be the distance between Boise and France!  And, day to day, I wouldn’t choose again to work from home. Much as I love our place it’s one of the things that’s slowed me becoming part of the community. 

Olivier: I was looking for a balance between proximity to Grenoble, for my job, and a village that is really alive – people working here, farmers, tractors passing the house. Other mountain villages may be pretty but at 9am they are empty. When I see a tractor here, I’m happy. And it’s the first time in my life I feel content coming back home after work. 

Living in this area, I’m ideally placed for my outdoor passions. I love wild places and I like to spend my weekends rock climbing and skiing. What drives me is being challenged by nature, having the feeling that it’s stronger than me. The down side is that it means I’m rarely home at weekends, and that doesn’t help for integrating with the community. 

Pierre Yves (Research Scientist, CNRS) and Françoise (Research Engineer, CNRS) 

Françoise: My husband, Pierre Yves, discovered the village 15 years ago – and I wasn’t sure, because the road gets very iced up in winter. But the spirit of the village worked its charm on me – even though I didn’t know the place at that time – and I was captivated. 

What appeals to me is that the people who live here are very close to the natural elements, flora and fauna and this closeness expresses itself in the way they rear their animals, and gives the village a special kind of energy. I love being able to walk in the streets in the evening and having nothing but pleasant surprises, and smiles, in my encounters with the neighbours. 

With regard to village life, when we first lived here I was involved with a village association. We organised several events to help people meet each other. As time went by that stopped because we ran out of energy. But now something similar is happening around Alain and Yvette’s farm. 

The people who work on the farm have an attitude and philosophy that’s a little different from mainstream agriculture. For several years they have produced organic wheat using an ancient stone mill to create flour. From this they make bread, the main source of income. Around the farm, there is a small kernel of people who have created an association, Grains de beauté, whose main aim is to promote contact, and a meeting place in the widest sense of the word. This word “meeting” is a common theme in everything organised. For example, it could be a willow basket or bread-making workshop, or the regular choral events.

Pierre Yves: This hamlet is probably unique in the Grenoble area: it is small, isolated and surrounded by nature. The thing that struck me when I first arrived, well before I knew people here, was the timelessness of the place. When you go to Alain and Yvette’s farm, you enter another age; the place feels unchanged in centuries.

Referring to what Françoise said about how people relate to each other …  she mentioned that everyone is friendly. This didn’t happen as easily as that. What’s interesting to me is that on the one hand – of course – there are different factions. The other side of this coin is that there is no such thing as anonymity in the village. 

In Villeneuve there are three broad groups of people: those who have always been here (mostly former farmers), new arrivals such as us (one is a “new arrival” for a long time!), and farmers actively farming. The fact that most of the farming around the village is organic, and connected with nature, contributes to the atmosphere of the hamlet and the area around it. 

The smallness of the hamlet, surrounded by nature, resonates very strongly with me. We aren’t going to be able to forever extend the metropolitan areas; towns, in general, are located in the middle of the richest agricultural land. So at some point this urban expansion will have to stop. Villeneuve feels like a potential model of how we will need to live our lives in the future. 

The development of non-agricultural activities around the farm is, for me, very much linked with the question of how we make the transition to sustainable development. The farm, and the activities linked with it, represents a local approach that restores a sense of collaboration, whether material or artistic, on a human scale and in sync with the rhythms of nature. What happens around the farm seems to me to answer a need that isn’t met in the way we currently organise society in terms of how we connect with each other. It is one way in which people are trying to satisfy this need. 

Yvette (agricultrice) and Alain (agriculteur)

Yvette: I’ve always worked on the land and my life in Villeneuve began when I found a small farm to rent, way back when was 17. I arrived on my own and, at that time, there weren’t many women farming in that way. Suddenly everyone was giving me a helping hand. 

I started farming with some goats and, at the same time, Alain started the vegetable garden. From that, he developed into market gardening. Little by little, I wound down the goats and both of us worked in market gardening. We began to integrate ideas from bio-dynamic agriculture – an organic approach using an awareness of the energies that govern the land, the animals and nature in general. 

We lived through a period that was challenging, economically. At that time the local farmers were amused by our way of doing things. But, when we bought the house, that changed our relationship. They saw that we were managing to make a go of farming and we became the enemy by virtue of the fact that, as people working in agriculture, we blocked land that they wanted to develop. Overall, we had 10 years of good relations, 10 of bad and now we have had 10 years of neutrality – but at least no tension. Our closest links are with people who have moved here from elsewhere. 

In terms of the farm itself, there’s potentail for our level of activity to develop. My personal project is to develop animal rearing: in addition to the cows that we already have, introduce a few goats again, some hens and turkeys. 

Alain: This work may evolve through the support of the association ; it isn’t necessarily a profit-making activity. But you or I, or any of the people at Villeneuve realise that it’s important to have animals in a village and it’s also important to have people to look after them. That’s where I see the link between the farm association and the people of Villeneuve and around. People need to realise that animals bring a particular type of energy which helps us to live. It’s not just the responsibility of farm workers, it’s for all of us, for the future, to realise that we have a role and that it’s important to maintain farm animals. 

In today’s society 9 out of 10 people are doing a job that has nothing to do with our physical world. They live in a virtual world in terms of computers and IT, producing things that we don’t need. This may create employment but it isn’t real in the sense that if this work were to suddenly stop … where would we be? We’d still need to feed ourselves, somehow. This way of living and working leads us to completely disconnected lifestyles where we travel and lead our lives in a complex way when there is a far simpler way of nourishing ourselves. This “virtual world”, on the other hand, generates ridiculous ideas … like that it’s ok to take a plane to the other end of the world for 20 euros. For me that is completely unreal! People want to live in a “green” way but they think it’s ok to buy a plane ticket at such a low price?! There’s hard thinking is needed there.  

I believe people have a fundamental need to regenerate, to get together and do things with others. I see an alternative way forward that contacts what’s deeply important for all of us. I mean, what’s fundamental in order for society to develop. For this we need to make contact with each other, starting with those of us who are able to meet around a place and try to move towards something better, socially. 

I think that a farm is the ideal place to start rethinking how society can work. There’s already a structure, and a sense of birth and creativity – animals, the food we produce. From here we can begin, gradually, a project to develop our society.

For further information about the farm association, Grains de Beauté, and its activities, contact the association: beaute.des.graines (at) gmail.com

Radio. photo: morberg

English Talk Radio is a talk show in English on 90.8 Radio Campus Grenoble. We talk about film, theatre, finance, restaurants, travel, and have a variety of topical guests. We are four presenters: Kristine Minski talks about finance, Christina Menez talks about China, Mary Zaccai talks about student issues, and Vivian Draper – animatrice/rédactrice – hosts the show. Every Sunday at 12.30pm, and every Wednesday at 7pm on 90.8, Radio Campus Grenoble and live on www.campusgrenoble.org – and also here on Grenoble Life.

The February 7 English Talk Radio show took place at The Bookworm Café in St Laurent, Grenoble. Listen to the full show here:

Pat Brans

Grenoble-based Pat Brans is founder of the Master the Moment time-management method, giving speeches and training sessions at companies and organisations around the region and beyond. He tells Grenoble Life about his work, his background, and how to get a higher return on your efforts.

Grenoble Life: Tell us a little about your background

Pat Brans: I started my career as a software engineer. I also did some management. This was for four different startups in the Washington D.C. area. I then got into business consulting, and was director of a team of business consultants with CSC in Cologne, Germany. After three years there, I moved to Grenoble to work with HP, where I got more involved in business development, and eventually took charge of a set of solutions where we applied mobile technology to optimize workforce effectiveness. I was in charge of these solutions world wide. We called these offerings “mobile field sales and services”, because we mostly applied our solutions to help our customers make their sales and service forces more efficient. During this time, I wrote my first book called Mobilize Your Enterprise: Achieving Competitive Advantage through Wireless Technology.

I got to know a lot of people in the industry, and was offered a job with Sybase to manage strategic alliances across Europe. The software we sold was used for mobile applications, mostly applications geared towards worker productivity. I frequently gave talks on this subject at events from Dubai to Lisbon. And in dealing with the partners I managed, sometimes I had to give them ideas on how technology can make people do their work better and faster.

In summary, starting from my arrival in Grenoble twelve-and-a-half years ago, it gradually became very natural for me to talk about productivity.

GL: In a nutshell – what is the Master the Moment method and how was it developed?

PB: I have always been interested in understanding why some people get so much more done than others, and why those who get more done are actually less tired. Throughout my career, I tried to note who I thought was more personally effective, and I tried to learn from them. I kept mental notes on things like how to best run meetings, how to best participate in meetings, how to delegate, and how to be delegated to.

Coincidentally, my work life over the last twelve years has involved thinking of ways of making people more productive through the use of technology. I say “coincidentally”, because these two sets of ideas run along separate dimensions. Giving people tools to make them more efficient is a good idea, but it won’t make the order-of-magnitude difference you’ll get through rethinking your attitude towards goals, making the right choices about priorities, and overcoming the tendancy to procrastinate.

I read tons of books on time management and I read lots of psychology research papers, but this was all theory. And I never saw any approach to time management that was based on emperical data – in other words, going out and asking high achievers what they think. So I picked the set of people I thought have the most to say about time management. And when I use the “term time management”, I’m refering to anything and everything you can do with your time to make you more effective. What can you do to emulate the people who get a lot done without breaking a sweat?

The category of people I selected were CEOs of large corporations. I talked to fifty different CEOs of organisations with revenue of $2 billion on average. These people are themselves very effective – and equally as important, they are perfectly positioned to observe hundreds of other people and develop a well-founded opinion on why some people achieve more satisfaction than others.

Over the last 18 months I synthesised what I learned from the CEOs, what I got from psychology research, and what I learned from other books on time management. The result is Master The Moment, which is my methodology on time management. One of favorite aspects of MTM is that it aims to help people change habits. All the good ideas I got from my research mean nothing until the readers of my book, and the people who attend my training or seminars, integrate the ideas and make them habit.

In order to integrate an idea, you have to understand it, and you have to take it on freely – it can’t be forced upon you. I checked my work by talking this over with leading psychologists, such as Ed Deci and Roy Baumeister.

To change habits, it helps to have a visual reminder. Also the ability to change habits is something you can develop. My approach to developing good time management habits is taken from Benjamin Franklin and his approach to developing Thirteen Virtues. As a young man, Franklin listed 13 areas in which he would like to develop better habits. Every week he would work on one, finishing the list after 13 weeks, then starting over. He would carry around a notebook in which he would mark everytime he reverted to a bad habit in any of the thirteen areas – not just the area of focus for that week.

I have six steps to better time management. Each step is a category of habits. I have sheets I give students to allow them to track progress in each area. I ask them to focus on one step every week. The sheet serves as a visual reminder, which is very important in habit forming. I follow up with a phone call to each participant around two months after the training.

You’ll never achieve perfection, but if you can change one or two habits, you’ll make a lot of progress.

GL: Why do you think time management is such a big issue in the modern workplace?

PB: I think time management has always been important. Our ancestors were up against a lot of pressure – in most cases, much more pressure than we have to deal with today. Few of us have to deal with war, the death of our children, or hunger. Life is really easy, if you think about it.

I don’t want to minimise the issues people face today. But part of my training is around checking your attitude, and I think a lot of people have the attitude that their situation is really bad and that external forces are making them unhappy. You have to take responsibility for your situation and focus on the things you can change. The fact is, most of us in developed countries are pretty comfortable compared to 95% of the people who have ever walked the earth. I’m not a positive thinker, I’m just being realistic.

In today’s work environment, I see two groups. The first group sees work as a way to make a living – for these people, work is a burden and no fun. The second group is looking for self actualisation. They want to be somebody through their work.

It’s important to feel a sense of choice in what you do. If you feel like you have been coerced into doing something, you aren’t going to do a very good job, and you’ll feel deflated and tired. I don’t deny that we all have obligations, but the more effective people look to understand the reasons behind the obligations and as a result, they are able to integrate the activity. People who don’t understand why they have to do something, only introject the activity – it’s like swallowing something, but not digesting it.

So if you find yourself in the first group, try to find some meaning in what you do. Managing your attitude is probably the most powerful time management tool, and it’s one that people need to employ in today’s work environment.

GL: Do you believe that modern technology really has made us more efficient workers?

PB: Yes, of course. One danger though is that we get distracted. Studies have shown that people who try to do several things at once experience a dip in IQ. One study demonstrated that multitasking accounted for a bigger drop in IQ than smoking marijuana. Another study showed that if you are working on something then get distracted by a text message or a phone call, it takes you 20 minutes to get back into what you were doing 100%.

Just as you with any other tool, you need to look for ways of improving how you use technology tools. There’s always something you can do better.

GL: What are some of the risks associated with poor time management?

PB: Dissatisfaction. If you do a lot, but don’t notice that you’ve accomplished things, you won’t enjoy the satisfaction. Or if you just don’t do much, you’ll also feel frustrated. In either case, good time management techniques can enhance your life.

I don’t think people should aim to always be busy or to always be efficient. I tell people to obey natural laws. The first law is that you are a human being and you need to have fun, you need rest, and you need time off. Trying to get around those things is like trying to get around gravity. You can’t do it. You’ll eventually fall hard.

GL: Who have you spoken for and what feedback have you received?

PB: I’ve given training around Grenoble in both French and English, I’ve spoken at seminars, and I have a website. The feedback I get is that my method is different because it is a nice mix of powerful ideas and practical technique.

GL: As you are based in France, what differences can you observe between French company culture and that of your own or other countries?

PB: I think hierarchy is too important in French organizations. There’s not enough emphasis on creativity. Follow orders or you won’t fit in. This is a broad generalisation of course.

GL: How do you think  France compares to other nations in terms of work-life balance?

PB: I like the work-life balance in France. I think it’s more healthy than in the United States where the balance of power leans heavily towards employers, and employees have very little weight. In the United States we recognize the need for consumer groups to compensate for the power companies have over consumers, but we don’t apply this idea to the employer-employee relationship as I think we should.

People wind up working more hours in the United States, but I don’t think they’re more efficient.

GL: Do you offer events in French and English and is there a difference to how people of different nationalities respond to the method?

PB: I sometimes hear from the French that CEOs don’t know anything about time management, because all they do is delegate. Of course they do, and delegating is an important time management technique. You need to delegate down, sideways, and even up. In all cases, you’re asking somebody else to do something for you. The more the other person trusts you and understands the reasons behind you request, the better he or she will integrate the activity. If the other person feels a sense of choice in doing what you ask, you’ll get a better result.

GL: Asides from your speaking engagements you write for a number of publications: tell us what you write about and for whom.

PB: I also write for technology magazines about how to use mobile technology for workforce productivity. I write for three different publications: Mainframe Executive, British Computer Society and Mobile Enterprise Magazine.

GL: Tell us about some forthcoming events

PB: I will be hitting the American Chambers of Commerce in Lyon, Toulouse, and Strasbourg. Seminar dates and locations will be posted on my website. I will also be doing training in French through the chambers of commerce of different cities around here. I’m developing that now.

Aside from that, I provide training within companies.

p'tit vélo dans la tete on campus - photo: www.ptitvelo.net

Are you a student or a new arrival and want to know how to live in Grenoble on a budget? Expatriated Brit John Lubbock has learnt the hard way, and has kindly agreed to share his tips and experience with Grenoble Life readers.  

Grenoble is not a bad place to be poor. But, like a tramp with a favourite patch, you have to know your environment; or like a foraging bear, where the best pickings are to be had. You may need to change some of your bad, foreign influenced habits to make the most of your insertion into French culture (beer is expensive apart from Stella, which isn’t one of the best things about French gastronomy, is it?). 

Tourists, as we all know, are naive sponges who deserve to be squeezed dry, so try not to seem like one. People will often poorly attempt to converse with you in English when they realise you are not a native, but insist, “Je suis en France, il faut que je parle en français“, and they won’t despise you as much for usurping their language as the world’s Lingua Franca. It is mostly from lack of better information that tourists agree to pay higher prices, so I intend to give you some information to help you make better spending choices.

Accommodation

If you do not want to spend your first month in France on a sofa or in a hostel, it pays to research accommodation before you arrive. There is an association called OSE Club which you can join for €30 which will find apartments for you in a designated area of the city, if you want to be near to a university. Then there are websites such as www.appartager.com and www.vivastreet.com, which have petites annonces for flats, but these are generally only useful if you pay the €10 fee to see the telephone numbers of the advertisers and call them up directly as they don’t answer messages on the site.

Watch the French film L’Auberge Espagnole before you go to get an exaggerated idea of being interviewed by your future flatmates and the kinds of hilarious European stereotypes you are likely to be cohabiting with. If you are not a student, it is even more important to find a flat quickly, because without a rental agreement, you will not be able to get a French bank account or contract telephone, and will thus be considered a SDF (Sans Domicile Fixe) by the French. This will mean that you are forced to become a baba cool (hippy) and sit in the street with your dogs holding out a frying pan to ask for spare change.  

N.B. If you are staying for less than a year, it is worthwhile getting a contract phone, which will be cheaper than pay as you go, the phone will be nicer, and there’s little they can do about it when you tell them that you’re leaving the country before the contract finishes and close your bank account. But don’t tell anyone I told you.  

If you have never lived in the socialist paradise that is France, you may not be aware of the kinds of social benefits available to people living there. The CAF‘s housing benefit system could pay for some of your rent if you are a student or living on a low wage, although like most bureaucratic systems in France it takes about six weeks to get anywhere with it, and since these forms are all in French, it is more like a test of your reading comprehension which you need to pass to gain entry to French society.  

Learning French

If you are (un)lucky enough to be a political refugee, asking at the Préfecture (a big administrative building which makes you feel like Josef K from Kafka’s The Trial, wondering if you’ll ever be told what you’ve done wrong in order to end up there) or at the Conseil Général can get you free French lessons, which can otherwise be obtained by calling the ADATE organisation. I am not sure if you can get lessons with them without being a refugee, but I am considering telling them that I have been forced to flee from the UK as a result of the impending government takeover by a bunch of Tories with accents so posh and annoying that they constitute a form of social oppression. If you have to go to the Préfecture for any annoying bureaucratic reason, like to obtain a carte de séjour, don’t ask anyone which ‘queue’ you should stand in. The French for queue is pronounced like ‘que’, while saying ‘queue’ sounds like the French word for something rude.  

Transport  

When it comes to transport, if you are poor, the bicycle/vélo will become like your husband or wife, or perhaps the god to whom you pray for benevolence. If it works well, you love it and praise it, and if not you curse it. There are three main places I know of to obtain bikes cheaply. Firstly: on the street. I found three bikes lying in crumpled heaps on pavements in the first month I was here. The problem then is to take them to somewhere you can repair them. So either have a bike repair kit (Decathlon, around €15), or go to the second place to get cheap bikes – Un P’tit Vélo Dans La Tete meaning something like ‘A little bit biked in the head’.

This atelier (workshop) sells bikes that have been repaired for between €15-60, or you can go there to fix your own by paying a €15 abonnement (subscription). It is a good place to practice your French, as there are lots of guys who can help you to fix your bike, and they have a handy board on the wall with a picture of a bike and the French names for every part of it indicated. However, fixing bikes takes time, and if you have a second hand bike, or one you bought at P’tit Velo, it will break down roughly every two weeks. On the plus side, you will get very good at repairing bikes. The third option is Métrovélo, who will give you a generic yellow bike for €75 for six months (plus €50 deposit) and repair it for you if it breaks down.  

Of course, you can always chance a free ride on the tram, but getting caught by the officials will land you with a €65 fine, unless you can pretend to be a totally clueless foreigner. The tram tariff is €24 a month for students, but Grenoble is the flattest city centre in France, and waiting for a tram and slumming it with Joe Public are hidden costs not worth paying in my opinion. That’s why liberté comes before egalité and fraternité: because it’s more important.  

If you want to go further that the city limits, go to www.covoiturage.fr and find someone who is making the same journey as you to go with. It will be far cheaper than any other method of transport, and the people I’ve met doing it have all been nice.  

Food  

Although many people come to France for the food, as an impoverished young person, this will likely be one of the areas in which you sacrifice quality in order to live within your means. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, a man who lives within his means has no imagination; but you will likely be finding your culinary options limited by the exigencies of having little money to spend. Ed is a cheap supermarket, and it happens to bear the name of some of my friends, although since the name Edward doesn’t exist in French, they call it “Ee-de”, which sounds much more corporate and less friendly. It is worth taking a notebook around to the supermarkets to write down prices of items you buy regularly, because while vegetables may be cheaper in Ed, Géant may have cheaper milk, for example. Unfortunately, I have just been informed by my collocataire that Ed is closing down – evidently the world of modern commerce is too cruel for such friendly-named businesses – but Lidl is almost identical in that it has hardly any choice of products and brands you have never heard of, but they are all usually cheaper than the Géant/Casino equivalent.  

Yet if one just bought the budget Casino brand pasta/rice/couscous to eat with with vegetables every day, you might end up wanting to kill yourself. So for the minimum luxury of not cooking the food yourself, you can go to a CROUS canteen, near the gare, or in Domaine Universitaire. These are supposed to be for students, but you can just pay the €2.90 it costs for a meal there in cash without showing any student card as well. You get bread, salad or cheese, a main meal of canteen standard chips/pasta/vegetables/etc. and some meat served with customary indifference and a bad attitude by people who look deeply unhappy about serving ungrateful students who could pay their wages with their tuition fees (those who go to an École supérieure anyway).  

Working  

Of course, if you really want to make things easier on yourself financially, you could get a job. “A job? What’s that?” I hear you cry. “I am a student – they don’t work. Then I wouldn’t have time for all the drinking and Facebook which the energy I consume from crisps and Red Bulls goes into”. Well, you could work part time. If you are a native English speaker, you could get employed by a soutien scolaire company, telling kids what they did wrong with their homework. Believe me, it’s satisfying to be on the other end of this after receiving homework corrected in red-teacher-ballpoint ink for 10 or more years. Don’t be put off if you don’t have a TEFL or CELTA qualification, I didn’t find this a hindrance, though it may help to say you have experience of private teaching even if you haven’t.

If there’s one thing I learned looking for jobs here it’s that it doesn’t pay to be honest: always tell them you are available to work, always tell them you have the experience. It took me a while of offering my services to language companies (Grenoble Life already has a useful list here), universities and other places like the Chamber of Commerce and Rectorat before I was employed, but once you have your foot in the door, you will hear about other teaching  jobs that are advertised within teaching circles.  

The Pôle jeunesse on Avenue Agutte Sembat has a useful wall full of job and accommodation offers. But if you have a degree, they will tell you that they can’t help hoity-toity types like you and that you should go instead to AFIJ who have an office at 29 Avenue Felix Viallet near Cour Jean Jaurès. These guys mostly have offers for internships or well paid jobs, so if you are just looking for a petit boulot, the Pôle jeunesse might be more useful.

You could try working in a bar, but the French can be quite snooty if your linguistic skills aren’t up to scratch. This matters less when applying to one of the studenty bars like London Pub or Sun Valley, but you will invariably have to call a Frenchman ‘boss’ (and thereby lose all the nationalistic self-respect you have built up living in your own great land), and traipse around the campus putting up flyers just for the pleasure of sacrificing most of your evenings for €9 an hour. There are also lots of agencies you can work for who hire waiters and other restauration workers for company or other private functions, but I personally found them somewhat useless, though Adecco is worth a try. Then you can try the listings in Pôle Emploi, which is like the JobCentre in the UK, but with more paperwork.  

Of course one of the reasons why you came to Grenoble is to ski, so if you are a student, join the École de Glisse, and try to obtain some cheap equipment from one of the second hand ski places like Boite aux Skis. There is no way of getting around that skiing is expensive however you do it, but hopefully you will have saved enough money in other areas to afford the silly ski-pass prices. And if you injure yourself, just remember to have your European Health Card handy. Good luck, mes amis.

SFM Traduction online

Sara Maltaverne, founder of SFM Traduction, a Grenoble-based translations and copywriting company. She shares with Grenoble Life her knowledge and advice about the translation business in the area.

Grenoble, where going international just comes naturally

The greater Grenoble area is home to some 450 foreign-owned businesses and is one of the French economy’s leading exporters. So, for many local businesses, enlisting the services of a translator—a potentially risky undertaking—is simply a fact of doing business across borders. But how do you know if the translations you’ve purchased do your product justice when you don’t understand the language? Worse, can you be sure that the translations won’t cause serious damage to your image or result in the costly duplication of work?

Whether you need the latest foreign market research to launch your product overseas or compelling marketing collateral to grab the attention of potential customers, a professional translator or interpreter is an invaluable ally. Remember: translators work with written documents (brochures, reports, correspondence), while interpreters communicate orally.

Here are a few things you can do to increase your chances of getting a successful translation—and your business’ chances of making it in today’s global marketplace.

Penny wise, pound foolish: bilingual does not equal translator

A Grenoble-based building management services provider needed an English version of its brochure for an upcoming trade fair. To save money, the company decided to assign the translation to its in-house staff. One of the gems produced: as an introduction to an excerpt of the company’s lengthy and prestigious client list (“quelques références” in French) the erstwhile translator—no doubt with the help of a French-English dictionary—came up with the translation “few references,” which is the exact opposite of what the brochure was trying to convey. Thanks to their savvy bilingual secretary, who sensed something just wasn’t right, this and other embarrassing bloopers were avoided when she called in a professional translator to check the brochure before going to print. However, in addition to the lost work time the company’s employees spent slogging through the translation, the firm had to pay a rush fee to have the brochure reviewed by a professional in time to get it to the printer.

How can you avoid falling into the same trap? By calling in a professional translator from the planning stages of your project and drawing up clear specifications.

The following three steps will help you get your translation project off to a good start

   1. Decide what needs to be done, when, and who is responsible for each stage. Everyone involved in the production process (from document authors to DTP) should be aware of the timeline and specifications. Put it all down in writing.

   2. Once you have determined your workflow and deadlines, you will need to choose a service provider. As a general rule, professional translators work into their native language only. Referrals from colleagues in your industry are a good place to begin your search, as are professional translators associations. In France, you can try the Société française des traducteurs online directory at www.sft.fr. The ideal translator has a track record both in your industry and with the type of document you need translated and can prove it by showing you examples of previous work.

   3. Once you have selected a service provider, check again to be sure the purpose of your translation is clear. Are you translating incoming texts that your business needs for information purposes only or outgoing material that will have an impact on how your company is perceived by customers? The quality you need—and the cost—will vary accordingly. Discuss this with your service provider and get all commitments in writing. You and your service provider should know and agree on who is responsible for each step in the translation process.

Still not sure you’re ready to cross the language barrier?

You can better prepare your business to go international by learning as much as you can about working with translators and interpreters before the pressure is on. Start with Translation: Getting it right, and Translation: Buying a non-commodity, free downloadable brochures endorsed by language industry professionals. Professional groups like the American Translators Association are also an invaluable source of information. Once you have the tools you need to take your business overseas, the sky’s the limit.

About SFM Traduction

Grenoble-based SFM Traduction was founded by Sara Maltaverne as a freelance translation business in January 2003. SFM Traduction is today a premium professional translation company specializing in creative, marketing, and financial translations and copywriting for high-profile corporate communications. You can learn more about the company and its services at www.sfmtraduction.com or blog with us at www.sfmtraduction.com/blog

Sara Maltaverne

Dials. Photo: ericcomando89

English Talk Radio is a talk show in English on 90.8 Radio Campus Grenoble. We talk about film, theatre, finance, restaurants, travel, and have a variety of topical guests. We are four presenters: Kristine Minski talks about finance, Christina Menez talks about China, Mary Zaccai talks about student issues, and Vivian Draper – animatrice/rédactrice – hosts the show. Every S