Our Outstanding and Dedicated Main Teachers
Stéphanie Houset – Director and French teacher
With 19 years of experience, Stéphanie still really enjoys teaching French as a foreign language (FLE).
After studying ESL in the USA for one year, she returned to France to specialize in French language teaching obtaining a Master in FLE. Since then, she taught French to adult learners both in France and in Australia.
Born and raised in Anglet, Stéphanie grew up with her feet in the water and learned surfing when she was a kid. Passionate about French language and surfing, she founded SOFI 64 (Sud-Ouest French Institute 64) in 2011 to offer an intimate place to learn French and enjoy surfing.
Being a teacher and a director, she can identify and understand students needs and answer their queries with friendliness and professionalism.
Stéphanie’s other interests are hiking and photography.
She also studies German in order to stay closer to her students and to be able to put herself in their shoes as learners.
She speaks French, English, Spanish and has a good knowledge in Basque language.
Élisa – French Teacher
Élisa grew up in Charente, the land of Comics and the Galette Charentaise.
She studied Language Sciences with a specialisation in FLE and obtained a Master’s degree in FLE (Apprentissage et Didactique du FLE) in Toulouse, the city of cassoulet and violets!
She then moved to Spain for 3 years to teach French, discovering the country and the language she didn’t speak at all. After 3 years in the Iberian capital, she decided to settle in the Basque country, as interested in the Basque cake as the Ocean.
For her, teaching French is an incredible opportunity to share French culture and language, but above all to travel through the students she meets.
She loves (in no particular order of preference):
*Good food
*Walks by the ocean and in pine forests
*TV Shows
*Her cat
Our Talented Assistant
Thomas Birrer – Assistant
Born and raised in Switzerland (Luzern), Thomas visited Australia a few years ago in order to learn English. In 2017, he discovered Biarritz as a student in French. After studying French for 3 months, Thomas fell in love with French language and surfing. Initially IT administrator, he decided to go back to Biarritz in 2018 and started working as an assistant in his favorite French language school.
Thomas is our disability advisor. He will answer your questions and set up a service that will meet your needs.
He practices surfing, snowboarding, hiking and loves riding his bikes.
He speaks German, English and French.
