Ellen Bowles

German and French

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

Hallo! Bonjour! Welcome to my website.  Many call me Frau Bowles, but I am also known as Madame Bowles.  You see this August, 2009, I started my 42nd year of teaching both French and German.  My love of travel and languages originally lead me to think I wanted to be what we called in those days--an airline stewardess.  Whew!  I’m glad the universe led (pushed/dragged) me in a different direction.  I can still hear my mom saying  “you might as well take some education courses” as a fallback plan when I went to college.  You see, I was too young when I graduated from high school to go to airline school, so I went to college instead.   But the academic bug bit me and, voilà!, here I am 42 years later, still teaching--and learning. 

A brief resumé:

1964-1968       Drury College, BA French

1968-1981       McCluer High School, Teacher

1981-1999       McCluer North High School, Teacher

1984-1987       Webster University, MA International Business

1999-2004       PROBE Center, Teacher (gifted education, 4th 5th and 6th graders)

2004-current    Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Instructor

 I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that along the way I got married (41 years and counting) and raised two wonderful human beings.

 

About Me