My Story

Hello, I’m Josué (Joshua).

I give world language teachers tips, tools and resources for teaching language so their students rise in proficiency and communicate with confidence.

I have a BA in French and Spanish and an MA in Applied Linguistics, with a focus on second language acquisition. I have served on the Board of Directors for several educational and language teaching professional organizations and I regularly present workshops at state, regional and national conferences. I have been teaching French and Spanish for 26 years in grades 1-12. While I enjoy every minute I spend in the classroom guiding my students toward higher levels of language proficiency, I equally enjoy working with teachers while conducting workshops at conferences and on-site with world language departments.

When I’m not in my classroom teaching or working with teachers throughout the country, I can be found volunteering in Nicaragua and Haiti. I firmly believe that access to education is fundamental to rising out of poverty and I dedicate a portion of the sales of my Teacher Pay Teachers products to the financial support of the Panamá School in La Concha, Nicaragua and the Fontamara School in Porte au Prince, Haiti. The funds help to buy books and school supplies, and contribute to building upkeep and teacher salaries. I spend several weeks each summer volunteering on-site as well, which gives me opportunities to connect with teachers and students.

As you can likely tell, I love to travel. I spent my undergraduate college years in France and then moved to New England where I started my teaching career. I attended graduate school in Boston and decided to stay in the area. In addition to my regular trips to Nicaragua I enjoy spending time in Québec (my mother is Québécoise) and the Azores (my father is Portuguese, from the island of São Miguel). I also travel throughout the United States to visit new locations, attend and present at conferences, and work with school and university language departments.

In case you are interested, here are a few things about me that might not be obvious as you look through my site.

I love the airport. I find airports and travelers fascinating.
Starbucks is my home-away-from-home. I refer to it as “headquarters.” I go every morning for before going to school.
Podcasting is my new thing.
I absolutely love reading.

I’d love the opportunity to connect with you. Check out my conference schedule or perhaps I could visit your school. Lots of possibilities. Join my Facebook group, follow me on social media or send me an email (joshua@wlclassroom.com). Be sure to navigate around the site beginning with the categories to the right.

Thank you very much for visiting. It’s great to meet you.

(Josué) Joshua