Rennes, France

October 5, 2012
Re: Recommendation for Rebekah Skinner
Dear Sir and/or Madam,
It is with great enthusiasm that I am writing this letter of recommendation for Rebekah Skinner.
Rebekah was a participant in our Spring 2012 CIEE study abroad program in Rennes, France. As
Resident Coordinator for the program, I was in close contact with Rebekah throughtout the semester,
particularly as she participated in our Teaching English as a Foreign Language course. I am personally
responsible for organizing our teaching internship program in local schools and I also had the pleasure
of observing Rebekah twice in the classroom with her students.
Rebekah did her teaching internship in a local French public middle school. She assisted a French
middle school teacher with his English classes for one to two hours every week, and also attended a
pedagogy course organized by CIEE at the Universit de Rennes II. These internships include two
observations per semester, and the course normally counts as a 3-credit class at the students home
university. The students grade is based upon these observations, as well as on their work and
participation in the pedagogy course, their notes used for preparing classes and reflecting on each
lesson they have given or assisted in, and an essay written at the end of the semester on some subject
related to their course work and internship experience. We also take into consideration the teachers
comments about the student and his or her work in the classroom.
Rebekah was a teacher-trainee in a class of 4me level students (the equivalent of 8th grade in the
U.S.) She was, however, far more than simply an assistant in the classroom as she spent the first thirty
minutes of each class with half of the students (approximately 15), and the second thirty minutes with
the other half of the students teaching on her own in a room adjoining that of the teacher. While
Rebekah was in close consultation with the teacher of this class as to the subjects to be discussed and
the material to be used, Rebekah actually planned and basically ran these classes on her own.
Not only was Rebekah very well-organized and prepared for her classes, but she always went aboveand-beyond what was expected of her. Our students are required to do one-hour per week in the
classroom for their internships, but Rebekah was more than willing to do two hours when the teacher
asked her if she was available to do more, and since she had made the decision to stay on in Rennes for
several weeks after the end of our program, she also continued to help out at the middle school simply
because she enjoyed being with the students, who, considering their enthusiastic participation in her
class, were quite obviously also happy to have her as a teacher.

Council on International Educational Exchange

CIREFE Universit Rennes 2 35043 Rennes CEDEX France
Tel :. 02 99 14 13 07
Fax : 02 99 14 13 10

Rebekah is enthusiastic and at ease with her students and has a natural presence in the classroom. She
asks thoughtful and pertinant questions and allows the students the necessary time to respond. She
enunciates well and her voice is very clear. Her classes were always very well-organized and perfectly
geared toward middle school aged students. She obviously loves teaching and it shows! The teacher
in charge of her internship was not only happy with Rebekahs work, but also expressed her gratitude
for Rebekahs help.
Rebekah is extremely bright and hard-working, and is highly capable of adapting to various types of
situations. Living abroad is very difficult in many ways, and Rebekah not only adapted, but truly
seemed to thrive during her time here in Rennes. She was a student who stood out in every way. She
was curious, enthusiastic about every aspect of our program, and had an obvious thirst to learn and
discover everything that she could about Rennes, France and French culture generally. She is
obviously a people person and everyone who came into contact with her, including all of our staff,
could not help but be impressed by her kindness, passion and maturity. I know that she developed a
very close relationship with her host family, the kind that I am guessing may last a lifetime and which
is really quite rare. As a result of her experience in France, she also has a true understanding and
empathy for the difficulty that other foreign students often have adapting to a new culture and/or
language, and this has been and will certainly continue to be beneficial to her in the classroom.
Thank you very much for your time. If I could be of further assistance in this matter please do not
hesitate to contact me either by e-mail at: staci.soum-fontez@uhb.fr or by telephone at (+33) 2 99 14
13 07.
Sincerely,
Staci Soum-Fontez
Coordinatrice Etudiants
CIEE Rennes
CIEE : Council on International Educational Exchange
CIEE CIREFE
Universit de Rennes 2
Place du Recteur Henri le Moal
CS 24307
35043 Rennes Cedex FRANCE
Tel: (33)(0)2 99 14 13 07
Fax:(33)(0)2 99 14 13 10
Web: www.ciee.org