Growing up in France, student-teacher Marie-Anne Baissac never thought she’d be teaching French or Spanish at a U.S. university.

But she is.

Fluent in French, Spanish and English, Baissac teaches beginning Spanish and French classes to students at OU.

“I never imagined that I’d be teaching French or Spanish at a U.S. university,” she said. “I have not formally studied Spanish, unlike French, so I learn new things about the language while teaching that I did not learn when I was a student.”

Baissac began learning Spanish when she was 14 and continued to study it until she graduated from high school.

“In France, we take languages very seriously,” she said. She began studying English at age 12 and was speaking three languages throughout high school.

Then, when she came to OU in 2001 as part of an exchange program, she enrolled in an upper-level Spanish conversation class.

“It went really well,” she said. “The professor who taught that class had become kind of like a host grandmother to me now.”

Since returning to OU in 2004 to attend graduate school and specialize in second-generation Maghrebian literature, she has continued her relationship with her professor, María de Jesús Páez de Ruiz.

Ruiz said she is proud of Baissac and honored to have taught her during her time as an exchange student.

“Marie-Anne was an outstanding student, always ready to participate with a beautiful smile and a positive attitude that help to maintain a wonderful atmosphere in the class,” Ruiz said. “I am very happy for the opportunity of seeing Marie-Anne again when she came to the graduate school and as a teaching assistant. My husband and I consider her as part of our family. We call her ‘nuestra nietecita francesa’ (our French granddaughter).”

Baissac said there are a few differences between the Spanish she learned in France and the Spanish she teaches to students at OU.

“There are some minor differences, some words and certain conjugates, between the Latin American Spanish being taught in the U.S. and the Spain Spanish that I learned in France,” she said. “The main thing is the accent though.”

Baissac said she encourages students to be exposed to native cultures and native speakers as much as possible.

Stephanie Diaz, pre-dental hygiene junior and a fluent Spanish speaker, said she is considering taking French next semester.

“I took French in high school for four years,” Diaz said. “I’m going to see if I want to take it this coming semester. There are a lot of similarities between Spanish and French so it shouldn’t be that hard.”