In Phyllis Breidinger's class at Broad Run, French is not something that just comes out of a book.
"It's something you have to do with your body, you have to practice," Breidinger said.
After four years at Broad Run grading students' projects on everything from traditional poster board to DVD, and 35 years total as a teacher, Breidinger is moving on. She retires this spring.
Students in her classes call her their own Oprah — a teacher with the gift of both imparting knowledge and listening to students' concerns.
"We talk about love and our issues," said senior Sahar Emami. "She's like our second mommy."
Senior Lydia Saidi echoed that sentiment. "We just love her so much and we're going to miss her," she said. "If we go through a difficult time, she knows how to talk to us."
Breidinger's AP French students are an international group, with the majority being foreign-born. She is a native of Michigan and didn't start taking French until she was a senior in high school, but she still gets high marks from her native-speaking students.
"She speaks like a French woman," said junior Ghislaine Dumery, who moved to Ashburn from Cote d'Ivoire last fall. "When I came here and she talked to my mother and sister, I thought she was French."
WHEN PHYLLIS BREIDINGER was a teenager in Alma, Mich., she knew she wanted to learn French. Since it wasn't offered at her high school, she spent her junior year knocking on doors until she finally got permission to take French classes at the local college.
A few years later, Breidinger was a French teacher in Frederick County, eventually becoming the department chair. Over the next 35 years, she would be the one to push, push, push until more levels of French were available, more classes, more resources for students like her who wanted more than just what was offered.
The decision to retire came easily to Breidinger.
"My life is going in a new direction now," Breidinger said. Last year, she remarried; along with her new husband, she wants to spend more time with children, grandchildren and her parents.
"It's time," she said. "I love teaching, but I'm 57 years old and I've been doing this for 35 years. It's time for me to move on."
Breidinger believes that the role of a teacher should belong to young, hungry people who have the energy to challenge themselves and their students every day.
Breidinger's spot is being taken by a young woman who fits that exact description: Zelda Smyrniadis, who came to America to speak French two years ago and was the subject of a Connection feature last winter. At the time, Smyrniadis thought she had to return to England for tax reasons despite her hopes of one day marrying a cowboy.
"I decided that for the sake of my mental health and happiness, it was worth paying back two years of taxes," Smyrniadis said. "I can't wait to teach AP now and I even have students changing classes so that they can do French with me next year."
"She's got what the kids need," Breidinger said.
A POPULAR novel among French students is "The Little Prince," Antoine de Saint Exupéry's allegory about the wisdom of children. Teachers like it because it's got a wealth of good vocabulary and interesting sentence structure, plus a captivating story.
The story's moral is even more poignant for Breidinger now, who has probably taught "The Little Prince" hundreds of times.
"Here is my secret," the prince reveals. "You only see well with the heart." L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. "What's essential in life is invisible."
With her new husband and a new chapter in life opening, Breidinger feels liberated to go after those invisible things.
"I can choose for love," she said.