Sandra Nelson brings a global experience to the classroom

Nelson was born in Southwestern France and lived there for 23 years. Nelson came to Minnesota as an exchange student at Macalester. She loved it so much here that she decided to stay and start teaching. Nelson has taught preschoolers, college students and high schoolers. One of her most interesting teaching experiences was singing French songs to kindergarten children in the morning. Almost all of her family lives in France and she visits them every summer.

Nelson used curious (curieuse), adventurous (aventurière), and literary (littēraire) to describe herself. She loves to read books in both French and English, and one of her favorite books is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. She misses the food in France, and she also enjoys traveling. Her second dream job was the interesting idea of becoming a flight attendant. She worked for an airline a couple years ago, but she found herself enjoying teaching and pursued this career instead.

“The energy between people and society is completely different,” Nelson said when describing the difference between living in Minnesota and France.

In her teenage years as a student, her education in English was focused on reading and writing, rather than speaking and listening. Nelson mentioned how speaking was difficult when she first moved into Minnesota. She said, “I just [by] trying and speaking as much as I could, participating in events, and just socializing … I was on the quiet side, it wasn’t always easy to go and meet people. You have to accept that your English isn’t perfect yet, and try to communicate as much as you can.”

“Go for it, be confident,” these are the words Nelson had given to her teenage self and other students.