Described by her students as an obsessive-compulsive, multitasking, and extremely sassy, Ms. Terea James has not only attained the admiration by many of her students but also influenced them to be fearless, eager, and even more hygienic. “She has encouraged me to continue to try my hardest and stay focused in all my classes,” shared Alissa Hill. “Mademoiselle James est la meilleure prof ici [Ms. James is the best teacher here].”

“I really enjoy her class because Ms. James is the bomb and she makes class very fun and relaxed. She has made French very easy to understand and enjoyable to learn,” noted Emma Hale. “I honestly look forward to come to her class every day.”

“It’s probably my favorite class at Tunstall. Ms. James has a way of making learning seem effortless,” said Hunter Pyron. “She has inspired me to learn other languages, as well as enhancing my knowledge of French.”

James started studying the French language when she was in high school thinking that her sister, who took French as well, would help. “She didn’t [help]” shared James. However, she found the teacher, Mrs. Milam, to be really nice and easy.

After high school, while visiting schools to attend, James found herself overwhelmed by the size of them, and decided to attend to the private college of Lynchburg. “It was nice to have small classes because I got to know some of my professors well and I felt more accountable for my work.” Later, transferring to Averett University. “I enjoyed the aspects of smaller campus life.”

Finding out that French was a general education requirement in college, she decided to just do what was required. However, Monsieur Mayer, her French professor, encouraged her to be a French major and go to France. “I had a lot of free time in college because I had college credits transfer from high school and I found that I enjoyed the classes, so I kept taking them to have something to do and then suddenly I was going to France and adding French as a major.”

James traveled to France in 1999, while attending Lynchburg College. “I got lost A LOT!” noted James; “I enjoyed it, more in retrospect than at the time.” Recognizing not being good with change, James shared that she found herself being in rebellion mode for the first few days, but later on dreaming in French. “I just think I was too young to really appreciate the experience at the time and I wasn’t as prepared and attentive as I should have been.”

With a Bachelor of Science in French and Psychology with a Theater minor and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, James has been devotedly expressing her passion for the French language contributing nine years of her 14-year teaching career to Tunstall.

“I really like French because there is only one teacher, there is no rotation,” said Hill. Unlike Spanish, which is taught by three different teachers, French is only taught by Ms. James. Therefore, she tries to make it easy and fun by assigning different activities and projects. For instance, James challenges her students by asking them to go to the board and write their answers, later making the remaining students to decide whether they are droite (right) or faux (wrong). Additionally, students who may find the mistakes get extra participation points.

When asked how the passion for psychology was found, James shared, “I have always been fascinated by human behavior, so I’ve probably wanted to study psychology since I learned what it was.”

Ms. James is also known for her attention to cleanliness. “Part of that is an obsessive-compulsive personality, but I have improved, I’m definitely not as obsessed as I used to be. Having my little cousin since he was a baby has helped, babies and small children don’t really care about germs, so I had to adjust.” Many students have certainly reacted to this unusual side of hers, Alissa Hill, sophomore taking French III, shared “It’s definitely a shock at first, but after a while it just becomes habit to stay at her standards.”

“I still think it’s very important and vital to staying relatively healthy,” said James.

James also shares the custody of her 10 year-old cousin with her parents. She has always been really open about this sharing with her students the many tales she has about the enthusiastic 10 year-old. He suffers from cerebral palsy, characteristics of autism, and developmental delays. “He has come much further than his first doctors thought he would. He has taught me a lot and I am very proud of all he is accomplishing.”

Students really seem to have adjusted to her high standards of good behavior and sanitary ways.

“She is my queen,” said Pyron.