Linda retired recently from teaching after 34 years.

She was a French teacher in Williamsville Central Schools, located in a suburb of Buffalo, New York.

The system has a student population around 10,500.

She was certified as a Secondary French teacher.

She taught all levels from French 1 to French 5 (Advanced Placement).

All of her teaching was at the high school level.

She speaks Italian and French fluently and has a working knowledge of Spanish.

She only taught French, but since retirement she has been a substitute teacher in other language classes, social studies and even math classes!

Throughout her career, she served in many capacities. For example, she was the advisor for the pep Club, a program called “It’s Academic”, French Club and was a co-advisor for her school’s National Honor Society chapter. 

She was the Team Leader of the foreign language, music, and art departments.

She served as a New York State Committee member of both the District and Building level staff development teams.

In 2004, she was awarded an ELF grant (Education Leave Fund) so that she could study in Paris.

She has had an amazing career.

Now she is pursuing a new venture. She has written a cookbook and is focused on teaching readers how to prepare her recipes.

In today’s episode, we talk teaching and cooking.

She was a New York State mentor for other teachers which we talk about her own mentor and use this as a lead-in to talking about developing a teacher's bag of tricks which I refer to as The Barney Bag. (See the episode of Barney to understand what I am talking about.)

She also shares some great advice to new teachers.(Always share!)

Her mantra was, "Do your job, pull your weight, and get along and you will always be successful!"

She commented that the best part of teaching was the relationships that developed with kids that are now wonderful adults who stay in touch.

Several of the pictures I have included are from an interview with her from AM Buffalo. 

She is currently working on videos to share with her audience. I have seen the previews of these and wow!! You will be able to smell the wonderful meals she is preparing! Is there such a thing as smell-a-vision?

She says that even someone who is cooking challenged like me can learn to prepare her recipes.

Her favorite dish to prepare is eggplant parmesan.

Check out her thoughts about teaching, cooking, and who inspired her.  

She also talks about where the title of the book came from-Sicilian with a French Accent.

Connect with Linda through the websites and email address below.

Look for more videos, soon and check out her cookbook.

Enjoy!

To order copies of Linda's Book, Sicilian with a French Accent: Deliciously Simple Cuisine contact her or go to her website.

Contact Information:

Linda Critelli

716-346-5628

[email protected] 

Linda's website

http://sicilianwithafrenchaccent.weebly.com/

Linda's Blog

http://sicilianwithafrenchaccent.weebly.com/lindax27s-blog

Linda's Interview on AM Buffalo TV (She is making Minestrone soup.)