Guillemette Fiot Ullmann (BA, MA, Lyon, BA, MA, Grenoble) arrived for the first time in Macau where she discovered Chinese culture. After moving to Hong Kong the following year, she decided to learn Cantonese instead of Mandarin in order to better integrate with Hong Kong and understand both the people and their culture, as well as the difficulties of her students learning French.

She has taught in many places such as Hong Kong, Macau and Lyon where she was born. There, at the University Lumiere Lyon 2, she obtained a Master’s degree in Literature and Linguistics, and wrote an essay about the poetry of Argentinean tango while studying in Spain. Willing to conciliate her love of languages (she also speaks Spanish and German), travel and work, she went to the University of Stendhal Grenoble 3 to study French as a Foreign Language (FLE) and obtained a Master’s degree. She was then sent to Macau where she wrote an essay about Chinese students learning French in Macau and Hong Kong.

Nowadays, her research interest focuses on the comparison of French and Chinese methodologies to teach languages from a historical point of view while trying to learn more about Chinese philosophy.

Guillemette took her teaching position with the French programme at HKU in September 2011.

Nathalie Iseli-Chan (BA, MA Besançon) holds a BA in Teaching French as a Foreign Language and a MA in Applied Languages.

In Asia since 2002, she first taught FFL in Osaka, Japan, then in Guangzhou to finally settle down in Hong Kong in 2005 to join the Alliance Française.  Later in 2007, she was recruited as a French instructor by the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There, she developed a strong interest for new technologies applied to learning and teaching. With her colleague from the French team she contributed to the development of the e-learning platform Moodle and its integration into the curriculum of the French Program. She also devised and implemented several moodle-based learning projects to enhance students’ learning as well as increase their exposure to the French language and culture. The (use of the) platform was awarded twice for its pedagogical innovation and a couple of projects were presented at several international conferences, included ICEL (International Conference on E-Learning). 

Her research interest focus on the application of new technologies to learning and teaching FFL and its influence on second language learners' behavior both in and outside the classroom, as well as the use of French as a lingua franca.

Nathalie joined the French programme at the University of Hong Kong in September 2010.

Marie Li Ying (BA, Foreign Languages University Beijing, MA, Middleburry). After her graduation in French, Marie taught French at Capital Normal University in Beijing for a period of two years. Then she moved to Hong Kong and continued to teach French at the Alliance Française. Marie Li completed her MA in French in the United States, while living in Paris for a year. Her thesis was a discussion on the characters in Maupassant’s novel Bel Ami. She took her appointment at HKU in 1994.

She is the author of “Pound, Valéry, and the translation of Pound into Chinese” and co-author of "Reading and Writing Chinese" (Tuttle, 1999). She is a regular editor of course materials for language learning and translation. She recently translated four children’s books that were published in 2010 by Yunnan Education Publishing House: Expériences avec l’air; Expériences avec les aimants; Expériences avec les sens; Expériences avec pour les petits curieux, published originally in 2007 by French publisher Nathan/Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie.

Besides the teaching of BA core language courses at all levels, Marie Li runs Chinese/French translation courses which aim at developing the learners' confidence through a contrastive approach. Her main areas of research and teaching development are French contemporary literature and French culture and civilization.

Valérie Martinez (BA, MA, Lyon). A former student at the University of Lyon (Université Louis Lumière Lyon 2), Valérie holds a Master's degree in School Management, Education and Cooperation and a B.A in the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language (FLE).

After her first studies in psychology and speech therapy in France, she went on to further studies in a field that could combine teaching and travel. From the year 2000 onwards, she taught in France, Switzerland, Croatia and eventually settled down in Hong Kong in 2005. Valérie Martinez took her teaching position in the French programme at HKU in January 2006.

Her research areas focus on student mobility, virtual mobility, intercultural skills and French as a lingua franca.

Denis C. Meyer (BA, MA, Paris, PhD, HK) arrived in Hong Kong in 1986 and has lived there ever since. He was born in Paris, France, where he completed his general and tertiary education, obtaining both his BA in French literary studies and MA in comparative literature from the University of Paris X. Later, his doctoral thesis focused on the cultural representation of Japan in French literature.

From 1986 to 1988, he held a teaching position at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, he then initiated the French programme at HKU-SPACE in 1988 and was director of the Shatin centre of the Alliance française of Hong Kong (1988-1989) before joining the University of Hong Kong in 1989. He was chairman of the Hong Kong French Teachers Association from 1992 to 2000 and has acted in many instances as consultant, examiner and board member for local educational bodies, such as the Hong Kong Examinations Authority (HKEA), the DELF-DALF examination board and the Institute of Education (HKIED). He is also an associate member of the French Trade Advisors Committee (Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur) and a registered Subject Specialist at the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation. Dr Meyer was bestowed the Knight in the Order of the Academic Palms by the French Government in 2008 in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of French language and culture in Hong Kong.

His present research and teaching interests range from the didactics of language and culture, French literature, crosscultural studies and the Western interpretation of the Far East in literature. His recent books include A Floating World, Kikou Yamata's Cultural Mediation of Japan (Paris, L'Harmattan, 2009) and Keys to France in 80 Cultural Icons (Paris, Hachette, 2010). As director of the French programme at HKU, he is committed to the continued development of a sound academic programme of French studies that responds to the expectations of the University's community. [bibliography]