She traveled to France to improve her language skills and learn more about cultural traditions, but one decision led to French teacher Emily Black slipping off a cliff – falling 40 feet into a cave.

“The trip was wonderful – I was only there for a summer, but I was in a very intense summer education program where all of my teachers were native French speakers,” Black said. “They taught us all in French, and it was graded harshly. But, we got to go on excursions, do all sorts of sightseeing and cultural experiences, and I lived with a host mom. That was wonderful.” 

But before she went on to on to pioneer the French language program at Prosper High School by herself, Black said she wanted to know more – so she left home to learn.

“We went cliff jumping – and, I’m not normally adventurous, but one of the friends that I was with saw people cliff-jumping and decided she wanted to do that,” Black said. “She asked me to try it with her – so we did, and we jumped off once. It was a lot of fun.” 

Afterwards, Black found herself unable to walk, and rescuers came to help her get back on her feet.

“I had a lot of flesh damage to my foot and my leg. I had to go to a hospital, which was a very poor experience.” Black said. “And then the train and car rides with a big flesh wound were difficult, and I ended up getting flesh eating bacteria. So, when I came back to the US, I had to have emergency surgery.”

Black ended up fully recovering – allowing her to continue her studies and to pursue her dream of teaching French.

“I really liked the language when I was studying it, and changed my career paths. I loved the idea of trying to help other people fall in love with the language.”

However, Black hasn’t always wanted to teach French. In college, she had her mind set on a completely different career: physical therapy.

“I knew I wanted to change my career path when I started taking chemistry classes because they were really hard and I didn’t like them, but I would have to take a lot of them before I wanted to be a physical therapist.” Black said. “I had wanted to be a teacher since I was six years old because my aunt was a teacher, and I really looked up to her.”

Madame Black said that thanks to her aunt, she has been able to pursue the career that excites her the most – French.

“So, I changed my path from physical therapy to teaching,” Black said. “I was already majoring in French, and they kind of just fell in hand.”

Black wanted to share her passion of the French language with more people, and teaching at PHS allows her to do that. 

“I just want students to have fun, and realize learning languages is fun, even if they don’t like French,” Black said. “Just to start learning a language in general can be really helpful, and when students start making connections between their native language and other languages, it’s kind of like seeing a light bulb click. That helps them make connections with other things.”

Along with teaching about 170 students, and taking care of a new addition to her family, Black has been the only French teacher at Prosper High School for three years.

“It’s hard work planning, but I do get to collaborate with the other language teachers,” Black said. “All of the staff are wonderful, and the students are too. Most of the students are really motivated to learn and do well, and everybody’s really nice. It’s a great community.”

Despite having an accident in France, Madame Black still loves the country and its language. Black said she’s ‘overjoyed’ to be able to teach the language to students at Prosper High. 

“Whether students like French or not, I hope they will become more confident trying new things and not feel embarrassed about making mistakes while trying something new,” Black said. “I enjoy seeing students excited about the French language and culture. I also hope they will gain some cultural perspectives and possibly gain an interest in traveling, learning about other cultures or learning other languages.”