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New Faces Feature:: Madame Wentworth

After 13 years in Europe and twenty years of teaching, French teacher Emily Wentworth, better known as “Madam Wentworth” is tackling a new challenge-teaching Woodland students.

Although this is Wentworth’s first year teaching at Woodland, she worked for 20 years in the field.  She spent 10 years teaching French at Trumbull High School and has split 10 years among Hamden, Haddam, Killingworth, and Yale University.

“At Yale, I had taught over 17 courses from beginning to advanced French,” explained Wentworth.

In earlier years, Wentworth majored in English while attending Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts. She pursued English and Medieval studies in Scotland for one year while living in St. Andrews, “a beautiful medieval town,” as Wentworth describes it.

“For two more years I worked in a print shop in Edinburgh, Scotland which was run by the Scottish Arts Council.”

After being in Scotland, she wanted to stay in Europe as a professional artist, so she moved to Paris. Wentworth only took one year of French in High school but after moving to Europe she was able to learn the language.

“I lived the language.” says Wentworth.

As an independent artist, she worked in the same atelier (studio) as some major artists of the 20th century, such as Picasso, Chagall, and Miro.

“It was a fascinating experience,” says Wentworth, “being able to touch the wall and say “Picasso leaned up against this wall,” was so surreal.”

Wentworth’s artwork was unlike any other. She specialized in etching and engraving, an art form she first learned about as a child.

“Years ago, when I was little, I went to Williamsburg Virginia and visited the blacksmith shop. I saw the blacksmith engraving metal decorative pieces for the butts of rifles. It was so interesting!” she explained.

After her time in Europe, Wentworth moved back to the states and studied for obtained her in French at Yale University. Now she is ready to put her skills to good use teaching Woodland students the art of the French language.