The Cordell Hull Foundation presents in-person orientations around the country on the East and West Coasts and in between, depending upon the number of new teachers in a given year.  We consider the orientation the most important part of the J-1 Visa Teacher Exchange Program, training in the complicated J-1 visa and preparation for culture shock and the inevitable adjustments to living in a different culture.

ORIENTATION TRAINERS

Franck REYNAUD

An educator and administrator certified by the French Ministry of Education with broad experience in France and the United States, Franck first came to the United States in 2002 in J-1 teacher visa status sponsored by CHF and stayed.  Single at the time, he fell in love and married an American woman, stayed in sunny Southern California starting a family and working at a French-American school for 8 years. After graduating in Biology from Université des Sciences de Montpellier, France, he completed his teaching credential while working as a windsurfing instructor/life guard in the beautiful seaside town of Le Grau du Roi, France.  

He became principal in 2010, completed at the University of California Los Angeles his Early Childhood Administrator credentials and Business Emergency Response Team (BERT) Certification with the Santa Ana Police Foundation. Additionally, he was a consultant for Barron’s Educational Series for the AP French test preparation book.

Thus he has a wealth of in-depth experience in how French-American schools work in the US. We are fortunate that he is now sharing his expertise to run Cordell Hull Foundation orientations in both French and English to help support new French teachers arriving in the US in these difficult Covid times.

AIBING JIA

Aibing JIA was born and educated in China, earning Bachelors and Masters degrees in English linguistics at East China University of Science and Tech and in English literature at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

She also holds the Certificate in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) jointly from Teachers College at Columbia University, New York City and Beijing Foreign Studies University, in Teaching Chinese by Nanjing University, and in Teaching Mandarin to Non-Chinese Speakers by Dalian University where she received Confucius Institute pre-job training.
Aibing speaks Mandarin, English and Spanish and is also fluent in French. She lived in Luxembourg for over a year from 2014 to 2015. 
She has lived and worked in Hangzhou and Shanghai, China, in New York City, and currently in Vancouver, Canada, where she teaches English.
Aibing has presented several orientations for the Cordell Hull Foundation in New York City. She wrote the script and exhibits and narrated the CHF instruction video explaining to Chinese teachers how to prepare the CHF Cultural Activity Report, viewable on https://vimeo.com/294063500
She will present the CHF orientation in Mandarin for the Chinese Exchange program in Kentucky in July 2021.  A video will be produced and available for viewing on the Cordell Hull Foundation website later in the year.

Marianne MASON

For the past twenty years, Marianne Mason has designed and presented orientations for new incoming foreign teachers granted J-1 visas through the Cordell Hull Foundation in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington DC, Atlanta, Dallas and other US cities in English and French.  Upon invitation from the Greek and French governments, she traveled to Paris and Athens in 2009-10 to deliver J-1 teacher visa orientations for foreign teachers coming to the US to help them make the most of their experience in sharing their culture with ours.  Ms. Mason has overseen the growth of CHF’s teacher exchange program spanning two decades from 30 to 700 teachers annually.  

She earned a Masters degree in Non-Profit management from New School University NYC in 2005, and a post-graduate certificate from Stanford University, upon invitation, for Non-profit leaders in 2008. 

Her book J-1 Visa Uncloaked–Complete Cultural Training Guide, is available on Amazon.com.  It contains the Foundation’s new-teacher orientation materials compiled over a decade of collaborating with professional foreign educators:  Orientation Manual, Pre-Arrival guide for exchange teachers, Visa and Immigration Booklets, and Orientation quiz materials in six languages.  Version II was updated in 2015, and the third edition is now being edited.

Ms. Mason belonged to two teachers unions while working as a public elementary school French teacher and adult technology teacher.  She achieved Feng Shui certification, studying in New York and China, and speaks French and Spanish.

Video summarizing CHF accomplishments:  www.vimeo.com/700102623

Betty YU, Ph.D

Betty Sheng-Huei Yu  于聖惠 was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the US when she was nine years old.  She is a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese.  She has given orientations for new teachers in J-1 visa status for the Cordell Hull Foundation for several years. Currently, she works as an Instructional Specialist for the Metro Nashville Public Schools.  She has twelve years of teaching and administrative experience in the K-12 public education system. Also Dr. Yu served four years as Associate Director for the Confucius Institute at Western Kentucky University (WKU).

Betty has a broad educational background including a BS in Economics from Vanderbilt University, Masters in Elementary School Counseling, Rank I in Supervisor of Instruction, and Education Doctorate in the Organizational Leadership strand from Western Kentucky University.

Susana GHIO

Susana Ghio served as an educator and administrator in Oregon public Schools for many years.  Susana has presented orientations to CHF Spanish teachers in Oregon, Detroit,  Indianapolis, Idaho and Utah.  She represented CHF at the Capacitacion in Puebla, Mexico in March 2016 where she presented an J-1 Visa orientation for 90 exchange teachers for the Mexican Migrant summer program and tested their English competence.

For the past few years, she conducted a mid-year Encuentra for CHF teachers of Spanish to obtain feedback on their challenges to adjusting to life in the US.

Susana narrated three CHF orientation videos which can be accessed on this website under Orientation:  https://cordell-hull.org//videos

Benjamin ORILLON

Benjamin Orillon is a bilingual American citizen, native to France.  He served as President of the Association of French Schools in North America, an organization of forty-five US and Canadian French-American schools certified to teach the national curriculum of France, from 2006 to 2010.

He has moderated CHF orientations in both French and English in San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas, and New York City.

Currently Lower School Head at the French American School of Puget Sound (near Seattle, Washington), he previously served as Chief Admin Officer of the Lycée Français de San Francisco, Head of the Lycée Louis Pasteur in Calgary, Canada, Lower School Principal of the International School of the Peninsula, in Palo Alto, California, and Head of School of the bilingual French-Japanese Kansai French School in Kyoto, Japan.

Benjamin earned a BA in Linguistics from University of Rouen and holds a teaching degree from Ecole Normale du Var, having also taught at various schools in France and the French International School in Hong Kong.

On June 22, a Presidential proclamation blocked the issuance of J-1 teacher visas until January 1, 2021.  Teachers receive notices of seminara scheduled directly from the Cordell Hull Foundation. 

2021-22 SCHEDULE