Bonjour et bienvenue a AmeriCorps! My name is AnneMarie Allward, and I'm from the beautiful state of Michigan. I went to Ferris State University, where I studied English Composition with minors in French and Philosophy. After I finished in 2005, I went to France for two (school) years to improve my French and experience French culture first hand as an English assistant, where I taught English conversation and American culture to small groups of French high school students. I had been interested in being involved with either the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps for several years, so upon returning to the States, I joined Literacy* AmeriCorps both to dedicate a year to service, as well as to gain some more teaching experience to help me decide whether I would like to get my TEFL certification and make a career of teaching English abroad. My site is Adopt-a-Family of the Palm Beaches. I teach English to Spanish-speaking adults in the mornings, and I'm a literacy tutor in the afternoons to children grades K-5. I couldn't think of a better site for me to be at. I get the best of both worlds: helping adults to improve their quality of life in a new country by teaching them the language skills necessary to succeed, and reading to cute little kids, witnessing the miracle of when a child connects the oral to the written, enabling him or her to read his or her first book. Adopt-a-Family has adopted me into their family, and I am enjoying every moment of my time here as an AmeriCorps member.