Responsible, caring and easygoing bilingual tutor seeking au-pair job for summer 2012 to practice her french

Dear family, my name is mónica. i´m a 20 year-old female spanish university student at the university of valencia law school. i was born in granada, spain, have lived most of my life in the us (metro dc area and florida) but i´m currently residing in a village (puzol) in the outskirts of the city of valencia (spain). i come from a family of five: my parents, two younger brothers and myself. my father is a university full professor and my mother is a homemaker. my younger brother miguel of 18 years is a freshman student of computer science at the polytechnic university of valencia, and the youngest, manuel, 16, is studying his second year of high school at san josé de calasanz, pp. escolapios. i am currently studying my second year of law at the university of valencia, so far with an excellent academic record. after i finish my undergraduate´s degree, i plan on doing my masters abroad and i´m considering france, depending on the subject that i finally decide to specialize in. hence, my need to improve my french, a goal which i hope to accomplish by completely immersing myself into the french culture and language during the upcoming summer breaks. apart from being a native spanish, i lived in the united states for 8 years due to my father´s work abroad with the spanish embassy in the usa and canada. this is why i am a bilingual speaker of spanish and english. i also hold the university of cambridge proficiency exam (c2, native or near-native competence according to the cefr –common european framework of reference for languages-). i also speak at an intermediate level of french (according to the cefr, i have a b1 level accredited by the spanish ministry of education and the university of valencia). i´ve been studying it since i was 14. i took a 4-month intensive course at the institute français of valencia in 2008, and i´m taking weekly lessons (3 hours) at the official language school of sagunto since 2009. however, i´m aware that learning a language in a classroom context is simply not enough; one needs to practice it in real-life situations and get immersed in the rich french culture. i would love to have a first hand experience living and putting into practice all the things that i´ve been learning about for the past 6 years. i´m particularly interested in experiencing family life in france, since it offers a cultural context that will be enriching, from every perspective, linguistic and otherwise. for this reason, i would very much like to find a nice family to live with and work for in france. when it comes to child care experience and education, i have looked after and tutored, in both formal and informal contexts. i started babysitting and tutoring when i lived in northern virginia during my stay in the us, when i was about 14 years old. i looked after children aged 2 to 12. in most of the cases it was also a bilingual english-spanish tutorial session. since i´ve been back in spain, i have taken my private tutoring to a more professional approach (giving english classes to young professionals of law and music); however, i also volunteer at an elementary school for unprivileged children in the afternoons tutoring them in the spanish language, mathematics and english as well as helping them with other extra-curricular activities such as playing sports, music, and educational games. i can comfortably say that i truly enjoy spending time with children. i´ve always willingly participated in my two younger brothers´ upbringing, as well as other young family members and neighbors´ children. when it comes to leisure, i enjoy most of all, being outdoors. i love taking long walks with my dog and enjoying nature. i like spending time with my family and friends, visiting new places, learning new languages, playing the piano and reading. my hobbies include photography, poetry and writing (having won a few awards for my narrative and free-style writing in spanish, when i was a teenager). as far as preferences are concerned, i´m looking for a live-in arrangement with a host family that would be happy to have me stay with and work for them during the summer (from july the 20th to september 13th which is when i start my academic year at the university); i’ll probably be attending a course on continental law at the university of paris from july 2 to july 20. i do not have any preferences as far as the age of the children is concerned (i have taken care of children of all ages). however, although i´m quite flexible, i would prefer to have working hours that would allow me to attend french language classes. i would be delighted to have the opportunity to speak with you, to answer any questions you might have about me or my previous experience, for me to learn more about your family, your interests and to know more about what you expect from the au pair arrangement. thank you very much for your interest in my application. i look forward to hearing from you. sincerely yours, mónica