Sébastian Merle joined the World Languages Department this school year to teach French II, Honors French II , French III and Honors French III. Merle previously worked as a French teacher at The Polytechnic School for the last two years.

Merle studied at the Universite de Toulouse Le Mirail in France, and then received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Merle taught French for ten years at the Newton Public Schools in Massachusetts and was a French teacher and the Global Languages Department Chair at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes for ten years.   

Merle said teaching at the school had always been his long-time goal, but was difficult to achieve given the school’s limited employment openings. 

“Because of the reputation of the school, Harvard-Westlake had been on my radar, so I was excited to see they had an opening,” Merle said. “The teacher I am replacing was here since 1996, so there are not a lot of openings very often. I was looking forward to having the opportunity to teach at Harvard-Westlake at some point.”

Merle said he enjoys supporting students to take risks in a comfortable environment.

“I love teaching students to take risks because learning a new language is stressful,” Merle said. ”I’m looking forward to meeting my students because all my students will be new to me.”

Merle said he spends his free time watching movies, being outside and interacting with nature.

“I’m a big cinephile,” Merle said. “I watch a lot of movies, I’ve done deep dives on special directors, basically I’m a movie nerd. I hike a lot. I really like to hike around the San Gabriel mountains, and really anywhere in the greater Los Angeles area. I love being outside, and I love hiking.”

Merle said in joining the school community he will bring experience and excitement towards learning French.

“Experience, from my previous schools, and excitement for learning languages,” Merle said. “I like to say the classroom is my happy place because that’s where I thrive. What I bring is really an excitement for learning.”