Hello!

Welcome to SamBen

Language is about more than just vocabulary; it is also about perception and understanding.

I teach because I love to learn.

When I was fifteen (15) years old, I came to live in France for the first time. I was alone, I did not speak a word of French, and I had never been anywhere. In France I found not just a new country but an entire new world. I spent those early years fascinated by not just Paris, but by all of France.

I was most struck by the experience of learning French. This was not just a new language, it was a completely new means of communicating. I was already comfortable in both English and Spanish, but French was altogether different. For me this is an adventure that is still ongoing. It has moved far beyond just the words of the language.

This is what I invite you to share: do not just learn additional vocabulary or phrasal verbs, but how those tools help us express ourselves to our companions and associates in any language. Doing this will help you become more comfortable in English, and most fluent as a natural consequence. We will address culture but our focus will remain on helping you master English.

What does this mean? Click here for more.

There is one common goal : better communication, albeit this time in English. It is my native language, and I love to share it which is a core reason I teach. If you occasionally want to share some French with me, I am ready for that as well! I find contrasting the two languages and cultures helps understand each of them better.

Simply put, I love to see how English morphs into l’esprit français and back again into English. This is a phenomenon that has been underway for centuries. Our countries have a long and intertwining history. I find it amazing, just as much in the way we see and experience it all today, as it evolved over time. If we work together, I hope you will also.

Please come on in. I want to share with you some of what I have learned. If we connect, I hope you will allow me to learn some of what you know and do as well.

Here you face a fork in the road: either you just barely have the time to learn about SamBen Services for language advancement, or perhaps you have a few moments you can spare and would enjoy seeing some puppies? If you have no time for fun and you need just to stay on track researching language studies: that’s fine. All you need to do is either keep reading here, or move forward faster by just clicking here for the next page.

But if you want to take a short break from your busy day and visit with some puppies, click here or just scroll on down to the next button (SamBen Goldens) and take a deep breath and relax.

The work

After my first several years in France, I returned to the United States. I attended and graduated from Stanford Law School. Then I began to practice law in the United States.

Throughout those years, I carried within me an intellectual lodestar, a legacy of my time in France: French statesman Georges Clemenceau. Le Tigre guided me in many areas, certainly including my ethics and principles. And my commitment to justice and fairness.

I practiced as a trial and appellate lawyer. After decades of extensive experience in the U.S. federal courts, I am now back in France.

Over my entire lifetime, France has been generous and given me so very much. My hope now is to return some of that generosity. Daily I enjoy assisting French professionals, helping as they work to improve their mastery of English and to bridge the gulf between the franco-anglo cultures.

If this is what brought you here, just click here or the Home button above, and come learn more about what SamBen can offer you.

However, if you want a moment of détente, just keep reading .

A little bit of play

For decades, as a lawyer I handled countless cases, massive cases and small cases. Each was important to my individual client and therefor to me.

Eventually, various federal judges began to ask that I accept defense of death row inmates. I knew Clemenceau had also done it. Surely this was something I should also do? So I did.

It was a stressful but intellectually challenging area. Qualitatively different from the massive fraud cases, and complex financial transactions, civil rights class actions, and everything else I had known.

Like you, I had always had stress as a daily companion, right alongside my ever present need to communicate effectively.

With time, I found a hobby to counterbalance that massive stress. I started to breed Golden Retrievers. Just one, occasionally two, litters a year. A wonderful way to reduce the stress of my working hours. And to meet many wonderful people I would never otherwise have known. Fellow animal lovers know what I mean.

May I offer you a few moments strolling down some of those memories? Do you really need to read another urgent email this moment, or take yet another phone call from that colleague who never seems happy?

If you can spare a few moments, visit the joyful world of puppies and loving dogs. Click here [or on the Golden Retrievers button above] and enjoy. When you are ready, the work will still be waiting.

When you are ready to come back, just click on the masthead (in the upper left-hand corner of any Goldens page), and you will instantly return to our primary commitment and challenge: our professional work. Until then, Goldens and puppies await. 😀.