When Nathanial White was asked whether his French teacher actually spoke French, he replied, yes – but with a caveat.

“’Bonjour,’ but everybody knows that,” White told KHOU.

Albert Moyer, a French teacher at Houston Independent School District’s Energy Institute High School, is under fire for not actually speaking the language he teaches. Moyer told KHOU his experience includes just a year of high school French.

Moyer was hired after the school’s longtime French instructor, Jean Cius, was removed in December following a dispute. Cius said he now just monitors the halls at another Houston school.

“I feel so bad for the taxpayers because they’re paying me for not doing anything at all,” Cius said.

White said if students now have a question about their French studies they have to search the answer on Google.

“It can often become a difficult task to find certified foreign language teachers, in the middle of the academic school year, to fill the needs of the district,” HISD said in a statement to KHOU. “Effective French teachers are especially hard to come by. However, the district continues its efforts to hire talented foreign language teachers to instruct HISD students.”