This (or something closely related, like its more grown up cousin "How'd you get this amazing opportunity?") is a question I get all of the time. So I figured I'd address it early on in the life of this little bébé blog.
***WARNING: If you are a fellow TAPIF-er or you already know about the program or you don't care how I'm getting there and you just want to wait and read about what actually happens once I'm there, feel free to skip this post. I will not be offended.***
If you are interested in what I'm actually going to be doing (i.e., who is actually paying me to live in France and why), read on!
How DID I get this opportunity? Well, first of all, let me explain what exactly this opportunity is. I'm going to France through a program called the Teaching Assistant Program in France (henceforth known as TAPIF). It's a program sponsored by the Ministère de l'éducation nationale (of the French government) as a way to give French students the opportunity to learn foreign languages, in this case English, through exposure to native speakers. I'm going to give an overview, but you can get all the deets from the program website, which is in English. (If you're interested on applying in the future (**hint hint former students hint hint**), click away in the "prospective applicants" section.)
Basic requirements/application components:
-Be a native speaker of English
-Have a certain level of proficiency in French (you don't have to be fluent!), as evidenced by either a professor reference (merci SD!) or a test (I forget what it's called; there are a few options)
-Be between 20 & 30 years old
-Have a good professional reference (merci RT!)
-Fill out an application detailing your travel/study/work/teaching experiences
-Write a personal statement in French
Duties, should you be accepted:
-Teach (or help teach) English for 12 hours/week in France. That's right. I said 12 hours/week. (Notice the ASSISTANT in the title of the program.) Maybe you didn't really let that settle in all the way. 12.hours.per.week. Now that I've stressed that important and incredibly attractive detail, I'll explain that duties vary by school. From what I understand, some schools actually have you teach groups of kids by yourself. Some schools have you assist a teacher in a classroom setting. Some have you host small discussion groups or individual conversation pullouts. Some have you tutor students, or run an English club. Really, it's up to the discretion of the individual school(s), and it could be any combination of any of these things.
-Manage to live on 780 EUR/month. That's right. I said €780/month. This is (as of today) the equivalent of about 959 USD/month. Yes, mes amis, I will soon be broke. You know it's bad when this salary makes my public educator's salary look GIANT.
Regarding how exactly I got the opportunity... well, I applied. :) Ta-daaa!
So, that's basically the deal! Will I be rich? Nope. But there are more important things. I feel like, looking back on this experience, I will never, ever find myself saying, "Man, I really regret that year I spent living near the Mediterranean meeting interesting people and eating brioche. I mean, I was so BROKE." Also, 12 hours/week? That's basically a vacation. I feel as if I'm being paid (however meagerly) to take a year off, all the while improving my French language skills, my knowledge of French culture, my résumé, and hopefully my sanity (because the past five years have been stress-ful, straight up). What will I do with the 156 free hours/week, you may ask? I don't know, people. Read a book. Take a nap. Meet some people. Write some blog posts with which to entertain you. Sit by the beach. Who knows. (Though I have heard that finding things to fill those 156 hours is crucial and if you don't, you may actually go insane and/or get depressed. So that'll be something I'll need to figure out. Imma try to beat it. Katy vs. the Crazy.)
If you've ever thought that maybe you'd like to be broke, live in a foreign country, and have an adventure, maybe this is for you! I'll leave you with a link to a very funny TAPIF-related post from another blog by Jessica, who participated in the program this past year. (By the way, I've read her entire blog and it's fantastic!) Enjoy. :)
ps: Today = exactly 1 month until I leave!
***WARNING: If you are a fellow TAPIF-er or you already know about the program or you don't care how I'm getting there and you just want to wait and read about what actually happens once I'm there, feel free to skip this post. I will not be offended.***
If you are interested in what I'm actually going to be doing (i.e., who is actually paying me to live in France and why), read on!
How DID I get this opportunity? Well, first of all, let me explain what exactly this opportunity is. I'm going to France through a program called the Teaching Assistant Program in France (henceforth known as TAPIF). It's a program sponsored by the Ministère de l'éducation nationale (of the French government) as a way to give French students the opportunity to learn foreign languages, in this case English, through exposure to native speakers. I'm going to give an overview, but you can get all the deets from the program website, which is in English. (If you're interested on applying in the future (**hint hint former students hint hint**), click away in the "prospective applicants" section.)
Basic requirements/application components:
-Be a native speaker of English
-Have a certain level of proficiency in French (you don't have to be fluent!), as evidenced by either a professor reference (merci SD!) or a test (I forget what it's called; there are a few options)
-Be between 20 & 30 years old
-Have a good professional reference (merci RT!)
-Fill out an application detailing your travel/study/work/teaching experiences
-Write a personal statement in French
Duties, should you be accepted:
-Teach (or help teach) English for 12 hours/week in France. That's right. I said 12 hours/week. (Notice the ASSISTANT in the title of the program.) Maybe you didn't really let that settle in all the way. 12.hours.per.week. Now that I've stressed that important and incredibly attractive detail, I'll explain that duties vary by school. From what I understand, some schools actually have you teach groups of kids by yourself. Some schools have you assist a teacher in a classroom setting. Some have you host small discussion groups or individual conversation pullouts. Some have you tutor students, or run an English club. Really, it's up to the discretion of the individual school(s), and it could be any combination of any of these things.
-Manage to live on 780 EUR/month. That's right. I said €780/month. This is (as of today) the equivalent of about 959 USD/month. Yes, mes amis, I will soon be broke. You know it's bad when this salary makes my public educator's salary look GIANT.
Regarding how exactly I got the opportunity... well, I applied. :) Ta-daaa!
So, that's basically the deal! Will I be rich? Nope. But there are more important things. I feel like, looking back on this experience, I will never, ever find myself saying, "Man, I really regret that year I spent living near the Mediterranean meeting interesting people and eating brioche. I mean, I was so BROKE." Also, 12 hours/week? That's basically a vacation. I feel as if I'm being paid (however meagerly) to take a year off, all the while improving my French language skills, my knowledge of French culture, my résumé, and hopefully my sanity (because the past five years have been stress-ful, straight up). What will I do with the 156 free hours/week, you may ask? I don't know, people. Read a book. Take a nap. Meet some people. Write some blog posts with which to entertain you. Sit by the beach. Who knows. (Though I have heard that finding things to fill those 156 hours is crucial and if you don't, you may actually go insane and/or get depressed. So that'll be something I'll need to figure out. Imma try to beat it. Katy vs. the Crazy.)
If you've ever thought that maybe you'd like to be broke, live in a foreign country, and have an adventure, maybe this is for you! I'll leave you with a link to a very funny TAPIF-related post from another blog by Jessica, who participated in the program this past year. (By the way, I've read her entire blog and it's fantastic!) Enjoy. :)
ps: Today = exactly 1 month until I leave!
I saw that someone found my blog (I'm Jessica from Doing It in French) through yours. Thank you so much for the shout out, I'm really quite flattered. Hope it's going well!
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