Starting up, teaching English in France....

Question

Hi Everybody,I've just found this site and have registered as a member... I'm an Englishman living in France (Normandy) and am considering, as a career change, teaching English to local French people, businessmen etc.Could anyone out there, who is already doing this in France, maybe give me the benefit of their experience? A sort of 'idiot's guide', if you will. I'm looking at the TEFL course and wondering, is that the benchmark, an essential tool to get started. And if so, are there a number of courses to choose from or is there a single, recognised, all-in-one course? Any comments/ shared experiences would be much appreciated.Best regards in advance,Richard.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Hi Richard

There are many ways of earning a living teaching English in France, and although I am not doing this myself in France, I know a lot of our students who have done. If you visit this webpage you will see some of their experiences and it might give you a few ideas on how you can get started: http://www.global-english.com/hr30b8mi/france.htm

Similarly there are any different courses you can do to get started, with a range of different specialist options.

Hope this helps
WilliamB

Emmeladelyn · Answer

hi,
I've recently started teaching English in Bordeaux and looked into more of the different options before going for independent one to one tuition. If you're looking for a TEFL course in France, I think they're pretty rare, I ended up doing a correspondance course and giving lessons at the same time - allowing me to put the theory into practice as I went along. That actually worked really well for me, even if I missed having fellow students to bounce ideas off or help me get to grips with things.

As for the different options, as the previous reply suggests, there are a wealth of options open to you once you have got a TEFL. If not, the French are really aware of their lack of speaking and listening skills (as you may have noticed) and rate native english speakers very highly for private lessons, homework support for teenagers and maybe even working as a language assistant in primary schools. To work in schools you just go through an interview where you demonstrate your ideas, your competence in both languages and your knowledge of the common european framework of reference for languages.

Good luck and I hope this helped.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi,
I realised you posted this about 2 years ago so the chances of you replying are slim however im trying to gather as much information as possible at the moment.

I moved to Bordeaux 3 months ago and I am just going to start teaching english to children through a company called Babylangues, which is great until the summer but I need to start gathering ideas of what I can do next year.

I only currently have my A levels as my highest qualification, because I dropped out of university after my first year of drama, as I felt it was waisting my time and money, and I moved to Bordeaux (long story).

When you say you did a correspondance course, i have read up a little about it, but what sort of qualifications does this give you? and how long does it last for?
I have no idea which direction to go in, 1, i could take a degree in France for becoming an English teacher (but I find it unlikely I can be accepted without being fluent in French, and my French is not bad but im definatly not fluent) 2, take a TEFL which I think is possible in Toulouse for one month, but I feel like thats alot of money, and im a little sceptical about having a TEFL and no degree to back it up. 3, I heard that it is possible to work in schools without the qualification to say your an teacher, but dont quite understand how that works.

I hope you get this, please reply.
Thankyou

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Emmeladelyn,

I am very much interested in working in France as a teacher. I was looking into the International schools in Bordeaux since I have been a teacher for nine years as well as having my masters in Education. Is there any extra accreditation needed to be able to be employ by them?
Looking forward to your response,
Sincerely,
Berenice

Amelia Coco Spatz · Answer

Hi,

My husband will be starting a masters degree in Bordeaux this coming fall. I am desperately looking for a job so that I can afford going with him.

Could you please tell me how you got your job in Bordeaux? How did things work out for you? And also, if you still have contacts for me to apply for a job there would be great!

Thanks in advance!

Amelia

Starting up, teaching English in France....

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