Foreign Language Teachers out there?

[FutureTeacher33]

[quote="FromPhilly"]Teaching in France is, believe it or not, an option.

I imagine you are on the younger-ish end of things? If you are under 30 (check that age) and a native speaker of English, you can teach as a co-teacher in a French public school. This program is called "Language Assistant". Perhaps the title of the program is off-putting (paybe you dont want to be an "assistant") but seeing what your goal is, teaching in France in this program may be the way forward. You do well there, and then visit personally every international school in the area for a job, and voila!

Buyer beware: having lived in Paris myself, and having worked with French public school teachers - let me tell you; it is no walk in the Bois de Boulogne.

I would recommend going for a small school in the campagne somewhere outside any big city. If you are a francophile like moi, you would have seen that movie "Etre et Avoir" Go for a small country school, like that.

You will find everything you need to apply on this site:

[b]www.edufrance.org[/b]

Also, for jobs in French schools overseas as a Blingual Immersion Teacher, try:

[b]AEFE or La Mission Laique.[/b]

In addition, Swizterland also may have a similar English-Language Teaching program in the Swiss Romande regions. Try the Neuchatel and Geneva areas.

If not, there is always the JET Program. Applications may be starting now. That is in Japan and is a similar program to the French English Language Teaching Program. Of course, Japan is not France (dare I say it - its cooler?) but it is a start. Make your contacts there and move on from there. Cf course, there are plenty of Lycee Francais in Japan, as well...

Ah - to be young and to have so many choices!

Bonne courage, ma puce.[/quote]

Just wanted to start off by saying: we are both from the East Coast! I live in VA. :)

Oh, yeah, I am definitely under the age of 30. I actually just celebrated my 21st birthday a few months ago, haha. I have heard of the program, but I wasn't sure if it was the best option for me or not. Even though I am young, I have a bit of an interesting situation, if you want to call it that lol. I am married and we have two small children. So, based on the salary of the Assistant Program, I was not sure that I would be able to support my family.

I have a background story to all of the post I write on here. I am a young mother with a family who has just entered my freshmen year of college. I am an English major and minoring in French (wanted to double major, but that's too much). I am in a '5 Year Program' to get my Master's in Teaching.

I want to teach abroad in International Schools, but I have heard that a lot of schools do not hire teachers with dependants, especially if one of those dependants include a trailing spouse. So, I have been speaking with people on here trying to get more information about how I can make myself a more competitive candidate for hire because teaching internationally is my dream and I want my family to experience it as well.

I have read things online about French teachers being very...strict, for a lack of a better word at the moment. But if you still think I would have a possibility of being hired after knowing my situation, I will definitely consider the program and use that as a way to network with the International Schools there.

Thank you so much for the bilingual schools in France!! That is great!! Do you happen to know if you have to be certified to teach Elementary? I am not going for elementary certification simply because I have been told that although in demand, it's a saturated field, so it's best for me to avoide at all cost, being that I have dependants.

Any additional info you can give is appreciated and thank you for your reply!