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Once you've found a place to live and filed enough paperwork to avoid being deported, you can relax a bit and enjoy your
surroundings. You'll suffer through periodic intervals of démarches administratives, but remember that you only work 12
hours a week and have ample vacation time. Your teaching responsibilities will depend on your school level you work and where you work. (The assistantship program is not
well standardized across the country or even across académies). In any case, the work will almost certainly be better described as “teaching” than “assisting:” you will make lessons on your
own, teach class on your own, and often discipline students on your own. This may come as a surprise, since everything about the
assistantship program implies the opposite (the name, the applicant qualifications, the salary…). It's the difference between
theory and application. You will have a week to two of "observation" before you actually begin teaching. Take advantage of this time to see how
teachers interact with their students — it can be quite different than in the US. Attend as many classes as you can, especially
with the teachers you'll be working with (but you could even attend ones in other subjects — it's interesting), and insist on
observing before you jump into teaching. It helps a lot. Your first few classes will probably be the most difficult to prepare for since you won't know what to expect. Fortunately,
you can take advantage of your “new, interesting foreigner” status to entrance the students for at least the first few lessons
without really teaching very much. When you first appear in front of the class, introduce yourself in English with detail appropriate for the students’ English
knowledge (name, age, home country, etc…). Before everyone's eyes glaze over completely, stop and ask “Qu'est-ce que vous
avez compris?” Through comprehension and guesswork, they should eventually recite most of what you said. Continuing your introduction, ask the students if they have any questions about your home country. They should have a lot of
questions, more than you'll likely want to answer. When this becomes tedious, you can move on to a lesson about the anglophone
countries of the world — the only required material is the classroom's world map — and before you know it your three quarters of
an hour will be up. One way or another, you’ll need a copy of the class roll to learn the students’ names. That is, unless you remember names like
Anaïs the first time you hear them. Get a roll from the teacher or administration office, or make your own. It's also a good idea to let the kids introduce themselves — it gets them to talk instead of talking about yourself. Give them
a model, then when they tell you something, ask open ended (not yes or no) questions about it — what kind of movies do you like?
Where do you play basketball? etc. If you are teaching high school, expect the first few lessons to be more demanding. The kids will likely understand nearly
everything you say in English, so you will need to have a lesson or an activity for every class. Since you're only paid to work twelve hours a week, and you’re assigned twelve hours in front of students, you’ll probably be
reluctant to do much class preparation work. But out of charity for your students and your own self esteem, you should probably
devote some time to it. You will feel better about your job if you teach your students something new with every lesson. Don't get too caught up the
official vocabulary lists and séance guidelines. The best way for you, a native language speaker, to contribute is to
pass on useful, popular vocabulary. Work in language units (family, animals, food…) and come up with games. There are a lot of things you can do with a minimum of
preparation, and a lot of things you can reuse. Just don't repeat the same exercises too much or you’ll bore the students into
misbehaving. You may also bore yourself. One thing that helps is to keep a detailed record of everything you do with every class in every
session. This will help you make sure that you can repeat your lessons for all of your students. Depending on your school and
teachers, you may have one group of kids twice a week or just once a month. You might have one student at a time; you might have
30. It's not easy to teach English to French kids of any age. If you're not a natural teacher, you may get frustrated. Don't
expect too much help from the teachers. Either they'll be eager to help you, or you'll just be a way for them to get an hour off.
Remember that it's a part-time job, and that you're in France to learn French, travel and drink wine. Class time passes and,
every couple of months, you get two weeks off. You are probably used to handling much of your personal business over the phone. The idea of going to a local office to talk
about a billing issue seems quaint. Why not just call the free customer service number, wait on hold for a few minutes, and
settle things from the comfort of your living room? This is not the way things are done in France. First of all, free numbers are rare. Most customer service numbers in France
are toll numbers that cost much more than calling a standard number in France, or even calling the United States! With the
discount phone company TELE2 (http://www.tele2.fr/), calls to the U.S. cost 0.06 € a minute; calling the SNCF for information on
the latest train strike will run you 0.34 € per minute. Even if you are willing to pay the high price of the call, you will find you can't accomplish very much as the minutes are
ticking away. You'll be working in a foreign language without the aid of gestures and aren't likely to get much empathy from your
interlocutor. Often, it is strictly impossible to solve anything over the phone. If you need help with your bank account you will be told,
no matter how nicely (or desperately) you ask, that you must visit your local branch during its working hours. The solution is to abandon what you know from your home country and do things the French way: show up in person. If it's
possible to make an appointment somewhere, make one. Otherwise, wait in line. That way you won't waste any money, and your
chances of resolving the problem are better. As a teaching assistant with more free time than disposible income, it's the
sensible choice. Language assistants have all of the vacations that students have. That means you have about a week off at the end of October,
two weeks off at the end of December, a week off in February, and two weeks off in April. Don't go home unless you have to.
Instead, take advantage of France's central location and travel as much as you can. As mentioned elsewhere in this survival guide, the Carte 12-25 is essential for young assistants, saving you 25 – 50% on every
trip. If you're over 25, you can still benefit from Prem's (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage?_CMD=cmdLowFare&WB=HP_A) fares (which must be
reserved on the Web from two weeks to two months in advance, with no possibility of changing or cancelling the ticket). Take a
Prem's to Paris and then a night Prem's to Rome, for
example. For complicated SNCF reservations (excepting Prem's), find out if your town has a Boutique SNCF (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/info_resa/guide_du_voyageur/Adresses.htm) separate from the train
station. There, you can sit down with a usually capable employee and work out a complicated itinerary of which the Web site (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/) is incapable. Don't be afraid of night trains. Traveling in a sleeper car is an effective way to get somewhere far away without wasting too
much time. Usually it costs a bit more to travel in a couchette (sometimes you can opt instead for a siège
inclinable), but with a Prem's fare it's the same price. When you travel overnight, the ticket controller will usually hang
onto your ticket and your passport all night. This is nerve-wracking, but you can't do anything about it. Remember to put your
belongings somewhere safe while you're sleeping. Depending on how close you are to another country, you might also benefit from that country's or that region's train service.
If you're in the Southwest and want to go into Spanish Basque Country, look into Euskotren (http://www.euskotren.es/) which extends all
the way to the SNCF station at Hendaye. Within other countries there are whole train and bus networks, just as in France. In
Spain, there is Renfe
(http://www.renfe.es/index1.html), Autores (http://www.auto-res.net/index.html?a), and Alsa (http://www.alsa.es/Alsaindex.asp). Spanish trains aren't great, and the Spanish seem to get around
mainly in buses, which are cheaper and faster. In Italy, there's Trenitalia
(http://www.trenitalia.com/). The Italian version of their website is much more useful,
and even if you don't speak Italian you can probably navigate it with your knowledge of French. Italian trains are cheap and
frequent. They tend to move slowly and sometimes off-schedule, but their ticket machines make it seem easy to get anywhere.
Prices of Italian trains depend on the distance you're traveling and what kind of train you are in. Look at a few different fares
on the machine before you decide. Prices from Naples to Rome, for example, vary from 10 € to 30 €. Resist the temptation to buy a Eurail pass
(http://www.eurail.com). Unless you can determine that it will save you money, it
probably won't. Furthermore, many Eurail pass-holders have to pay supplements on certain trains (like the TGV and night
trains). Don't forget to validate your train ticket when necessary. Most countries require it. Apart from trains, you might be able to take advantage of cheap European airlines, like RyanAir (http://www.ryanair.com),
Easyjet (http://www.easyjet.com), and Volare (http://buy.volareweb.com/jsp/web/index.jsp). Sometimes you have to fly through London, but if
you're near another hub airport (such as in Nice or Lyon), you might not. Keep in mind that these airlines have extremely rigid
luggage limits and arrival times. You might forfeit your ticket by arriving less than an hour in advance. Americans are allowed to rent cars in France, and sometimes this is the best option if you're traveling with three or four
other people. Rates vary, and there is usually a surcharge for those under 25. Some sites to look at: For driving directions, the best site is Mappy (http://www.mappy.fr/). On their site you can select
directions for toll roads or free roads, and unlike Mapquest (http://www.mapquest.fr), they give you toll and
gas costs. This is useful when making a budget. On that note, you should know that there are two ways to drive around France. One is on the modern and expensive Autoroutes, the other is on the free, but slower,
routes nationales. If you're not in a hurry, the free option is nice. But remember that your kilometers are probably
limited in a rental car, and that free roads use more of them. Plan accordingly. Make sure you don't surpass your kilometrage, because it gets expensive per kilometer once you're over. Also, make
sure the gas tank is full when you return the car or you'll be charged la peau des fesses. Similarly, if you're traveling with a bunch of friends, consider renting an apartment for a long weekend in foreign city.
Flatsbydays (http://www.flatsbydays.com) has great rates in Barcelona . That way, you can buy your food in a grocery store and not have to go out for
every meal and cup of coffee. If you must stay in a hotel, shop around before reserving. Eurocheapo (http://www.eurocheapo.com) has good, cheap suggestions for numerous European capitals. You might
also benefit from last-minute hotel sites, like Rates to Go (http://ratestogo.com). Most European cities have an abundance of pension hotels, which are in between a hotel and a hostel. You have your own room
but share a bathroom with other people. Many of these establishments do not take reservations. They ask you to just show up in
the morning and see what's available. This may seem totally illogical, but if you get to a city in the morning you're sure to
find something quickly. If you're driving a long distance and need to stay somewhere on the road, look into Formule1 hotels (http://www.hotelformule1.com/formule1/index.html). Rooms are in between 20€ and 30€ per night for
up to three people (but the entire system is automated, so no one will notice if you walk in with four or even eight people). The rumors about thieves are true. Be unreasonably cautious with your belongings at all times, especially on trains and at
beaches. Don't fall asleep in a public place, and don't carry anything important in your back pocket. |
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