Teaching English in France was FANTASTIC!

When I was trying to decide how to spend my summer, I knew I wanted to do something that combined my love of traveling as well as my career goals to one day become a teacher. InterExchange was able to provide just that! Once I began the application process, I was immediately contacted by Shadi, who gave me more information, and was a huge help along the way, from the first day to the last. By the time I was heading to the airport, I felt very prepared. Once I arrived in France, everything just fell into place! My host family was incredible, and so welcoming. I truly felt like a member of their family. There are a lot of different layers to an experience like this one. Tutoring wise, my situation was a little tricky, since I was helping a 6 year old, a 13 year old, and a 15 year old, who were all at completely different levels. But the challenge was fun! It's a good way to get creative and start practicing for my future - there are so many ways to incorporate fun into learning. One of my favorite memories was looking up lyrics to the kids' favorite songs and learning new vocabulary from that, and then singing karaoke (note to readers: trying to explain some of the words in Nicki Minaj songs gets real funny, real fast). Besides the tutoring aspect, it's also so great to be a part of a family - I loved staying up late and playing card games or watching movies with my host siblings! In addition to that, it's impossible to forget that you are in France. My host family was really flexible - as long as I gave them advanced notice, I could go into Paris whenever I wanted, and they were happy to take me to the train station. They also were excited to show me some places themselves, so we all went to Versailles and an amusement park, too! Overall, I had a really great experience, and would 100% recommend this program to others!