Teaching Assistant Program in France

Having finished my program this past spring (April 2022), I can say I loved my experience in Paris! While it was a big city, it was easy to find a work/life balance that allowed me to travel throughout France while building relationships with my work colleagues. The teachers at my school were warm, welcoming, and patient when helping me transition to my new life abroad. I came into the job with a good knowledge of French and pedagogic basics, so TAPIF was a wonderful place to put that to practice

This is by far the worst job I have ever had. I understand it’s the luck of the draw with schools, teachers and placement, but why does that have to be the case. Living in Paris should 100% mean more compensation than 790€ a month to pay monthly expenses of over 1000€ a month. Living in Paris is not cheap and they should know that.

The only perks comes outside of the classroom which I don’t consider perks at all. You have time to travel yes, but no money to do so. You get a visa, but are not allowed to exceed 30% of your income with a second job.

If you’re as unlucky as I was, you are placed in a school that never requested an assistant to begin with, so not only do they not WANT to deal with you and your paperwork, they don’t know how. I was informed at orientation that our secretaries would handle our social security, come to find out when it’s too late, that my friends and I have not received it and thus no health insurance. So we ended up paying for health insurance we could never use. On top of that, the schools are unforgiving when calling out, even months in advance. So in consequence, you have to go to work with debilitating fevers because you have no health insurance and no money to pay the 20€ out of pocket to see a doctor every week. It is important to know that you will most likely get sick considering working with kids and working in a new country.

Overall, this company places you in France but does nothing to help you process in assimilating nor compensates for the costs. The only benefits come from when you are not working, which should not be considered benefits if the job didn’t provide it. There are many legit companies that will send you abroad, pay for your ticket to get there and accommodations long enough for you to get assimilated. All of that, which a reasonable, livable salary.

There were times that I didn’t have money for food. I will be writing to me school to stop endorsing this program.

For those looking to teach for TAPIF, I would advise you to look elsewhere. The reasons for this are as follows:
1. The monthly stipend is not sufficient. Given the low amount of pay, it is nearly impossible to enjoy living in France. I had many financial difficulties, and I think that it is irresponsible for TAPIF to suggest at every step of the process that the stipend is sufficient for living. To suggest that students tutor on the side to make ends meet is also irresponsible, given that such activity is illegal.
2. The organization is extremely disorganized. Not only are assistants given very little training, but they are given very little advice in terms of how to deal with the day-to-day hassles of living in France. I was given contradictory information, told that I had free housing (when in fact the opposite was true) and not supported in the least by the program in terms of my desire to develop as a teacher.
3. The suggestion that assistants apply for CAF is misleading. In truth, the CAF system is extremely disorganized and unreliable. Assistants should not be told that they will get the money allotted to them. Furthermore, assistants should not be told to leave open their bank accounts after the program is over. I am currently dealing with a huge headache given the fact that my bank account is overdrawn and the CAF money TAPIF told me would be transferred is never going to come.

There are many other minor complaints that I have about this program, but these are the glaring issues. I think, overall, that the program presents a false reality at every step of the process. Be wary.

The Teaching Assistant Program in France allows you to live and work in France as an English Language Assistant for 7 months (October-April). The program helps you procure a visa and but once you arrive in France, the program is basically done with you, aside from a making sure you are able to take the necessary steps to validate your visa. If you're looking for advice, or need your hand-held that's not happening. While I had tutoring experience, I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult teaching can be, especially being stationed in a vocational school where the students were understandably more interested in their work placements than learning English. Still, most of the staff where I worked were kind, welcoming and interested in American life and I was very happy with the accommodation I rented at the school (although most of the people I asked agreed, the rent was unusually high). As an African American assigned to a small town in Northern France, I was surprised by the amount of diversity I encountered. I never felt uncomfortable.

I wish we had received a better orientation, something that would explain the French school system to us and offered us some pedagogy and advice about classroom management. Two hours worth of workshops do not prepare you to stand up in a classroom full of French high school students, and your high school and college French classes may not have given you the adequate vocabulary to give a student a good talking to! Still, I had a great experience overall. I had my favorite groups and teachers to work with, and the other language assistants at the school where I worked were awesome. Although we weren't all from the same country, and didn't all speak English, I really made two lifelong friends. They were my main support system and we operated as both friends and family while abroad. I knew they always had my back. France offers ample school vacations and I was able to use that time to travel to several different countries. The school even allowed me extra time off when my family came to visit. I learned an amazing amount, met people from countless other countries, solo traveled out of the States for the first time and really broadened my horizons. Would definitely recommend.

TAPIF was a real lesson in independence in another country, for me. Although the word "program" is in the name, TAPIF provides more of a loose outline for what is provided, and what happens as a result, is very much up to you. For instance, you are assigned a specific school, or perhaps multiple schools, however work hours and conditions are something you need to discuss with teachers and administrators. Often times, teachers are so thankful to have you at their school and will want to make full use of you in their classrooms. It can be a very rewarding experience to work with kids ranging in ages from primary, middle, and high school ages, and gives many teaching assistants a good idea of how they feel about teaching.

As teaching assistants, you are paid about $1,039 per month, which is not much, however many make it stretch by nannying and doing other part-time jobs in the communities where they live. There is also a lot of free time to travel, as there are about two weeks of vacation every six weeks, and assistants work only 12 hours per week.

If you are interested in having a more immersive and rich experience with day-to-day life in France, TAPIF can allow you to meet and form relationships with the teachers you work with, the students you teach in the classroom, as well as with TAPIF assistants from around the world, and other community members. As always, the experience is what you make it, so don't be afraid to use your time there to explore and form as many relationships as possible!