Amazing Experience!

The TAPIF is an amazing program for people who can already speak French and who want to spend more than a semester living abroad. You need practically no teaching experience and if you've worked with kids before and are fairly independent, you'll have a great experience.

There isn't a lot of training or guidance from the program as to how to teach or what you need to do administratively/bureaucratically. I had to do a lot of research online for lesson ideas. The good news was that I worked in 2 different high schools so my students were relatively advanced and we could spend our time mostly talking or doing fun activities. I would definitely recommend working outside Paris (or larger cities) as the teachers who are the main contacts seem to be more involved with their assistants. I was lucky and had a housing option (not at the school) already lined up if I wanted it by my teacher in charge. I also got the chance to know most of the other assistants working in my city (English-speaking and non-English speaking) as well as French people my own age and I got to see parts of France that most people don't see.