teaching ESL in a dream school

Hello everyone,

Introduction

If you have worked in France as an English assistant and you wish to further develop your skills and continue to teach ESL in France, this blogspot is for you.

I understand that not everyone who comes to France on English Assistants Program ends up settling here. Some of you would have plans, some others won’t have any plans, some won’t even know what plans look like! That’s okay! In any case, what I am going to explain here is about teaching qualifications required to teach ESL in France. So this post is for English assistants trying to look for options to continue teaching, with a better salary and better contract conditions.

If you’re simply looking at renewing your TAPIF contract, you can read this article for more details.

Before you ask yourself about the Visa requirements –

Unfortunately, it’s not that obvious to get an English-speaking job in France if you speak English. Especially English teaching job.

Why?

Because:

  1. Indians are not considered to be native English speakers (which is true) so companies prefer hiring English speakers from native English-speaking countries.
  2. To hire an Indian national for a teaching post (or any foreign national, for that matter and for any salaried position) , the company will have to sponsor your VISA (remember what happened when we came for Assistant d’anglais program? – the Education Nationale paid for our Visa).
  3. No, even if you think you have enough money to sponsor your visa – it doesn’t work like that. The company needs to spend money on your work permit (and renewal of it every year – unless you get the nationality or marry a French national or get APS after studying in France – which makes things easier)

If you’re an English assistant and simply wish to work longer – check this blog.

Who is this post for ?

If you’re someone who is studying in France and are planning on obtaining APS (Authorisation provisoire de Séjour) or if you’re someone with your working papers in place, just wanting teach ESL in France. Read on –

So, I have worked in more than 20 schools in France so far (that too in a span of four years)– private schools, public schools, study centers, and now in an International school. Initially, I worked on a student contract (so never more than a certain number of hours) and then I got my APS Visa and now I have my spouse visa!) If you want to know how I obtained my spouse Visa, read here.

Possibly you have heard of people who landed a job without any degree or certificate and are doing pretty well. I am not going to discuss the possibility of being able to do that. The idea is to suggest some courses that might be useful for your teaching career. I am just suggesting things that I took up or looked up for. So, it’ll be easier for me to vouch for them.

TEFL – You must have heard about the course for sure, but you may not be ready to invest so much time and money. The time is important because you get to learn a lot of theoretical aspects about teaching. The TEFL Academy (click on the link to know everything about this course) has a slightly inexpensive option available. I bought the course, finished it and have my certificate to flaunt now. If you think it’s going to be a cakewalk, no it’s not. It’s a lot of teaching theory, long lesson plans and a lot of study material. But it is definitely a good way to get some sort of certification.

PGCEi – A post graduate certificate in Education (International). A regular PGCE is something that most international/ private or bilingual education schools look for but here is an online course option if you cannot do it as a regular student. Now, this one is an expensive and time-consuming course but in a lot of situations, schools (if you’re already working in one) might pay for it as a part of your professional development. If not, it would cost you around 5000 -6000 pounds for the whole course (valid for the year 2020). I will do a separate post to talk about the course I chose. But this is a wonderful option.

If you’re thinking about getting yourself a qualification that matters, this is a steal.

It is possible that you still have questions about the course or about teaching ESL in France. Here is something that might be helpful.

FAQs

I am currently in India can I do this course and find a job in France.

I mentioned at the beginning that these are the options exclusively for people in France with their working papers. In order to hire a foreigner, companies have to justify why they chose someone from outside + have to pay for their work permit. In another words, they’d rather choose someone from within the country / European union to make things easier.

You can try sending out your CVs to different schools though. Sometimes, you never know.

I have a CELTA, what are the chances to find a job in France?

If you have your working papers – APS/ Student Visa/ any other visa that lets you work- please start sending your CVs.

What are the keywords I should be searching for to find jobs if I am not a qualified teacher but I have the right to work in France?

Please look for ESL Teacher recruitment or EAL teacher in France/ specific city. In an international context EAL is more commonly used. It stands for English as an additional language. You can also create a free account on tes to receive regular updates from the international teaching community.

Hope this post about starting off as an ESL teacher in France helped you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to comment below.