#englishassistant

Well in any case, I hope you are the intelligent sort and you are doing your research. I met so many assistants who just had no idea what it was like to move to a foreign country and deal with everything being so different and they ran into a lot of issues. They didn’t have the experience, of course not, but when we don’t know something and we want to be prepared, researching is the answer! Ok. I am done applauding you for being intelligent :)

Next order of business. My opinion about the job itself. Obviously, you will find other blogs and other people who would say something totally different than what I think and I believe it really depends on your school and the teachers that you are placed with. 

To start, I will tell you my situation in the Creteil region. I was placed in Lagny-sur-marne, a smaller city located in zone 5 in between Paris proper and Disneyland Paris. I worked at both a high school and a middle school situated about 20-25 minutes walking distance from each other (there was no bus between the two schools). I probably worked the most out of all my language assistant friends at 12 hours every week, even making up some hours that I missed at one point. For me, this was a good thing because I studied to be an English language teacher so I was getting a lot of practical experience in the classroom with varying levels and ages. 

The high school

This was my main school and I worked here for 8 hours per week. The vice principal in charge of scheduling was amazing and I only had to come twice a week for 4 hours each day. It was really nice of him to do this for me because he could have had me come in any number of days, but I told him that I was coming from Paris and that I needed to get another job to survive and working these 2 days allowed me to do that. The first week I went around with my Prezi presentation about myself and I was introduced to a number of classes, some of which would be my students and some that I would just see around school on occasion. My classes were the terminale students (or the graduating seniors) and my job was to prepare lessons which mostly centered around conversation to prepare them for the BAC (their final test, I guess you could compare it to the SATs). I had a teacher that was in charge of me, but she basically just let me do my own thing. She never looked at any of my lessons or told me what to do, although she did get me some material to help me and she also explained what their oral exam in English would be like so that I could help them to prepare for it. I liked having free rein because it gave me the chance to try things and to find myself as a teacher. Most of my classes had really nice students (also I should mention here that my school has mostly wealthy students because this does make a difference) although, I did have some problems with some of the students while I was teaching there. The school took care of those issues and I didn’t have to worry about those students being disruptive anymore. 

The middle school

I was really nervous about being with these kids. First of all, their ages were frightening to me and it was an age group I had no prior experience with. It’s about that time when their hormones are going crazy and they are starting to get daring because they aren’t afraid of you anymore. With these kids, I was in the classroom with the teachers leading class so I had their help when needed and they disciplined as well.There were times that I would take a small group to another room and do my own thing, but if they were being disruptive or disrespectful, I was told to send them back to their classroom. I had a lot more issues with this age group, but it was nothing too serious. I worked here for 4 hours a week and my supervising teacher here was also really great because she had me work on the same two days that I would work at the high school. I also want to mention that in general, she is a really great teacher and I got to learn a lot from her. She also gave me a lot of freedom to try things and sometimes she would even let me observe a class if I wanted to learn how she taught them certain things which was really nice of her. I really didn’t like the principal very much, but I also didn’t have to deal with her too much either. She is one of those people who is willing to take advantage if she can. I still get nervous being with this age group, but the more I practice the more comfortable I feel.

General advice

For me, I went in pretending I didn’t speak any French (for the record, I speak intermediate French). I did this because this causes the students not to rely on their French and actually try to speak English to you. Yes, sometimes they would catch me speaking French to the administration or they could tell that I could understand them, but I tried to maintain that I didn’t speak French until the end and I think it benefitted them greatly. 

Make sure you are always prepared and have a back up plan. This could be in the form of conversation topics or worksheets or maybe a game. It is not ideal to get in front of a group of students and be lost, they will tear you apart.  

Make sure you know the rules of the school and what to do in case you have a problem with a student. I think the procedure differs from school to school so you should make sure to ask your supervising teacher what you should do in certain situations. 

Make friends. When I first was hanging around the teacher’s lounge, I felt like a lot of the teachers were afraid to speak with me because they were nervous about their English or because they weren’t sure about my level of French, but after a month I had teachers I could speak and eat lunch with and that made my time there so much more enjoyable. I was also lucky to have a German assistant at my school and he was such a genuinely nice person and we used to hang out outside of work. He showed me a lot of things around the city that I didn’t know about and we tried new bars and places together and it was a wonderful way to discover the city. 

If you need help or have a question about something, ask! This could be about anything from cultural differences to French administration procedures. Don’t be afraid to ask about things that you are unfamiliar with or don’t understand. They will help you with what they can and if they can’t, find someone who can! 

Pay attention to the timeline and get your sh*t done ASAP. I got my Carte Vitale in February because I did what I was supposed to do in the right amount of time. Some assistants never got it or they will now that they have left. If you want it, pay attention to the timeline you are given and do what you are asked to do. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable year, so enjoyable that I am in fact going to do it again! I won’t know where I will be placed until June, but there is a chance I will be staying at the same schools for one more year and I think it will give me a chance to expand on the things I learned this year and hopefully prepare me for my next big adventure....whatever that may be.