ALUMNA ARIANNA PUOPOLO TELLS US ABOUT THE TEACHING ASSISTANT PROGRAM IN FRANCE

Recent undergrad alum Arianna Puopolo is spending a year in France on the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). If you might be interested in an opportunity like this after graduating, read on! When not working in a French classroom Arianna has been traveling to Poland, Switzerland, Belgium,… Not the worst way to spend your time.

Arianna writes:

The French Ministry of Education actually created TAPIF. English assistants (like me) in France work for the French government and qualify for a work visa and social security. It’s pretty cool! The official websites are https://www.tapif.org/ or http://www.frenchculture.org.

Qualified English assistants must be college graduates, demonstrate some level of competency working as an organizer or leader, and have some proficiency in French (fluency and/or complete proficiency is not a requirement). There are no minimum GPA or work experience requirements.

Applicants must submit a personal statement, provide two letters of recommendation (one attesting to the applicant’s competency in French and the other should speak to his/her/their ‘leadership skills’), a resume and official university transcripts.

France is divided into several “academies” (kind of like school
districts). Applicants may indicate the three academies they would most like to be placed in. I would strongly recommend that applicants NOT apply to the Lille academy. The Lille Academie is the third largest in France and the majority of it comprises small (NOT quaint) former coal mining districts. The small towns here are anything but provincial. Many have very weak economies and (because they were founded for industry rather than on the whim of a developing community) lack a city center or other points of interest. I know. I’m here.

Applicants are paid something like 960 euro every month, but after taxes, the net salary is 790 euro. Contracts are seven months long, and, in those seven months, there are eight weeks of school vacation. Assistants are paid for the entire month regardless of the number of vacation days during that month.

It’s a pretty wonderful program, if you ask me.