Year Abroad in France // Our Experiences | Part 2

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• published: 07 May 2017
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Hey guys! I’m uploading a series of videos about what it’s like to take a year abroad in France. I decided to interview some of the friends I’ve made here and get a range of opinions in order to help and inspire people interested in taking a year abroad. In this video Joe, Jen and I talk about what being a teacher is really like and what to expect of life in France. Jen is a university student like myself but is studying French and Spanish so doing a year abroad was obligatory for her. However, she was adamant that she didn’t want to do any more studying for the time being so opted for the language assistant scheme, also because the application process is pretty damn straightforward and it is much less hassle than aimlessly searching for a placement (I would agree.) A lot of people I know have spent a long, long time trying to find jobs abroad with no avail; with the job that we all did, we knew that it was almost guaranteed and even though we didn’t necessarily have a lot of freedom when it came to region, it still seemed like a pretty sweet deal. Jen worked in a few primary schools and enjoyed the fact that the kids were eager to learn, however a challenge she faced was having quite a lot of responsibility for her classes as the teachers in primary schools know less English and so having an assistant there is almost like a break for them. It’s not always the case but I think it’s common. Jen felt that despite the responsibility, the job was still relatively easy in contrast to studying like crazy for a degree, so she now feels she can go back to uni in the autumn with a clear head and be ready to learn again. She has gained so much confidence from doing the placement and of course, meeting loads of fabulous people such as yours truly. Joe is a graduate who spent his year abroad in Strasbourg, however he has come back a second time to take part in the language assistant scheme. It’s great that the scheme is available to graduates, however you don’t have the benefits of student loans or Erasmus grants so you’d have to bear that in mind if you were looking to do the same thing as Joe. He was in a secondary school and the equivalent of a sixth form college and personally felt that working with secondary kids is NOT fun, so he wouldn’t recommend it! Taking the older students was better as they were more mature and also he could cover a wide range of interesting subjects in English with them, which is something that you can’t really do in primary school. Joe, like myself, lived with a bunch of other French people in a pretty large accommodation. During his Erasmus year he found that in his halls of residence, people weren’t that sociable and he ended up spending time with quite a lot of Spanish people, so this time round he wanted to make the most of living and communicating with French people. If improving your French is at the forefront of your mind, definitely live with other French people as you probably will spend a lot of time seeking out the other English speakers where you live, so you can get the best of both worlds. We all found that being in quite an unnatural environment – in which you find yourself with loads of free time – was difficult as it wasn’t exactly how normal life is, however there are some positives to that. We all identified the challenges with working with people we don’t know and how uncooperative some people can be in France, although that’s the truth anywhere you work in the world. Jen and Joe said the same thing as Alex and Blakley – that it really is all about your attitude and what YOU make of your placement. - BLOG: http://www.laviederhi.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/laviederhi/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/laviederhi SNAPCHAT: @laviederhi TUMBLR: http://laviederhi.tumblr.com/ PINTEREST: https://uk.pinterest.com/laviederhi/ -