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Teaching in France or commuting


Deb
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I am a secondary school teacher who now lives permanently in France.  I do hold a TEFL certificate for teaching English.  I am aware of the difficulties facing someone trying to get into the French education system.  As I see it I have two options:

1) Commute to the UK and try to get work on a termly basis as a supply teacher.  I know that there are tax implications but I think I could work for 183 days without there being a major problem (I'm sure someone out there will know lots more about this than me)

and

2) Try to see if there is anyone out here (maybe English children now in the French system who want to keep their English current, but taught in an informal way - I have a son 12 years old who is in the French system, so I know how demanding it is for them!) who would like help.  Having looked through the forum I see there was a lady based in Dept.18 but that was some time ago and I live in Dept 19.

I am not sure what the best way forward is, I do speak a little French but not enough (I am taking lessons).  Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.  The thing for me is knowing where to start...

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Working in the UK for any amount of time for a UK employer will not cause you any issues, you will simply pay Tax and NI on your earnings.  In France you will declare it on your annual tax return as foreign income already taxed. 

Working as a teacher in school without a good level of french will be nigh on impossible, it's been discussed often on here.  I have a freind who works for a company that teaches english to business people, the problem is that if you have been a teacher all of your life then your knowledge of business terms (the main requirement) will likely be deemed not good enough, she also speaks near fluent french and it has taken her 4 years to find this job!

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I totally agree with the above, the only exception being if you live in a big city (are there any in the Limousin?) where you might find a job teaching business English more easily.  I used to do this myself, and worked with people who spoke very minimal French, but this is only valid in bigger places (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lille, that sort of size) where there are lots of clients.

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Thank you for your response.  The area is very rural, but then that is the reason why we chose to live here so maybe commuting will have to be the solution for a while.  At least I will be able to appreciate more what we have here.
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Deb

I have a friend in rural Wilts. who could not get a job in Normandy - she is French and trained there (at Rouen university I think), and could not get a job at all. It seems that they make the Capes quite difficult to get through and this friend claims that the exam  varies according to the need for teachers, and few are needed at present.She wanted to teach English in France and had to do some strange tasks for the Capes eg Cybeline by Shakespeare (usually considered a bit obscure by most students) so is reasonably fluent in English.

She has fallen for a local Wiltshire boy and wants to stay here now, and has just the PGCE at Southampton university and can't get a job here either !  It is a fallacy that there is a shortage of teachers - not here anyway.

I doubt that the French would accept a TEFL cert - I see you can do one of these in a weekend or so. Even the Celta qualification only takes a month and does not even require a degree.

Good luck anyway.

Tegwini

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Deb

We too are in the Limousin, but so is my brother who is two hours drive away!  We are 25 min north of limoges.  We are both retired teachers, (my wife was a school teacher and I was a university lecturer) so slightly different circumstances.  We only stay for 6 months as UK residents.  I would say firstly go down the supply teaching route.  My wife even though she is retired also works for an exam board which pays quite well. you could consider that employment as well if you have taught examination children.  PM me if we can help in any way.

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