Teach English in France – The Ultimate Guide

The French have a bit of a reputation for liking to speak only…well, French. But dig down a little and the stats tell a different story. Recent estimations put the English-speaking proportion of the overall French population at around the 39% mark. On top of that, English learning is mandatory in the French schooling system, and is considered a key part of early and teenage development, lasting all the way from primary school to high school – starting from the age of three!

There’s another ripe market for English teaching in France: Business English. From Paris to Marseille, Lyon to Lille, this country is filled with mustard traders, Champagne houses, ski resorts, major industries, nuclear power plants – the list goes on. It’s exactly the sort of place you’d expect to find conglomerates, tourism companies, and start-outs looking to nurture a multi-lingual staff with fantastic English skills.

There are a number of different types of jobs ready and waiting in France for budding TEFL teachers. Let’s take a look…

• Private language schools – These offer by far the most common sort of job for those who teach English in France. Private schools are there to supplement the English tuition offered by French state schools. However, classes can be with any age, starting with young learners of three and ranging all the way to full adult learners who are looking to pass English exams or brush up on their business English.
• Teaching assistants – Teaching assistants are part of the language learning team in the French state school system. They help full-time English teachers by bringing conversational native language to the classroom. Programs like Alliance Francaise and TAPIF (Teaching Assistant Program France) are very popular with American and Canadian applicants especially because they offer an easy way around French visa regulations.
• French state schools and higher education – Lucky TEFL grads who have the top qualifications might be able to score a job in a French state school or university. These are more long-term teaching positions on full-time working schedules. They’re usually taken by French graduates and you will probably need a good level of French language to be considered.
• Summer camps – France hosts oodles of TEFL language camps in the summer months. They take place all over the country, but particular hotspots include the French Alps and the Atlantic coast. Camps are attended by school children during the holidays and can last anything from two weeks to six weeks. We’d say they’re an excellent way to test out the waters to see if you really want to teach in France, or to earn some extra income between normal term dates.
• Private tuition – Private tuition can be a really well-paid gig in France. It can be hard to market yourself initially, but it’s possible to grow a base of clients to make one-on-one teaching your main income stream. Private tutoring is often done with a specific aim for the student in mind – an exam, perhaps, or a certain professional qualification that requires proficiency in English.

French kids go back to school on the last day of August and have a brief break for Christmas from the 18^th of December to the 2^nd of January. After that, the winter holidays are spread between three different regions, mainly to avoid a mass of families heading to the ski resorts in the Alps. Some provinces have their main winter break in early February, some in the middle of the month, and others towards the end. The same happens for the spring breaks in April. School finally ends for summer in the first week of July, which means French summer breaks last at least eight weeks.

Most private-school contracts run for 20-30 hours each week. Work in summer camps is basically non-stop from start to finish, because they’re typically in-residence intensive courses. TAPIF participants are usually asked to work between 12-20 hours/week, but that will vary from school to school.