You enter the classroom, a trembling, nervous wreck. Twelve unsmiling faces turn scornfully towards you as if to say "Go ahead, punk, teach us English." You've just done a crash course on "How To Be An English Teacher" and something tells you it wasn't quite enough... Jane, a newly qualified teacher, didn't mince her words: "It was hell. They kept asking me questions like could I explain the second conditional, and I didn't even know what the first one was!" But although this sounds like a present far from perfect, teaching is one of the anglophone community's most sought-after jobs. Terry, now working for a large language school, stepped off the Eurostar with a passport and a rucksack full of dreams: "The first few weeks were tough. I camped in the Bois de Boulogne and walked everywhere to save on metro tickets." After a year at the Mustang Café, he did a month-long Teaching English as a Foreign Language, or TEFL, course at the International Language Center (9,460F), and found a job immediately. "Trying to teach a group of strangers something I had absolutely no knowledge of was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life! Now I love it and plan to stay here indefinitely." Sarah's story is quite different: "My husband was posted to Paris and I was going mad with boredom. The second school I contacted accepted me with no experience whatsoever." Others, like Sarah, who find themselves unqualified and seeking a teaching position at a language school woul be well advised to get a certificate as soon as possible and avoid anyone who would employ you without it; you could find yourself working illegally for a cowboy outfit with no job security whatsoever. Try asking yourself, as Groucho Marx might have done, "Do I really want to work for a company that would have me as an employee?" The moral of the story: get qualified. Teaching is a highly demanding occupation. As Sean, another ILC student, says, "I thought it would just be talking about grammar and following the book, but you really have to treat the students as people first and language learners second." The classic example of insensitivity is the student who says, "My grandmother die yesterday," and the teacher who sternly replies, "No, Nathalie, my grandmother diedyesterday." Some teachers prepare for hours and others can build a lesson around an old Coke can, but the competent teacher should fundamentally like people and be able to deal with anything from racism to broken desks, as well as teach the language. George Bernard Shaw's well-known riposte "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches" is amusing but untrue. Sensitivity and maturity are vital. "I've discussed failed pregnancies and confidential government cover-ups with complete strangers," says Sean. "Enthusiasm and humor are also more important than an encyclopedic knowledge of grammar. Sometimes you just have to say 'I'm sorry, I don't know,' or get them to feel good by teaching you some French." Personality counts, and like it or not, you will be remembered more for your bad breath and scruffy shoes than your scintillating exposé of non-defining relative clauses. The language business in Paris went through a difficult period recently as more schools appeared and training budgets shrank. A search on the Internet's pages jaunesfound hundreds of schools in the Paris area, but Pierre Martini of ILC is reasonably optimistic: "We've seen an upturn in the last year after something of a recession. It's a seasonal business and the trend towards using part-time teachers is certainly continuing as language schools adapt to that." As well as ILC, the WICE cultural center offers an intensive four-week TEFL course with an American flavor, while the British Institute takes a more leisurely, though no less rigorous, approach by spreading it out over a year. Despite the demands, language teaching is generally badly paid and contracts can range from "we'll call you when we have something" to full-time teaching, although 20 hours a week is typical. This works out at around 5,500F a month after deductions, but not tax, which you pay yourself. To get a raise you need staying power, as companies are obliged to give you a small increase after two and five years of service. They sometimes forget. There are exceptions, but 80 to 110F per hour is about the going rate, including preparation. Time spent traveling is often excessive, and spread-out classes make it difficult to fit another job around your teaching. Career progression within a language company is limited and may mean moving into administrative positions which involve little or no teaching. Janice, an ex-teacher, says: "When I got promoted to pedagogical assistant, I was really happy. But after a few weeks of paper-pushing, I realized it wasn't where I wanted to be." After a few months in the job, things get a lot easier and many teachers start looking for new challenges. For some, this means attending talks organized by the professional body TESOL on subjects like "Understanding English Spelling" or "The Internet for Teachers." The TEFL diploma course at the British Institute in Paris is a major undertaking but well worth it. "I was in a rut and this really gave me my enthusiasm back," says Patricia, a recent graduate. "It was incredibly intense, but we learned a great deal, both about teaching and ourselves." The course lasts for 30 weeks (three semesters) and costs 16,800F. Some employers will pay for it so it's worth finding out more. Better qualification and experience should equal better pay but this is rarely the case. Roger Stains decided to register at his local URSSAF as a travailleur indépendant."I had some potential clients, but until I registered they couldn't do business with me." You can be an employee and registered as independent at the same time but, as Roger discovered, "You suddenly find yourself paying for things like the social debt and the general social contribution, which you were blissfully unaware of as an employee." Overall, he is glad he did it: "It's a good system, because you can try out a new career it could be translating or technical writing or even making stuffed animals it doesn't matter what and the initial outlay is minimal." Brave souls could start their own school, like Barbara Curtin who co-founded the Quai d'Orsay Language Center. "You have to surround yourself with a solid team of good people," says Barbara, who eschews the traditional "us" and "them" management attitudes. "Our management staff are also trainers and we don't have a marketing team the teachers are our publicity." Reasonable pocket money and often more can be made by placing ads in boulangeries and supermarkets, or the local press. You don't need premises, as you visit the students at home or in their offices, and some teachers have even given lessons from phone boxes with irate Parisians banging on the door. The downside is it's illegal and the next person calling for details could be the tax inspector. Rates vary widely from 40F to 200F an hour, depending on experience and desperation, but 100F is considered reasonable. Teacher training is an exciting and logical step for those with several years' experience behind them. There may be opportunities within your own organization and there are many excellent "Train the Trainer" courses in Britain run by well-known schools like Pilgrims, Bell and International House. If you have taught English regularly at a large company, you or they, might suggest cutting out the middle man (your employer) and doing business directly. Jackie Peters did this and is very pleased with the result: "I became their full-time teacher and get paid almost twice as much for the same amount of work. They pay less than before and I have all the benefits of a permanent contract (CDI) such as paid vacations and health insurance." Expolangues (see box) is the ideal place to look for inspiration. You can talk to publishers, bookstores, professional organizations and language schools and perhaps find a use for some of your hidden talents in marketing, sales or programming. If your French is up to scratch, then the whole world of educational publishing opens up to you. Companies like Nathan, Larousse and Hachette produce hundreds of English teaching books, cassettes and computer software, and expertise in this area would stand you in good stead for landing a job with one of them. Teachers with computer experience often become their school's IT expert by default, as CD-ROMs and the Internet continue to invade the classroom and our lives. The number of Web sites for teachers and students on the Net is staggering, but France is only just coming on-line, having been held back by the Minitel, a system so familiar and unthreatening that no one wants to change despite the Internet's vastly superior capabilities. Travelling the world is another common motivation for teaching the language of the Bard. "I could never have travelled so much without English," says Simon Jones, who has worked in over 10 countries, including Poland, Russia, Japan, Vietnam and Turkey. "I've taught through civil wars and on deserted beaches, and 17 years on, I'm still at it. It's like a drug!" Certain teachers here would say their lessons come close to civil war, while others are fighting to get into the profession. But whatever your point of view, teaching is still one of the best ways of making a living in the French capital. So go ahead, punk, teach 'em English. If you're lucky, it just might make their day. Sab Will teaches English and trains people to use the Internet. His Web site for teachers, The TEFL Farm, is at: http://www.teflfarm.com , E-mail: sab@teflfarm.com |
