The Teaching Assistant Program in France is a joint initiative of the French Ministry of Education, the Centre international d’études pédagogiques, and the Cultural Services Department of the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Its goal is to strengthen English-language instruction in the French educational by means of a native speaker presence. Teaching assistants are assigned to school districts across metropolitan France and in France’s overseas departments. Classes are conducted in English and may include co-teaching with classroom teachers, running small groups and 1:1 interventions, and opportunities to share American culture.
Teaching assistants receive a net monthly salary (€1,010.67 gross/approximately €810 net per month in the 25-26 year), and health insurance and social security benefits. Due to the higher cost of living in the overseas departments, assistants in those regions are paid an additional 30% to 35%.
The stipend provides enough money to live the lifestyle of a typical undergraduate student in most regions of France (not in Paris due to the higher cost of living in the capital region). Additional housing assistance is also available through the CAF, a French state aid program.
Eligibility
Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents (from certain countries) between the ages of 20 and 30 upon taking up their appointments. Candidates must have completed at least two years of college by the beginning of the new academic year and must have completed the majority of their education in the U.S. Candidates must also have proficiency in French—at least at the B1 level on the Common European Framework of References for Languages.
Candidates need not have any prior teaching experience, but some proficiency in French is required for facilitating work in the classroom and for integrating into new communities. The application includes a personal statement in French and letters of recommendation attesting to the applicant’s language skills, as well as his or her work ethic and enthusiasm for this experience.
All teaching contracts last 7 months, from October 1st through April 30th.