An American assistant teaches a class of French high school students

The application to the 2015-2016 Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) is now available at https://www.tapif.org. Applications will be accepted through the end of the day on January 15, 2015.

The Teaching Assistant Program in France is a joint initiative of the French Ministry of Education, the Centre international d'études pédagogiques (CIEP), and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. The program's goal is to strengthen English-language instruction in French schools by establishing a native speaker presence. The program also provides American Francophiles with excellent teaching experience and first-hand knowledge of French language and culture.

The TAPIF program offers placement in all regions of metropolitan France and in the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion.

Job Duties

Assistants teach at the elementary or secondary school level. The 7-month teaching contract goes from October 1st to April 30th. Assistants teach a total of 12 hours per week in up to 3 schools, conducting all or part of a class and leading conversations in English. Duties include serving as a resource person in conversation groups, providing small group tutorials, and giving talks related to American studies. Assignments vary depending on the school’s needs, the assistant’s abilities, and the educational level to which the assistant is assigned. 

Benefits

Teaching Assistants receive a monthly stipend of €964.88 euros gross, which comes to €790 net after deductions have been made for French social security contributions. Due to the higher cost of living in the overseas departments, assistants in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion receive an additional salary allowance of 30% to 35%. The stipend provides enough money to live the lifestyle of a typical French student in most regions of France. 

Assistants receive healthcare coverage under the French national healthcare system.

Assistants do not receive any additional support for travel to France or for dependents.

Assistants are responsible for finding their own housing in France. Certain host schools are nonetheless able to offer housing at the school or help assistants make other housing arrangements.

Eligibility

Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Foreign nationals with permanent residency in the U.S. may only apply if they are nationals of one of these countries. French nationals and French-American dual citizens are not eligible to apply.

Canddiates must be between 20 and 30 years old on October 1, 2015.

Candidates must have completed at least 3 years of higher education by October 1, 2015.

Candidates must have completed the majority of their elementary, secondary, and university studies in the United States.

Candidates must be proficient in French (B1 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, roughly equivalent to 3 college semesters of French). French majors and minors are encouraged to apply. Candidates without a French major or minor may apply if they have at least a basic proficiency in French and/or have lived abroad in a Francophone country. 

Application and Selection Process

Candidates must submit an online application to the program at https://www.tapif.org. The online application consists of:

• Questions regarding the candidate’s educational background, experience with the French language, experience teaching or working with young people, and motivation for applying to the program
• One language evaluation in the form of EITHER a letter of recommendation completed by a university French professor or language evaluator from the Alliance Française OR test scores from a standardized French language test like the TCF, TEF, DELF, DALF
• One letter of recommendation from a person who knows the candidate in an academic or professional capacity (recommendations must be submitted online through the application recommendation system)
• University transcript(s)
• U.S. passport (or for permanent residents, passport + U.S. green card)

The selection process is based on an evaluation of the applicant's French-language skills, teaching experience, experience working with children or young adults, experience living abroad, level of university studies, and general motivation for applying to the program.

Applications are ranked based on the above criteria and then acceptance and placement decisions are made starting with the most qualified applicants.

Contacts

For more information, please visit: http://highereducation.frencheducation.org/teach-in-france/prospective-applicants

Find answers to many of your potential questions at the program's FAQs page: http://highereducation.frencheducation.org/teach-in-france/prospective-applicants/faq

If you have further questions, please send an email to: [email protected]

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