Job Discussion Forums

[el coyote]

i'm moving there in september with my future wife, and will be pounding the pavement there in june/july looking for efl work. would be very interested to hear about your experiences at reputable language schools around the city...merci d'avance!

[rogan]

Before I start giving the answer that I've given umpteen times before - - what nationality are you?

[el coyote]

i have american nationality, but am marrying a french citizen. i have lived in france for four years total beginning 1998-99, did two years as assistant de langues, and a year and a half at the CEL de la CCI de Haute-Saone, one year of which I was co-responsable pedagogique. i have near-native fluency in french, a BA in French/linguistics and have taught efl in mexico as well. my fiancee is a french citizen from besancon (doubs). we are getting married in july, then moving to rennes where i hope to continue teaching.
hope this is enough info; if you have any advice or leads, please let me know. thanks!

[rogan]

Your nationality is a problem which may be almost insurmountable - regardless of the fact that you have worked elsewhere in France and regardless of the fact that you plan to marry a French national.

Your best friend is www.pagesjaunes.fr where you can find all lang schools and organisations under "enseignement langues".

You should also contact the Rectorat for vacataire posts.

Rennes has a huge student population so you could call in at the FACs and also CCI, Centres de Formation and Ecoles Superieures.

[el coyote]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[el coyote]

rennes is a charming city, lively and dynamic, not too populated and not too small. the language schools i visited gave me nothing but positive feedback when they learned of my situation and of my nationality. i had to laugh out loud upon rereading your response, rogan:

"Your nationality is a problem which may be almost insurmountable - regardless of the fact that you have worked elsewhere in France and regardless of the fact that you plan to marry a French national."

i'm relieved to have found the contrary to the "advice" you offered about the nationality question.

good day

[rogan]

Be sure to come back and tell us as soon as you have a signed contract and all the valid documents which allow a non EU citizen to work legally in France.

[spiral78]

If the OP marries a French citizen in July, it's entirely feasible to have legal working papers by the time school starts in September. I did the same in another EU country - the marraige effectively nullifies the barriers to the spouse's home country.

Now, if the OP wanted to work in Spain, for example, that's a different story!!

[el coyote]

hi, here i am again. we decided to stay in besan�on where i have signed four contracts and am soon on my way to a full workload in terms of hours(20 will be plenty!). of course, it would be easier to have all my hours in one school, but i realize this can take years upon years to establish, even if you are a european passport holder. i happened to get lucky seven years ago to get a full time contract, and certainly didn't expect a rebolotte there. i love my classes and have some great students. soon i will be turning down classes as there is a great demand for native (and not only eec) speakers. so rogan, be careful about the advice you proffer to non europeans who have legal working status in france, not everyone will be hopeless optimists like myself and may actually take your negativity with more than a grain of salt

[spiral78]

non europeans who have legal working status in france,

Have the same opps as Europeans, of course!!


For the newbies, it's important to know that it's very rare to get legal working status - happens almost only by marraige -, but you've done it properly, el coyote. Enjoy - I hope the work and living will continue to be good for you!

[rogan]

As Spiral notes - "non europeans with legal working status in France......"

However the vast majority of North Americans hoping to teach in France do not have legal working status.

And I'll still insist that non EU nationals have great difficulty working legally here.

You are obviously 1 lucky guy, and of course, you married a native so you fall into a specific situation that gave you special status.

[spiral78]

And I'll still insist that non EU nationals have great difficulty working legally here

And I will keep backing you up on this, rogan. This particular OP is a serious rarity.

[Paris teacher]

Although France can be a bureaucratic nightmare at times, a foreigner married to a French citizen gains the right to work legally in that country, although it may involve a lot of negotiation with intransigent civil servants. Best of luck!

[spiral78]

Why are you resurrecting a 5-year-old post?