Job Discussion Forums

Mogabj · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:44 pm Post subject: Francophone Countries

Hi all.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any francophone countries that an American could work at. Obviously France is very difficult to get work in, but what about Belgium? Just looking for some feedback.

Thanks!

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I do not claim to know about the laws today. But in 2003, both Luxembourg (which is sort of Francophone - the local language is a kind of German/French hybrid and the legal language is French) and Belgium were still relatively open to North Americans.

I suggest you check the websites for the embassies of the countries.

Luxembourg pays much better than Belgium. The market for EFL in Belgium is very small, and pay is low. Lux is better because of the banking sector - they must speak a minimal level of English, and few are proficient. You've less competition from the Brits because the weather in Lux is equivalent to London, making the destination less-than-desirable for EU teachers.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Any of them outside of the EU and North America would likely hire people from the States.

http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/francophonie.html

TOA · Joined: 07 May 2007 Posts: 2

This website has general info about the jobs markets in various countries, including Belgium:
http://www.justlanded.com/

They also recommend this site:
http://www.jobsinbrussels.com/

If you speak French, you can visit the website of l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. It lists its member countries here:
http://www.francophonie.org/oif/membres.cfm

As Gambate said, the countries outside the EU and North America will likely hire Americans. The Coll�ge Bilingue in Senegal recently posted a job ad on a few EFL/ESL websites.

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

Mogabj, if you have a BEd you might be able to find a public school job in Quebec.

I think that most English speaking countries have shortages in public schools so if someone has a BEd, they can apply for jobs in other English speaking countries.

Nutmegger · Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 12 Location: NOYB

Have you considered a place like Morocco? Have never been there, but if teaching in a Francophone country is a main goal then perhaps it might be worth a look.

France also does run a teaching assistant program for North Americans; I believe you can find the info on frenchculture.org . If you speak French at an intermediate level you ought to be alright.