Job Discussion Forums

fancynan · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:21 pm Post subject: Job Offers - any insight?

Hi,
I have been offered a position at BLS (Busines Language Skills) to teach business English. I was also offered one at Transfer. (Both in Paris) I turned down Transfer for BLS and will sign the contract tomorrow morning. I felt positive when I met with them, but I thought a quick due diligence might be in order.
Has anyone any experience with this school? I would certainly apreciate any input.
By the way, Yes, I CHOOSE to work in a language school as this is my first teaching assignment and I need to get some experience.
Thank you for any help.

PS - Should I put this on the General Discssion forum as well?

bsjess · Joined: 01 Sep 2007 Posts: 48 Location: Paris, France

Hello fancynan,

First, I completely agree with you. Nothing replaces gaining teaching experience in a language school (especially here in Paris). There you will meet and work with fellow teachers, learn from their styles, share material, and hopefully gain essential team work experience. While I don't know BLS, I know Transfer is a rather large language school. You may discover you like the large school atmosphere, but I encourage you to also look into smaller schools (if you sign a CDD, this is highly recommended). I know of some wonderful larger schools, but as I have become more "independent" in my teaching style, I myself feel more at home in the smaller establishments.

If you sign a CDI, then you can also look into working as a "vacataire" in Paris' universities. These are part-time teaching jobs that pay better than language schools and also offer some pretty hard core experience. If you can juggle the two time tables then great! One step at a time, though.

And finally, as a new teacher I highly recommend joining TESOL France. The regulars on this forum know I like to plug this association, but only because I'm passionate about it and it has done so much for me and my teaching. You can meet English teachers from all over Paris and our events always give you something to use in your classes on Monday. Check out
www.tesol.fr
for our upcoming events.

Feel free to come by any time -- especially if you have more questions about teaching in Paris. Good luck!

fancynan · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:42 am Post subject:

Thank you, bsjess. BLS is smaller than Transfer, which I do like. Plus - I have the old gut feeling going - I quite liked them. I do plan to join TESOL; another poster also recommeded them to me and I had been a member of the Colorado TESOL.
Great news about the vacataire - I had forgotten about that. Once I get my feet wet, I will look into that.
Thanks for the moral support. See you at TESOL France!

paris_1000 · Joined: 14 May 2008 Posts: 2 Location: paris

fancynan · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject:

Replied to poster via email.