Living the dream
My name is Jean-Noel, born in Mauritius but nationalised British, 33 years old, living in the south of France.
I, my wife and my 3 years old daughter moved to the Pyrenees in 2004. We both left our jobs and the rat race in the UK, to come and find a more peaceful and enjoyable life in France. Our initial plan was to run a b&b, which we did. However, that wasn’t enough to pay for all the bills so my wife, who is a qualified TEFL teacher, decided that she would look for work teaching English. She found work with no problems. I continued running the b&b.
As time went by, we found that our heating bills were too expensive, as our house was in the mountains and isolated and my wife was having to drive long distances to her work. Because of these two reasons we decided to move and to stop the b&b. We moved to 45mins north of Pau, nearer to my wife’s work and cheaper heating bills.
That was in August 2006. I have since tried to find a job but with no luck. Unemployment in France is higher than the UK and to add to that, the French dubious and suspect system of having to provide a photo with your CV when applying for jobs and being British, I still haven’t found a job.
So my wife and I decided that I would become an English teacher as there is a big demand for them. As she is already working as one, she has contacts, friends who would, almost certainly, find me a job. So, in October 2006 I started a long distance TEFL course. Keep watching, there will be more…
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March 5th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Hi Jean. I was wondering how long a TEFL course is? You started in October 2006, so that is 5 months now. I am guessing it takes a year. Am I right?
Take care
Hilal from
http://www.eslbase.com/diaries/hilalhastaoglu
March 5th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Hi Hilal,
The course is going very well. i’m nearly finished. I have completed 3 out of the 4 booklets and i’ve booked my 40 hour teachers training week in the UK. Once that is done i will have completed the course and receive my certificate. They give you a maximum of 18 months to complete the course but you can choose, like i have, to complete it sooner.
Hope that helps you.
Good luck
Jean
July 18th, 2007 at 11:47 am
hi i was wondering if you could send me the details of your course and if it is really possible to find a job in france with this exam and in what type of schools. thanks and good luck
chloe
July 1st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
ekibastos
ekibastos