Brita Swenson

Views and Opinions

	Positives	Suggestions for improvement
Language improvement	Spending time in France as an assistant forces one to use French to get by in everyday life. This experience also enables assistants to hear and be in constant contact with native speakers, thus improving comprehension and the ability to converse.	In large cities, such as Nice, the amount of contact with other anglophone assistants is great. One must be somewhat independent and seek to make friends outside of the assistantship circle or else little language improvement will occur.
Cultural understanding	Living in France definitely makes one aware of cultural differences and similarities. As an assistant, I found that since I was so aware of cultural differences, it was easy to integrate these into the classroom and, hopefully, share some of my own culture with my students.	Changing abruptly from one culture to another can be a difficult experience. Many assistants that I came into contact with spent their time complaining about anything that was not the way they were used to. Assistants should instead try to integrate into the culture as much as possible before critiquing it.
Teaching experience	My teaching experience allowed me to become part of the community in which I lived. I feel that I had a positive impact on the majority of my students and that the benefited by having me as their instructor. My experience also allowed me to better understand the French education system and forced me to develop new ideas for presenting lessons.	My teaching experience in France has made me reconsider whether I want to pursue teaching as a career. Assistants have little authority in the classroom and often English is regarded as correction time for the primary school teachers. Either more authority must be given to assistants to discipline students or classroom teachers must make sure that the assistant can teach without any disruptions.
Meeting people	Meeting other assistants was a very easy thing. In fact, the rectorat insisted that the assistants know one another for support reasons. Assistants were able to meet one another at meetings and training sessions.	Meeting French people was a difficult task. May French people seem to have their own circle of friends and are impatient with non-native speakers. I was fortunate enough to meet some very nice natives by doing conversation exchanges at the near-by university and also at the local gym. One must definitely make an effort!
Application process	Filling out the paper work was fairly easy.	Assistants need to be notified of their acceptance and sent appropriate forms earlier in the year even if this means changing the application deadline. Also, there should be some sort of way that assistants can check on the status of their application.
On-site support	The on-site support was very good. I enjoyed reading about the progress/problems that others in my situation were experiencing.
Housing	Living in an actual apartment in Nice was definitely a positive thing. Although the apartment was difficult to find, I enjoyed having a place of my own in France and being part of a community.	Assistants should be made aware of whether or not their schools will provide housing. I wrote to my school during the summer and called several times. When I arrived in Nice, I discovered that all of the other assistants were being put up by the school free of charge, but that since I had slipped through the cracks it was up to me to find my own place. I think that each academie should also establish some type of liaison with real estate companies in order to facilitate the housing search. Many real estate companies were reluctant to deal with u because we were not French.
Support from UWM	As previously stated, the on-line support was great. I also knew that if I had a great problem, such as with my Visa at the beginning of the year, UWM professors would do whatever they could in order to help.
Other	Spending a year in France as an assistant is a great way for students who do not have the financial means to spend time abroad.	If one wants to take courses at the university it is almost impossible due to the hours that one must work. Assistants who wish to do this must enroll in private language schools and pay for whatever classes they wish to take; this can be very expensive!