TheAssistants
d’anglais in France web site at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
was created to provide practical information about living and teaching
in France as an English language assistant. This is not the official
French web site that gives information about the program and downloadable
application forms. For that, go to:
www.ciep.fr/en/assistantetr/index.htm
Or
www.frenchculture.org/education/support/assistant/index.html
Rather, our site,
frequently updated, is based on information which returning assistants
have given us about their experience.
Each year through
the CIEP (Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques) France
offers around 6,500 assistantships to candidates from countries where
English, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and
Russian are spoken. The assistants give conversation classes in their
native language to small groups of primary and/or secondary students,
provide classroom support for teachers of foreign languages, and tell
students about their own country. About 1500 assistantships are offered
to citizens of the United States each year. Because so many graduate
and undergraduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
and the state of Wisconsin have served as assistants in the past four
years, our proposal to create this site received the support of the
French Embassy.
Do you have questions
about the application process?
- How to find housing
in France?
- How to make friends?
- What it is like
to teach French children?
- Teaching strategies
and lesson plans?
- What are the
positive and not so positive aspects of your stay in France?
Many of your questions
will be answered by the reports that assistants have sent us during
their seven months as assistants and in debriefing meetings after their
return.
Another goal of
this site is to strengthen connections between classrooms in France
and in the United States. Some of our assistants establish a dialogue
between the English teachers they assist in France and French teachers
in their home state. This site is designed to function as a clearinghouse
of information from returning assistants to teachers and future assistants.
You are welcome to send us your report of your year in France and useful
tips on how to make it a great success. Just write to: verdier@uwm.edu.