TigersEye

Hi everyone,
I currently live in Jersey Channel Islands with my husband and our three children (twin daughters age 14 and our son age 4) I currently work in finance in a bank and have a business with ICT degree.
My in-laws currently live in Wales and we are all planning to move to France in about two years (after my girls complete their GCSE exams!) I have dreamed of moving to France for years and we've decided its about time we left the financial rat race over here!! My mother-in-law speaks fluent Breton so we're looking at the Brittany area, most likely the Morbihon departément. She is also a psychology lecturer and marks exams for the UK exam boards which she will continue to do in France.
We're hoping to have a family gite business but I am also doing the TEFL qualification to teach. I am hoping to build up clientele for Reiki and reflexology treatments as well, which I am qualified in - not sure how sought after this would be?
My daughters have interests in hairdressing, childcare and animals so I'm hoping they can find some work in those fields eventually. Maybe as a tour guide or volunteer at the Branféré animal park! I would also love to work there and already have a diploma in studying mammals from the Open University as well as a vast amount of experience in animal care.
My French is pretty basic but I'll be working on that over the next two years.
I just wanted to say hi and wondered if there were any other families in the area who might know of good schools, possible work opportunities in the area.
Looking forward to speaking with you soon
Jodie x

MillieF

Lovely place Jersey, I got married there....oh, and yes I bank there too.

If you are happy to volunteer, I would imagine all will be great, and you could have a super time. Work on your French and get ready for your move.

Please don't base any of your future plans on you or your children's ability to find work in France, the situation is dire, and I really wouldn't imagine this is going to change in a hurry. Unemployment is terrible, in cities it is bad in rural France it is worse, I have a number of professional, well qualified, completely bi-lingual friends who cannot find work.

France is a beautiful, fantastic country, but please don't go there unless you have ironclad employment arranged, or can live without employment. This cannot be over emphasised.

EuroTrash

On the positive side, there is quite a lot of work available teaching English, with or without a TEFL qualification. In a country where qualifications and certificates are usually so important, oddly when it comes to training they tend to be more interested in your subject expertise than your ability to teach it - so if you are a native English speaker, for many organisations that is sufficient.

Setting up to offer alternative therapies, on the other hand, could turn out to be something of a minefield as regards professional accreditation etc.

Do your homework on French business registrations, structures and liabilities, I presume that Jersey is like the UK in that setting up a small business is relatively simple and risk-free but that is not necessarily the case in France, and while you are finding out the facts bear in mind that the auto entrepreneur scheme that has been a godsend to many self-employed people seems set to hit the skids as a long-term solution as it is likely to be limited to 2 years.

cardi

Where can you find this work teaching English?

EuroTrash

Wherever you normally look for work. Advert on jobsites, google is your friend. Word of mouth. Write to places or go see them.

However for freelancers the best site for finding EFL work IMHO is http://www.motamot.com/missions/index.php which seems to be the recognised place for posting freelance missions. But you need to be registered as a freelancer on the site in order to apply, and in order to register on the site you need to be registered as a business and have a SIRET.

Chatter Static

Without hijacking Jodie's thread THIS article highlights some changing thoughts on offering courses in French. Private education establishments are more open to employing English nationals within their education system. State schools are not so easy to get into on an employment basis.

dennerlymum

Not heard of that site before, but it looks great!

I advertise for trainers on facebook and anglo info too