lisafrost

My husband and I are just at the starting point for moving out to France, after many years dreaming about it. We have 2 small children, are both French graduates, he teaches French at secondary school, I run a small French club for primary children. The problem is, our skills limit us to teaching, and I want to start a holiday home (yes, I hear the groans already) specifically geared for small children. I have spent too many holidays lugging all the gear to France to find a house full of knick-knacks, glass-topped tables, unfenced gardens, and ended up worrying myself into needing another holiday! We're not out to make loads of cash, just trying to find a way to live in France. Am I being completely unreasonable doing this? Everything we read tells us not to to it. Any advice?

chalice

If this is your dream, then do it. No matter what you choose to do there will be negatives and positives. We were given countless opinions by others on the pitfalls and the more we read the more terrifying it became. We went for it and although it has been difficult at times, we havent looked back.
Dont burn your bridges, so if it turns out your dream isn't what it seemed you can return to the UK, but at least try.
Good Luck

javajive

You already have two very positive points.
1. Having a decent level of French gives you much more options and make getting on with life and other people much easier.
2. It is much easier for small children to integrate with school.

It doesn't limit you - your thinking limits you

Sounds like a good idea, but very seasonal. I would suggest you do your figures and have another income stream. What about doing the TELF qualification and teaching English.

lisafrost

Thank you for the encouragement. My husband is a qualified French teacher, with years of experience. Will he still need a TEFL qualification to get a job teaching English? Will his PGCE not be enough? And how easy is it to get a job? I was thinking I could take on a shop, hotel, or cleaning job. I'm not proud, and am willing to take on any part time job, just to be able to get over there! We're hoping to move somewhere near Tours.

javajive

Not sure what a PGCE is, but from what I understand the TEFL is what the language schools look for and it is not that hard to get. I had a friend that got it in one month doing a full time course. I even think some local schools offer it as an evening class. Well worth having, even if it is just for backup.

Getting jobs in France is not so easy because of the high unemployment rate and because French socialist law makes it expensive and a real commitment to employ people (ie CDI contracts). For a woman for a full time job they like to know the ages of the children so they can guess if she is going to take 6months maternaty leave anytime soon to have another one...

Your best bets are to play to your stengths - ie mother tongue English (Teaching, Secretarial/Translation, International Company, Tourism), be willing to live somewhere where there is work or/and invent your own enterprise.

If this is your dream then go for it, but be flexible and the more options you have the better. Have something to fall back on - either savings or a job option in the UK.

Bonne chance!

lisafrost

Thank you again for the advice. We are very aware that we cannot rely on a gite for income, and both hope to work. Thank you for the advice about TEFL, I've looked into it, and although it is quite expensive, all the websites we've come across say that it'll be necessary, especially as, as you say, the employment market is tight.

mpprh

Hi

I don't want to cast doom & gloom here.

However, I get lots of emails from people who think teaching English is in high demand (even with French qualifications).

The demand is less than the number of qualified English teachers !

If you want to email me at [email protected] , I'll put you in touch with someone from Wall St Institute who can probably give better advice.

Bonne chance

Peter

proo

Not sure if this is helpful but I have a French friend who is teaching french in a secondary school in London. Her parents are both high school teachers in Brittany (runs in the family I guess!). She said that teaching in France is less well-paid from a UK£ to euro conversion point of view but the length of hours and extra-responsibilities are also much less (as well as general living costs). To teach English a TEFL certificate wouldn't be any harm.

Not sure about the holiday home thing but I hope it works out for you