June 6 Subject: French Teaching Assistantship Program Newsletter #1 Dear 2008 – 2009 Assistants, My name is Marjorie Nelson. I am your contact person for the Assistantship Program at the Embassy of France in Washington, DC. I will be in touch with you periodically throughout the summer and during the 2008 – 2009 academic year; once you have arrived in France, you will also be in contact with Claire Jacquey, who works for the Centre D’Etudes Internationales Pédagogiques (CIEP) in Paris. Claire and I work together on this program and thus why she, too, will be in touch with you throughout your stay. In an effort to facilitate our communication with you, each year an e-mail list is created so that we may keep in contact with the American Teaching Assistants. Should you need to contact us, I can be reached by e-mail at assistant.washington-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr. I recommend you keep this address in your address book, because while you might not currently have any questions, you very well may in the future. We are not only here to answer your questions, but also to help you with any problems you are experiencing – or to at least point you in the right direction to find the answer. That said, you can also feel free to simply send me updates on how wonderfully things are going and about how much you are enjoying your time in France (!) – needless-to-say, this type of email is much appreciated! It is thus of capital importance to verify that the e-mail address that you provided on your application (the one to which you received this e-mail) will be valid through the end of May 2009. Since many of you have just graduated from college, please make sure that if you gave us your school e-mail address that your account will not be closed in the near future. At this point you should all have received an email from the Assistantship Program informing you of the Académie (i.e. location) in which you will be placed this year. (Please be aware that I neither know where you will be placed within the académie, nor can I change your placement.) Hopefully, at some point in the very near future, you will receive a second letter, your “Arreté de Nomination”, directly from your académie, this document will contain the name of the school you will be teaching at, its address, the length of your contract and your contact’s information. This letter is extremely important, until you have received it, you will not be able to begin the visa process! The “arête” will provide the proof you need in order to apply for a “Teaching Assistant Visa” at your local consulate. Should your plans have changed and you are no longer able to accept the position that was offered to you, please send us your letter of resignation to the address found at the bottom this email. There is no deadline, per se, as to when you should do this, but please let me know as soon as possible: there is a waiting list, and I would like to be able to extend this opportunity to another candidate. If you cannot participate in the Assistantship this year, you are more than welcome to reapply for the following academic year, unfortunately though, you may not defer and I cannot guarantee your future acceptance. All that said, on to the information you have all been waiting for: the logistics for your upcoming year as an American Language Assistant in France! Many of you have asked what you should be doing right now to prepare for your imminent trip to France. Here is just a short list (for now) of what I recommend you start working on: 1) First and foremost, make sure your passport is valid. You cannot travel nor apply for a visa with an expired passport. 2) Research airline fares. I do NOT recommend you plan on leaving for France until the middle of September. Besides the fact that airline fares decrease considerably once the academic year has begun, the paperwork for your upcoming year can sometimes take a while to go through… I would hate for you to have to reschedule your flight because you did not have your visa. If you were hoping to travel around Europe for a few months, I highly recommend you wait until the end of the school year (summer 2009). 3) Start squirreling away a bit of money for your upcoming trip to France. While you will have a monthly stipend as an assistant, I recommend you have some savings prior to your departure so that you can: a) take advantage of your numerous vacations to travel, b) be prepared for any emergencies that may occur, c) make a security deposit for your future housing d) or simply be able to live the first month, since you will not receive your first paycheck until the end of October/middle of November. 4) For those whose French is a bit rusty, should you not have access to a local “French speaking Meet-Up group”, then I recommend that you make an effort to read in French, if only for a few minutes a day (!): newspapers, books, magazines, etc… or listen to the radio: Europe 1, Europe 2, Radio MC. This is exceedingly important, as it will greatly facilitate your integration into your new work environment. 5) Daydream! I can attest to the fact that nothing is better than a year (or two (!) as was my case…) abroad teaching English. Your year is what you make of it and it is an opportunity to learn a lot about yourself and have fun teaching. And that my eager assistants is all she wrote, well, for now at least. There will be more information soon to follow. Within the next few weeks, I will be sending a second email explaining the visa process; how to begin searching for housing; providing a list of useful teaching resources, the e-mail addresses of the other assistants in your académie; and more! Until then, I am more than happy to respond to questions, but please keep in mind that I am one person and you are many, so your patience is much appreciated. Also, while I have spent extensive time in France, I am, unfortunately, not a regional specialist, and thus can only answer questions generally pertaining to France and the Program itself, but not about the specifics of your region, for those questions please directly email your contact in France. A très bientôt, Marjorie – Marjorie NELSON Educational Affairs Program Officer Embassy of France 4101 Reservoir Rd. NW Washington, DC 20007 assistant.washington-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr Tel.: 202.944.6011