Four Useful Things TAPIF Taught Me
The Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) is a sort of “Choose Your Own Adventure” program. TAPIF assistants hail from all over the United States and Canada, have a variety of educational backgrounds, and often have vastly different motivations for moving to France to teach English. As a result, each assistant comes away from the program having had a unique experience. Many see the program as valuable teaching practice to bring back with them to their home country. Some see it as a steppingstone to a career teaching English in France permanently. But what could a teaching assistantship offer someone like me who has little interest in continuing to teach after the completion of this program? Besides the obvious answers, like giving me the opportunity to gallivant around France or to exercise my French-language skills, teaching English to French middle and high schoolers has taught me more than I could have predicted. Here are the top four things I’ve gained from participating in TAPIF.
Resourcefulness
Being an English assistant has been my first experience teaching and my first time ever working with young people in a classroom setting. This inexperience combined with the expectation that I come up with and implement lessons autonomously forced me to be resourceful. From struggling to manage groups of rowdy 11-year-olds to looking out into a sea of blank stares after giving instructions, I’ve had plenty of frustrations. In times of difficulty, I learned to lean on my colleagues for advice, scour the internet for tips and tricks, and sometimes even change my plan completely in the middle of class when things just weren’t going right. Because being a TAPIF assistant required so much of me, I’m more resourceful than ever.
Public Speaking
I’ve done my share of public speaking, especially in college as a French and International Affairs double major, but I rarely (read: never ever) enjoyed it. You might be wondering why someone who doesn’t like to present in front of others would volunteer herself to become a teacher for a year – and I have certainly asked myself the same question. To make matters worse, middle and high school students aren’t exactly the most forgiving crowd! After six months of teaching, however, it seems that I’ve noticeably improved in the public speaking realm. It turns out that practice really does make perfect! Even if I have a ways to go, teaching with TAPIF has helped get rid of some of my pre-presentation nerves and given me a confidence boost that I didn’t know I needed.
Independence
Moving abroad requires a certain level of independence from the get-go – and TAPIF is not a program that holds your hand. Aside from an orientation session and a bit of help from a professeur référent (a teacher from one of our assigned schools that is meant to be our point of contact throughout the program), assistants are on our own to navigate living and teaching in France. From obtaining a visa and travelling to France, to opening a bank account, signing up for Social Security, and finding a place to live, to learning the ins-and-outs of a brand-new job, there is no shortage of trying experiences that I had to navigate by myself. Thanks to TAPIF, I am more independent than ever and have a sense of renewed self-reliance as I continue my journey through young adulthood.
Tolerance
Treating others as I would like to be treated is one of my core values, and my close friends often use the word “sensitive” to describe me. As much as I wish the whole world were more empathetic, my year with TAPIF has taught me to be tolerant when others act in a way that I wouldn’t. Teachers have neglected to tell me that they cancelled class multiple times, people have mockingly pointed out my foreign accent despite my best efforts, and students have even told me that my English lessons were pourri (awful). These negative events thankfully didn’t happen on a daily basis, but I initially struggled to deal with them nonetheless. While these exact incidents could have been avoided had I never come to France, my time as an assistant gave me the opportunity to learn how to deal with these types of occurrences that I will likely continue to experience my whole life through. I see my sensitivity all the more as a strength, and I know how to tolerate difficulties in the workplace and elsewhere.
I am proud of the progress that I have made in my resourcefulness, public speaking, independence, and tolerance and am grateful that TAPIF gave me the opportunity to grow in these ways. What are the most important things that a job has taught you? If you’ve ever been a teaching assistant, what did you take away from your experience? Let me know in a comment!
Check out our video to prepare to participate in TAPIF!
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