Everything You Need to Know About TAPIF Orientation
During our year with the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF), Jalen and I participated in two orientation sessions. One took place at the very beginning of our contract in October, and the other happened in January, about midway through the program. We wanted to give future participants an idea of what they might expect of a TAPIF orientation and share our thoughts about our experience. It’s important to keep in mind that orientation sessions vary by Académie and by year – this article will discuss the 2019-2020 orientations for the Académie de Reims in particular.
Orientation I
We were notified of the first required orientation when we received our teaching placements over the summer, so we had plenty of time to plan. This orientation was a two-day event in Reims on the 1st and 2nd of October and we were housed and fed at the Centre International de Séjour de Reims (CIS) for the duration of orientation. The actual sessions, however, were held at a high school in the city located about a ten-minute walk from the hostel. We planned our arrival around this orientation and wound up getting an Airbnb in Reims from our first day in France (September 26th) to the evening before we could check into CIS (September 29th). On September 30th, we left our Airbnb and walked with our suitcases in tow to check in for orientation.
October orientation consisted of the following events:
October 1st
- Speech from rectorat (Board of Education) Administrators: Welcomed the Language Assistants and introduced us to various higher-ups
- Presentation on the French school system: Described French grade levels, went over common teaching practices, and discussed important school rules
- Explanation of the Language Assistant role: Clarified what assistants are to accomplish during the program
- Presentation on practical and administrative aspects of living in France
- Presentation from MGEN: Offered services from a mutual health-insurance provider
- Workshop on English lessons: Distributed a booklet of lesson examples and discussed how to realize them
- Tour of the mairie (Town Hall)
- Tour of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims
October 2nd
- Workshop on lesson planning and implementation: Practiced executing a lesson with other assistants
- Reiteration of the Language Assistant role to school representatives: Explained to the teachers what they can and cannot ask assistants to do
- Rectorat (Board of Education) visit
At the end of the second day of orientation, each Language Assistant was transported to our respective cities by a professeur référent (a teacher from one of our assigned schools that is meant to be our point of contact throughout the program). Instead of having both of our professeurs référents come to orientation in Reims and bring us to Troyes individually, Jalen and I were able to coordinate my professeur référent transporting us both back to Troyes. Jalen ended up meeting his professeur référent a few days later when he went to Bar-sur-Aube to set up his bank account, get a train subscription, and tour his school.
All in all, we found this orientation to be a helpful transition into our role as assistants. We had all of our questions answered, our worries eased, and had fun seeing the attractions in Reims. Additionally, it was interesting to chat with other assistants in our Académie and we really enjoyed meeting the higher-ups from the Rectorat. Though the hostel was, well, a hostel…the housing and meals were free to us, so we really can’t complain!
Orientation II
Jalen and I were notified of our second orientation session by our respective schools. Jalen received his notice by email on December 12th, but due an administrative mix-up, I didn’t receive mine until January 7th. This orientation was only for one day and took place on January 9th. Housing wasn’t necessary for this event, but we were provided with coffee in the morning upon arrival as well as lunch after our first two sessions. Orientation was held at a middle school just outside of Reims. Given that there are no direct train lines connecting Troyes to Reims, Jalen and I took a BlaBlaCar there.
January orientation included the following sessions:
- Open forum with rectorat higher-ups: Addressed questions, comments, and concerns that assistants had run into during the year
- Small-Group Workshop: Created a lesson to share and inspire fellow assistants
- Group Presentations: Presented and explained how to implement our lessons to fellow assistants
At the end of the day, Jalen and I headed home with the same BlaBlaCar driver that had dropped us off in the morning. It was definitely a long day! We had to leave Troyes at 6:20 in the morning to arrive at the middle school on time and we didn’t get home until after 7:00 in the evening.
On the whole, we did not feel that this orientation was as useful to us as the October orientation was. Though the purpose of the event was to regroup after a few months of teaching, resolve any lingering issues that assistants were having, and share lesson ideas with other assistants, neither Jalen nor I were struggling in any of those areas. While we are glad that the assistants had an opportunity to get their concerns addressed and got some good lesson ideas, we really didn’t take much away from this second orientation.
We hope this run-down of both of our orientations this year was helpful to you. If you have any questions or want to know more, leave us a comment!
Check out our video to prepare to participate in TAPIF!
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