Inside Look at a Typical Work Schedule with TAPIF

Experiences with the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF) differ immensely from assistant to assistant. Variables including the age of our students, the location of our placements, the number of schools in which we are employed, and the time we spend commuting to and from work govern what daily life looks like for individual TAPIFers. In other words, there’s no such thing as a “standard” TAPIF work day. To illustrate just how different daily life can be from one assistant to another and to give future program participants a peek into our experiences, Jalen and I have laid out what school days look like for each of us.

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Our schools all use a biweekly schedule, alternating between “A” weeks and “B” weeks. Even within the same week, however, each day of work is unique. To complicate things even further, Jalen works only in his high school on “A” weeks and only in his middle school on “B” weeks whereas I work in both my high school and middle school every week. It can be difficult to keep our work days straight, and neither Jalen nor I have ever been able to truly memorize our own schedules! If you’re curious about specifics, here’s what our work weeks look like:

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As you can see, our schedules vary quite a bit – as a result, neither of us developed a consistent “daily routine.” However, to show you in more detail what a TAPIF work day is like, Jalen and I have each picked one of our busiest days to describe even further.

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Maria’s School Day – Friday Week B

• 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: I give myself about an hour to get ready for the day, eat my breakfast, and make sure my school bag is in order before I leave.
• 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM: I leave the apartment and walk to the nearest bus stop. Since the buses sometimes run ahead of schedule, I usually arrive at the bus stop with 5 to 10 minutes to spare.
• 9:15 AM – 9:33 AM: I get on the bus and ride to the nearest bus stop to my high school.
• 9:33 AM – 10:00 AM: I walk from the bus stop to my high school and wait in the salle des profs (teachers’ lounge) for my first class to begin. If I need to print teaching materials or do any last-minute preparation for classes, I take care of that in this time window.
• 10:00 AM – 10:55 AM: I split a class of high schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 10:55 AM – 11:50 AM: I split a class of high schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 11:50 AM – 12:35 PM: I walk back to the bus stop and wait for the next bus into the city center.
• 12:35 PM – 12:50 PM: I get on the bus and ride to the nearest bus stop to my middle school.
• 12:50 PM – 1:20 PM: I walk for a few minutes to my favorite spot in town and eat my packed lunch.
• 1:20 PM – 1:40 PM: I walk to my middle school and wait in the salle des profs (teachers’ lounge) for my next class to begin.
• 1:40 PM – 2:35 PM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 2:35 PM – 3:30 PM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM: I walk home from my middle school after my last class of the day.
• 3:45 PM – 6:00 PM: I arrive home and use this time to reorganize any teaching materials I used throughout the day, make notes about how classes went and mark the lessons as completed, review upcoming lesson plans, and prepare teaching materials for future classes. On school nights, I also pack my lunch, my school bag, and pick out an outfit to wear for the next day.

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Jalen’s School Day – Thursday Week B

• 6:00 AM – 6:45 AM: It takes me about 45 minutes to to get ready for the day, eat my breakfast, and get my school bag together before I leave.
• 6:45 AM – 7:15 AM: I leave the apartment, walk to the train station, and wait for my train to arrive.
• 7:15 AM – 7:44 AM: I get on the train and ride to Bar-sur-Aube.
• 7:44 AM – 8:55 AM: I walk from the train station to my middle school and wait in the salle des profs (teachers’ lounge) for my first class to begin. If I need to print teaching materials or do any last-minute preparation for classes, I take care of that in this time window.
• 9:00 AM – 9:50 AM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 9:50 AM – 10:05 AM: While the students have recréation (recess), I stay in my classroom and prepare for my next class.
• 10:05 AM – 11:00 AM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 11:05 AM – 12:00 PM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM: I use my break time to eat my packed lunch either in my classroom or somewhere in town if the weather is nice.
• 2:00 PM – 2:55 PM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM: I split a class of middle schoolers with their English teacher. Each half of the class spends 30 minutes with me and 30 minutes with their teacher.
• 3:50 PM – 4:38 PM: I walk back to the train station and wait for my train to arrive.
• 4:38 PM – 5:10 PM: I get on the train and ride back to Troyes.
• 5:10 PM – 5:30 PM: I walk home from the train station.
• 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM: I arrive home and spend some time relaxing, checking social media, and catching up with Maria.
• 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: I cook and eat dinner.
• 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM: After dinner, I reorganize any teaching materials I used throughout the day, make notes about how classes went and mark the lessons as completed, review upcoming lesson plans, and prepare teaching materials for future classes. I pack my lunch, my school bag, and pick out an outfit to wear for the next day.

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We hope you enjoyed learning about our TAPIF work schedules this year. The most important thing to keep in mind for future assistants is that there is honestly no “quintessential” TAPIF work week. As we’ve said before, no two assistants will have quite the same adventure – try to embrace it! 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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