43: Jamie Schler, cookbook author, food writer, owner of Hotel Diderot
About Jamie Schler Jamie Schler writes stories inspired by food, culture, travel, and the real people she meets in real life, every day. Jamie has worked in the world of…
TAPIF – Initial Email to School
So a few weeks ago I made a post opening the blog to questions from TAPIF (Teaching Assistantship Program in France) questions. I received a comment asking about the initial email to the school. What is appropriate, etc.
So here is a little about the message I sent to my school.
Yes, I wrote in French. I started out by introducing myself as the new assistant and saying that I got their address on my “arrêté”. I just discussed a little about myself and my background (i.e. where I’m from, where I studied, what I studied, and a little about my summer plans before my arrival).
After this, I posed some questions:
- What type of school is it (big/small/etc)
- ages of the students
- if there are other assistants in the school or town, and if so whether I could have their contact information
- information for housing (whether the school had some designated or what)
- information on transportation in the region
- the specific roles of the position in the school.
These are all good questions to ask. My professeur référent did not provide me right away with the contact information for the other assistants, however she did provide me with the email address of the former English assistant. Eventually she gave me the email addresses of the other two assistants (German and Spanish) and the email address of a landlord that had rented to the previous year’s assistants. So, I got lucky with the lodging and it all fell into place.
Those are all the questions I asked at the very beginning and I think are a good place to start. Of course you can ask any questions you want to know about – but do not necessarily expect answers right away.
Click “continue reading” to read (in French) the email I sent
Back in the Valley
It's hard to believe that three weeks have passed since the fateful day of my depart from Saint Etienne. It's hard to believe that I still have not found employment…
TAPIF – Ask Away
Dear prospective TAPIF (Teaching Assistantship Program in France) assistants, this is for you. Thanks to Google Analytics, I can see that people arrive at my blog looking for information about…
“Oh LOOK! It’s the AMERICAN!!!!!!!!”
You may or may not have heard that I am participating in a photo exposition in France right now. You may be wondering how this awesome situation came to be.…
Denial and Frustration (Moving and Unemployment)
So, now that my contract is officially over, I've been out of the lycée for two weeks, my more than a month-long job search is turning around nothing but let-downs…
Franchement, my teaching experience
If you know me personally and/or have talked to me about my experiences teaching, you'll know that it hasn't been the easiest for me. I started in October with minimal…
Success in the French Classroom, i.e. Some Activities and Tips that Worked
1 STG Surprise Yesterday I worked for the first time with a group of premier STG students, which I had heard was not an easy group. I was thus not…
What is “Appropriate?”
For some of my classes, usually with the "terminales" (like seniors in the US), the teachers want me to train the students for the baccalauréat (le bac) exam that they…
Teaching in a French High School 101
Tomorrow I'll start a new teaching schedule. Instead of working 3 days a week, I'll work 4 - Tuesday through Friday. In my old schedule I worked Tuesday, Thursday and…