La Belle France
A few months ago, I could answer the question "What are you going to go after college?" with "Graduate School". Now that I'm in grad school, I'm starting to hear, "And what are you going to do after grad school?". Add in the fact that my masters is slightly non-traditional (and I have to admit that Writing Studies sounds a little BS-y even to me, especially without further explanation of what the program entails), and most of the time, my answer is met with skepticism, and a look that is somewhere along the lines of "Oh, another poor lost liberal arts major who doesn't know what to do with her life. Should have gone for an MBA or law school."
The truth is, I really don't feel ready for a 9-5. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about sitting in a cubicle, typing away at a computer all day (which is what I am doing right now). I need something exciting, and dynamic, with meetings and travel, new people and places. From where I stand now, I have the rest of my life to be settled into a routine, mortgage, car payments.
I definitely still have the itch to travel and live in a foreign country, which brings me back to the Teach in France program that I considered doing this year if grad school didn't work out. Basically, if you're between the ages of 18-30ish, and have a few semesters of college French under your belt, you can apply to be a teaching assistant in France, teaching English to French kids (or adults). Contracts run from 6 months to a year, depending on the age group you work with.
Yesterday, I spent a good forty five minutes reading through this website , which was written by someone who went through the program. She was pretty specific about the whole application process, finding accomodation, the actual teaching, and the cultural experience and it really sounds like a good fit for me. I need to do it now while I'm still in contact with my college French professor as a letter of recommendation is one of the requirements on the application.
My dad keeps bugging me about going into teaching, and while I'm not 100% opposed to the idea, I don't think it is something I want to do for the rest of my life. Especially not in the US with all this "No Child Left Behind" nonsense whereby you are expected to magically get 30 students to pass a single standardized test regardless of their ability, home situation, and school district funding. No thanks.
The France program, while not an accurate reflection of time in a classroom (I'm sure French classrooms and schools are pretty different) is a good opportunity to look into working abroad. I've always loved France and French culture (a sort of unpopular opinion in the US) and I feel like if I don't try this now, I'll look back in twenty years and kick myself.
So...it looks like I will be applying.
The truth is, I really don't feel ready for a 9-5. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about sitting in a cubicle, typing away at a computer all day (which is what I am doing right now). I need something exciting, and dynamic, with meetings and travel, new people and places. From where I stand now, I have the rest of my life to be settled into a routine, mortgage, car payments.
I definitely still have the itch to travel and live in a foreign country, which brings me back to the Teach in France program that I considered doing this year if grad school didn't work out. Basically, if you're between the ages of 18-30ish, and have a few semesters of college French under your belt, you can apply to be a teaching assistant in France, teaching English to French kids (or adults). Contracts run from 6 months to a year, depending on the age group you work with.
Yesterday, I spent a good forty five minutes reading through this website , which was written by someone who went through the program. She was pretty specific about the whole application process, finding accomodation, the actual teaching, and the cultural experience and it really sounds like a good fit for me. I need to do it now while I'm still in contact with my college French professor as a letter of recommendation is one of the requirements on the application.
My dad keeps bugging me about going into teaching, and while I'm not 100% opposed to the idea, I don't think it is something I want to do for the rest of my life. Especially not in the US with all this "No Child Left Behind" nonsense whereby you are expected to magically get 30 students to pass a single standardized test regardless of their ability, home situation, and school district funding. No thanks.
The France program, while not an accurate reflection of time in a classroom (I'm sure French classrooms and schools are pretty different) is a good opportunity to look into working abroad. I've always loved France and French culture (a sort of unpopular opinion in the US) and I feel like if I don't try this now, I'll look back in twenty years and kick myself.
So...it looks like I will be applying.