My partner and I are looking to start teaching English later on in the summer and we were wondering if anyone knew any specific companies/people that we could contact in Lyon to ask about work? I would love to work in France if it was possible for us both to get work in the same city. Does anyone know how feasible this would be? I am a doctor looking to leave medicine and I would be very keen to teach medical english if this was an option. My partner has a good bit of business experience as well and I understand there are a lot of opportunities in that field. That said, we will only just have completed our TESOL/CELTA courses, and have no actual working TEFL experience as yet.

If anyone has any information or has had a succesful experience themself I would be really glad to hear from you. Thanks

Patrick

I am due to finish CELTA at the end of June, and would be looking for work after that. How realistic is it to find work in July/August. I understand most contracts are from September. Does this tend to be mid/late September?

We are casting the net a bit wider and thinking that Paris might be more reaistic as there seem to be more jobs there. Any advice would be really welcome. Thanks

Patrick

Hi there,

I suspect, like most places in Europe, that there'll be very little work around in July and none whatsoever in August.

Once things do get going again (mid- to late September/early October), Paris will be your best bet. Be advised however that living costs are very high and that the majority jobs aren't full-time salaried, i.e., you don't know how much you will be earning each month. Instead, you are paid for the hours you've worked, which in 'slow' times, may be precious little.

You will lose around 18% of your earnings to social deductions, not to be confused with tax. Unlike in the UK, tax is NOT deducted at source - you have to declare the previous year's earnings by June of the current year, e.g., declare Jan-Dec 2011 earnings before end Jun 2012, after which you will be issued with a demand for payment.

That's pretty much all I've got on TEFL in France. Hopefully someone else will be able to advise further.

Briona