Hi everybody

I'm halfway through the 140-hour online TEFL course and I would love the chance to teach in Europe, particularly France.
I am from Australia and I just wanted to know if there are any other Australians out there who have lived and taught in Europe or are doing so right now?
How did you go with getting visas and finding work/accomodation? I'm just sceptic about my chances considering I could be up against people from the UK, who I believe are already classified as European Nationals?
I have a Diploma, but if I understand correctly, this is not the same as a degree, so is that going to hurt my chances. I'm mostly just worried about getting the working visa.

Any information or help would be greatly appreciated

Hi

Sorry I think all the news I have is bad. Firstly you are underqualified even if we ignore visa issues. The French are picy about their English teachers and generally you will need a CELTA or CONSIDERABLE experience to open up even the lowest level jobs even before you hit visa issues. Secondly yes getting a work visa is going to be super hard. There are plenty of EU nationals who want the jobs. There isn't a huge demand either as the French tend to rely quite heavily on French English teachers. If you are totally fluent in French that would help. As would a teaching degree. People from both the UK and Ireland are EU nationals. 

I wish you the best of luck but I think France is probably an unrealistic choice of first destination with a 140 hour online TEFL course and a diploma. If you have your heart set on Europe I'd look East. The Czech Republic apparently hires people of all nationalites and anywhere outside the EU is going to be a lot more friendly to people who aren't from the UK or Ireland.

Hi there,

If you're wanting to teach TEFL, there are plenty of opportunities of teaching in France, either privately, or with a language school. But you won't necessarily be guaranteed full time work.  However, as per the previous reply to you, getting a job in the education system is quite difficult as you need certain French recognised qualifications.

I passed my TEFL in March last year, and then was luckily employed by an international wide language school in Bordeaux. Plus I have a lot of private students as I'm the only native English person in the town I live in (I'm British).

If you are able to get a Visa to work here, being Australian won't make a difference in you getting a job, as your native tongue is English. 

Make sure you research all your options well, before coming over, and head to a bigger town or city to find the work. You do need to speak French to be able to work anywhere in France, as you have to get through the red tape, administration etc.

To make you feel more at ease, I work with Americans & Canadians, who aren't European, and they've made it work for them.

Good luck & don't give up on your dream!

C

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