Taking the plunge and moving to France - anyone who has done it already?

achtungbarry

Hello all,

My wife and I have finally decided to take the plunge and move to France within the year or so. She is French and I speak fluent (or close enough) French.

I am a qualified teacher with plenty of experience and was hoping to teach English in one of the language schools in Paris. We are hoping to live in one of the suburbs or satelite towns around Paris. We have no children yet so that is not a consideration. My wife's sister lives in Paris and we have a couple of friends there too. I lived in the south of France for a year about 10 years back so am well used to the country. We really want to do this and I really love France and French culture. We have an apartment in Dublin that we would have to rent out and a cat to bring over so they are are only real obstacles.

Everything seems to be in our favour in many respects but this does not change the fact that the whole idea terrifies me. I love the idea of a new life in France and all the advantages of living there but it is a big step to take all the same.

Has anybody who has done this any advice? Has anybody gone over to teach English? What was your experience?

I would eventually love to start my own business giving walking tours and also photography tours of Paris. I have a huge interest in Parisian history. I am happy to start with teaching though to get a regular and steady income. My wife works in the library services here and would like to do something similar there and there do seem to be positions but not as many opportunities as teaching.

Sorry for the long post. I'd love to hear of your experiences and any advice at all.

See Ye

Hey there - I've been living & teaching EFL in Paris for nigh on ten years (actually, full disclosure, I'm also a CELTA tutor) so I'll give you my 2 cents worth and feel free to ask any more specific questions. I hope I don't come over as being negative, I have a great life here it's just that I have seen a lot of people come over with dreams of what Paris should be like and ...

Work - my first question would be "What sort of teaching experience ?" Most language schools require you to have a specific qualification for teaching English to adults. If you have time you may want to browse this thread which was started a while back but has a lot of useful info in it - questions from people in a similar position to yours and feedback from people who have done the CELTA course or similar.
There could be other options, one of the International Schools is currently looking for an English Mother Tongue maths teacher for example.

For your wife I'm not 100% sure but I think the librarians here are civil servants ("fonctionaires") which means that in the public sector at least it's pretty much a closed shop. OTOH there are organisations like the American Library & British council which she could try and where being bilingual would be an advantage.
Have a look in FUSAC a free expat magazine to get a feel for what sort of jobs are on offer. (NB the "current issue" feature didn't work for me in Chrome but does in Firefox)

Life: Living in Paris has very little in common with living elsewhere in France, of course you get the food & wine AND beautiful views BUT there is all the expense and stress of living in a big city. Better public transport than Dublin true but it can all be a tad bad tempered.

I don't know what you're used to but most cats in the city are exclusively indoor cats and the appartements are small - I only know four cases of people who don't live in a "two room" place or smaller. Of the four one is a couple who bought adjoining flats and knocked through to create one big one, one a couple who inherited a flat from a grandparent, and the others are in the suburbs (one a vast expat place).

Choosing to live outside the city (anywhere which doesn't have a postcode starting 75 is considered "outside") will be cheaper and the "feel" of the place is automatically more relaxed - seriously you walk five minutes outside Paris and you can feel as if you're in a different world. However... you are less likely to be on a metro line and will have to use the less frequent suburban trains and no one will let you forget you don't live "in Paris" ;-)

franc 91

Haigh Achtungbarry - did it work out for you?