To move to France?

[FasterThanASnakeAndAMongoose]

Dh has the opportunity to transfer to the French office of his company. It's in a nice bit of the south of France.

We have 2 dc (7 months and 2yo). I am on maternity leave from my teaching job. I could potentially find work teaching in France (I have a French degree and am bilingual). Resettlement package is good. We could rent our house out and rent over there while we decided if we wanted to make it permanent. Kids could grow up bilingual. The lifestyle would be great. We could go skiing at the weekends and drink wine and go to French supermarkets.

On the other hand...

Dh doesn't speak a word of French. The company does all business in English but he'd still have to learn if we were living there. I could teach him though, and work would also help with tutoring.

Our life here is really good. We have loads of friends. We've just spent a fortune renovating our house - much more than we would have if we were going to rent it out. We're in the catchment for the best state schools in our town. Our families are all within a few hours drive. Parents are getting older and might need us more (although they all think we should go). I'd have to give up my job which I love.

We would initially go for a couple of years, but even that would be such an upheaval. My job would be gone, we'd miss the school application process for our eldest.

I think it could be really great but I'm also completely terrified at the thought and feel so sad at the idea of leaving our life here behind.

Has anyone done this? Any regrets or tips? Should we just go for it? I don't know what to do.

Last post was to Bobochic

No, but I do know several senior education officials and the lengths that the French education system is prepared to go to in order to place even vaguely qualified teachers in classrooms! Lots of teachers are imported from other countries, sent on language crash courses for six weeks and sent into classrooms.

Really? i've never heard of that happening.

Actually thinking about it what I'd do in the OP's shoes would be apply for a job as a lectrice / maître de langues at the local university. Would fit nicely into a two-year posting.

I agree with Plastic, become a lectrice - I have met a number of foreign-qualified teachers and they have all had to retrain in order to be anything but vacataire (supply, badly paid and you are contracted for 200 hours in a year, no holiday pay, no sick pay etc, contractuels whonare longer-term supply are slightly better treated). There is no way someone who isn't mother-tongue level in French will get a 'normal' primary job because of the emphasis on language in primary, also maths are taught completely differently - and vocab is a bit niche, even something as simple as the x and y axes becomes the abscisse and the ordonnée. In my area English immigrants seem to scrape a living doing gîtes and undeclared bodge-work for other English people, but that is often down to lack of qualifications and lack of language skills. If you are in a city like Nice or Aix, Uni would be the best place for you, but I don't see how you can do anything but teach English, the way things are here.

Thanks for all the new replies - reading them with interest.

I hadn't even thought about being a lectrice but that sounds a great idea which I'll definitely look into.

I'm worried about outing myself so would rather not post the name of the city, although happy to pm anyone. It's a largish city with a university and a lot of expats.

Good point from a pp about not living anywhere too remote. This is a big consideration. I like being able to walk to a lot of shops, restaurants, cafes, parks etc. I walk every day with the dc. We're in the suburbs in quite a diverse area - lots of independent shops and high streets nearby. I'd go mad if I was somewhere remote and had to drive everywhere!

I know (British) people who have lived in France for 20 years, fully integrated with jobs, kids in school and know the language etc and they still feel like outsiders but they don't really mind.

I and my family have been the subject of anti-English comments a few times whilst there - I think lots of French People are less shy about expressing what we might see as racism, but I never felt threatened by it. It is IMHO a different culture, but one I have a lot of time for.

If you want to work in HE you will find it more comfortable and interesting in a Grande Ecole than a university.

The British Council is also expanding rapidly in France and has more and more work for English teaches outside Paris (inc Lyon and Marseiile).

I would strongly advise you to stay away from the French state education system. But there is masses of private education in France with lots of opportunities and flexibility.

My first question would be what relocation assistance would you be given. That is key. Some firms pay for a lot including spouse retraining and language lessons etc, some do not.

you will find it more comfortable and interesting in a Grande Ecole than a university

Not necessarily. Depends what you are looking for from your teaching experience. I do agree there's no point OP trying to get a job in a school, not because they're horrendous but because she's only planning to be there for two years.

Given similar facts I would move. We spend a lot of time in France and I think it is possible to integrate but you do need to work at it and speak french.

Just a word about leaving the job that you love. I loved my job last month (beven doing it 4 years). I now have a new boss and I'm searching for a new one. Things change....

I was about to say go for it, but now am in two minds after reading that your husband doesn't speak a word of French. Yes, you can teach him, but it takes a long time to learn a new language, will he be able to manage in the interim?

My parents decided to move to France, had been planning to for years, could both speak passable French, started the house buying process, then as it went on realised what a problem the language barrier actually was and how much they didn't know, started to miss family and friends more and more, some of their parents became seriously ill and being miles away made them feel helpless. In the end my dad had an emotional breakdown having realised what a mistake they had made (made the excuse of taking my DH to the supermarket but actually just wanted to pour his heart out to someone and actually sobbed - something my dad never does). They pulled out of the house sale, lost 60 Grand as a result, and came home to England (where they are now very happy). However, saying that we also have a friend whose parents moved to France and love it there. It really depends on your personalities I think.

I think it sounds like you would manage brilliantly, but would your DH if he is learning the language from scratch? It's a lot to consider.

The only thing to bear in mind is that if you want to come back and teach supply in England you may find it difficult to get re-started due to references.

I had a short career break from teaching (2 years) and had quite a bit of trouble when I wanted to do some agency supply work at a later date. This was after 10 years as a teacher, including SLT experience.

I had a first reference from my most recent school HT - fine. No problem there.

My second reference was my previous school - but the HT had moved on (under a bit of a cloud) and the new HT had no reference on file for me.

I then suggested my school prior to that, only one year older, but the agency deemed that to have 'expired' as it was more than three years old.

In the end they accepted a personal reference, but they also had a lot of issues around my SAHM 'gap' - because I had no way of proving what I had been doing in that time they were very suspicious of it, even though I offered references from voluntary work etc.

In the end I never went back to teaching and that was probably the best solution!

If you come back and can walk straight back into a job in your old school there will be no problem, but just bear in mind that it might be an issue elsewhere.

Bobochic - someone whose teaching experience is in primary school isn't going to get a job in a grande école, even if they are a native speaker. You need the agrégation, or at least a post-graduate degree if you come from abroad, to teach and to do colles. My children are in GE at the moment/ have just gone on to ecole d'ingénieurs and the work is specific to the particular demands of the various concours. I still think fac is the answer!

I live in the south and teach in a university in a town with lots of expats, which may or may not be the one you are considering. Have been here over 10 years.
Feel free to PM me if you like...

Madamfrog - I can assure you that GE will take almost anyone with teaching experience to teach English. Getting even vaguely suitable candidates is a nightmare. I have two close friends who run programmes at HEC and another who runs programmes at ESSEC...

Bobochic is right on that, GE language teaching is pretty easy to pick up.

Argh I've just realised I was thinking of prėpa rather than GE, sorry Bobochic I expect you are right, I had prépa on my mind (I'm expecting the green-faced and newly underweight child - régime prépa ;-) - home in a fortnight or so...) yes in no 1's GE the English teaching was, hmm, a bit lightweight - but in no.2's it is v good. So I suppose it depends on where you are... I have had a colleague from the UK though who had taught up to 16 in GB who simply couldn't cope and is now an estate agent and much happier

Obviously it's a different kettle of fish entirely to teach EFL to 20+ age group in highly selective HE than teaching primary in UK, and I agree that a lot of teachers have preferred age groups, ability groups etc. I think the OP just needs to be aware that teaching in a French state education, while it might seem the closest match to her experience, is not either the easiest or the most comfortable route into teaching in France. There is a huge market for EMT teachers and not just in dodgy language schools.

Again, thank you all. This is really helpful and Dh and I are reading your replies with great interest. Will pm a couple of you later, and thanks to those who have pmed me - just negotiating toddler bedtimes but will get back to you

I've taught in 2 French primary schools (10+ years ago) and agree it is (certainly was then) very very different to teaching in the UK.

I spent a year teaching in one school on my year abroad. It was the industrial north and quite a depressed town. The school was very underfunded. The teachers were all very unhappy and overstretched. Not necessarily that different to the UK in that respect, but there wasn't the strategic approach I'm used to here. The approach was very old fashioned - copying facts from the blackboard sort of thing.

The second school where I did a placement on my PGCE a couple of years later was much the same. Extremely deprived area - as the school was funded by the local town hall it was shockingly under resourced.

I felt at the time that the UK was years ahead - although in fairness this was a long(ish) time ago and things might be different now.

On a random and unrelated note - do they have charity shops in France? I can't remember ever seeing one and I love a good rummage! Whatever would I do with my kids' outgrown clothes?!

There are lots of 2nd hand shops for smartish women's clothes or for children, not really like UK charity shops though. There are friperies and also a few charity shops, Emmaüs, the Croix-Rouge, that sort of thing. I gave my baby things to the hospital because they always need stuff, and other outgrown things to friends.

I think you'll find things haven't changed much since you taught here OP, especially if you live out in the sticks.

The lack of charity shops here drives me bonkers. I give old DC stuff to a church that I happened across or try and palm it off on acquaintances but it is nothing like the UK.

Dunno about charity shops but I do know about vide greniers - like car boot sales but GOOD, I love them!

Personally I think while Brexit is so uncertain relocation to Europe isn't a great idea. Most European companies aren't scaling back UK ops, they're silently expanding them & I wouldn't be suprised to see a lot of moves to HQ to the UK as negotiations progress. The UK has looser labour laws post-Brexit, forcasted to have better growth, lower tax etc etc. So be careful.