Some people wonder why I moved to France and not some other country. But to know the answer, you only have to look at my childhood.
I had a different experience than most. When I was five years old living in Virginia, my family moved to the suburbs of Paris, France. Three years turned into six years, and I developed a love for the country.
I met nice French neighbors who let me have sleepovers. I learned to bike in the lush French forests. Sunday mornings I’d go to our local boulangerie down the street for fresh baguette and croissants. I watched French TV and absorbed a Parisian accent and French vocabulary.
I was sad when I had to leave France at the age of 11 and say goodbye to all my friends and cultural understanding. When I finally moved back to the US, I studied Business, but always kept one foot in French cultural activities. I joined a language learning club while studying in Boston, where I taught French for free. When I did my master’s at Columbia, I joined the French culture club, where we organized French cultural events.
I always felt like I had this unique set of skills and resources that were underappreciated in the US–I could speak almost fluent French, after all. I also knew a lot about French culture and the French people. When I got my first couple jobs out of college, all that seemed to matter was my Spanish ability when I took the few Spanish-speaking calls in my customer service job.
It should come as no surprise then that when an opportunity came for me to work in France, I jumped at it. It wasn’t just that my skills and talents were underutilized. I genuinely missed France, speaking French, eating French food, and walking French streets. I also felt the US didn’t resonate with me as much as it used to.
So here are the main reasons why I moved to France to Teach English:
To Realize my Full Potential
I had this cultural understanding I absorbed as a child, and a decent French fluency, that I wasn’t using. So I decided to become an ESL teacher and taught English for a couple years on the east coast. I had very few French students, however. So when the opportunity came to move to France and teach English, combining my career with my love of French things made sense.
To Escape the Political Climate
This coincided with a bit of alarm in where the United States was headed at the time. The difference between France and the US was already stark for some institutional things like universal subsidized healthcare and a lack of regular mass shootings. But when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in 2016, the increasing polarization of both parties was clear, and I felt (along with many others) that it was the right time to leave the US–at least for a little while.
Every day there seems to be another story on the news that vindicates my decision to move to France and teach English. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that I’m here, living this dream life. It’s not perfect, but I love French life and culture.
To Teach English
I also love teaching English. The joy I get from seeing the lightbulb turn on in a student’s mind, or from knowing the answer to a question they ask and then explaining it quickly and efficiently in a way that lets them understand and learn instantly, is very satisfying for me.
To Discover a New Culture
Getting paid summers off is great too. This is when I get to travel the most, and traveling in France is so easy when you want to see other parts of Europe. You get new history, architecture, cuisine, and language after a short bus/train/plane ride away, which simply doesn’t exist in the US!
To Travel More Easily
I knew that once I was in Europe, it would be a lot easier to travel from place to place with their train system. Flights would also be a lot shorter, and would take me to countries with much more varied languages, culture, and topography than in the US.
To Enjoy Great Food and Wine
I remembered the food being so good in France when I lived here. Now that I enjoy wine, it’s a great new thing to enjoy at a much more affordable price than what’s available in the US. The quality of food and wine in France is unparalleled.
To Make a Difference
Most importantly, I chose the teaching profession to make a difference: to help students discover a new culture and inspire them to want to learn the language and maybe travel to an English-speaking country.
In Short: This is Why I Moved to France to Teach English
- To have an experience of a lifetime.
- To grow in my profession
- To develop the skills I already had
- To challenge myself
- To make a difference,
- To travel,
- To enjoy life by eating good food and having good wine.
- To meet new people, and
- To live.
This is why I moved to France to Teach English.
If you want to Move to France and Teach English too, check out my services tab, where I can help you every step of the way. Or check out my blog posts and learn more on your own!
