Having to isolate for seven days after returning to the US has meant that I’ve had a lot of time on my hands, and while watching Netflix is entertaining, it does lose its appeal after a certain number of hours (I’m not going to divulge how many, though). What my spare time has given me the opportunity to do, on the other hand, is look back on the past seven months of being a language assistant, and compare my two experiences in France. It’s not entirely hit me that I’m back in the US, although I’m sure much of that is due to the fact that I’ve only seen the four walls of my room since coming back from the airport, but nevertheless, I am. While being a language assistant in the ’20-’21 school year wasn’t at all like what I had experienced in ’18-’19, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t take things away from it, or enjoy it.

When I decided to apply for TAPIF a second time, I had done so on a whim, and mostly as a plan Z in case I couldn’t find another way to go back abroad with a new job. I had completely forgotten about it as the months went by, even to the extent that I was applying for (and ultimately landed one, only for it be later cancelled) jobs in the UK. As the pandemic slowly became something that wasn’t going to disappear in a matter of three weeks (how naive we were), I remembered that I had put in an application for TAPIF, and it started inching up the letters of the alphabet in my contingency plans. When I received my acceptance in June, it became a more serious proposition, and one that I was fully entertaining.

I was accepted to the academie de Dijon, which had been my second choice for academies on my application (which was already a better start than the first time I’d been an assistant, where the academie in which I was placed wasn’t any of my three choices). I was placed in two schools at the secondary level in the city of Dijon itself, which was the most wonderful news for me. One of the big “fears” of the assignment process is that you receive your academie placement months before your city placement, and while I’m sure I would’ve made the most of any placement, I won’t lie that I was thrilled to be in Dijon proper. Despite having done a two week “tour de France” during my last séjour in France, I hadn’t visited Dijon or Bourgogne before, and I was excited about being placed in a new region in France, one that I could hopefully explore and get to know, even if other travel was limited. I was also thrilled about getting to work at the secondary level both because that is what I had initially wanted, but also because it would be a new experience for me in comparison to my first round as an assistant. I was able to reach out to my two prof referents, and received fairly quick responses, which was a beautiful sign for me that communication wouldn’t be horrific during my time in Dijon (and luckily, it wasn’t). My prof ref at the lycée where I was assigned helped me secure one of the rooms reserved for assistants in the internat, and was overall very helpful before my arrival.

Getting to work at the secondary level this time around really changed my view on the assistant program. Where in primary I had been used to creating repetitive lessons on colors, animals, and basic things like that (which is no insult to the content they learn at that age, they are younger than the students I had this year), in secondary, I was able to create lessons on comparing stereotypes between the French and Americans, Gothic literature, freedom of speech, and even do some Shakespeare analysis. Every week brought something entirely new, sometimes even things I had to research in order to prepare for a lesson, but I enjoyed having to actually work to create content, rather than what at times felt like phoning it in with the younger levels. Now don’t get me wrong, working with older students didn’t inherently mean that their English levels were phenomenal, but having the freedom to work with smaller groups on my own meant that I could tailor the level of English I was using for various groups, or feel comfortable inserting some French if need be to help move the class in the right direction. Both of my schools had international sections, which I’m sure helped with the variety of content I was able to curate as well.

One of the biggest disappointments for me of being an assistant during Covid was that I didn’t get to have the same interactions with the students that I loved having when I worked as an assistant last time. By the end of my contract, I knew very few of their names, unfortunately (unlike last time where I knew them all), and I never got to see more of their faces than what wasn’t covered by a mask. My schedule was such that I saw my classes once a week, and once the hybrid model started kicking in, I saw some classes once every other week, and some once a month. Not exactly a schedule for getting to know students, at least at my lycée. I had a bit more luck at the collège, but even then, I wouldn’t say it was as fulfilling in that regard as my experience as an assistant was the last time around.

The (somewhat) elephant in the room about working in France during Covid might be the travel aspect. Let’s be honest, a big incentive for many assistants in coming to France is the opportunity to have eight weeks paid holiday (yes, I did say eight) during the seven month contract during which they can galavant all over the country, or even Europe if they so choose. Although we did still have eight weeks of vacances this year, only six of them were spent out of confinement. That being said, I only did one day trip the entire time I was there, which part of me sometimes regrets, but most of the time, I don’t regret making the decision to keep myself as safe as I could, even if it meant less adventuring and occasionally, more boredom. The day trip I took was to Beaune, and I think between that city and Dijon, I did get a Burgundian experience, even if it was a little limited. I was truly impressed by les hospices and their tiled rooftops, and I enjoyed my day outing, despite the fact that it was the only one I took. I did leave Dijon with some mustard, and nonnettes, so I had some Burgundian food experiences as well, or at least, as much as could be had with restaurants closed.

Even though I had many frustrations with the pandemic situation in France, and the way that it was handled by the French government (a statement I wouldn’t have thought I’d be uttering when I boarded the plane to leave the US), I’m glad I took the leap to be a language assistant again. It certainly wasn’t in my plans for this year, but I think it’s important not to discount the unexpected, and the benefits it can have. I’m not coming out of my year in Dijon with the same interpersonal experiences that I had in Angers, nor the amount of photos for my scrapbook, but I can’t say I didn’t grow or learn new things during my seven months. I got super familiar with Dijon, and visited almost all of the parks in the city. I climbed the tour Philippe le Bon before it had to close, and got to revel in the Burgundian tiled roofs from above. I walked the parcours de la chouette several times, and used the confinements to my advantage in exploring where I was living. I’m not sure I would’ve done all those things to quite the same extent if there hadn’t been a pandemic (for better or for worse). Even with the pandemic, I was very lucky with my school placements, and the teachers I worked with in both of them. Despite the headaches caused my constant Covid concerns, dealing with CAF and sécu (which are both always a joy), and the myriad of other bureaucratic nightmares that happen in France, I know that many of those frustrations will just be blips in my memories from France. I can focus on discovering the best pain au chocolate I’ve ever had at a local boulangerie, countless walks through the Japanese Garden, one of my classes enthusiastically singing along to Horrible Histories, or even the fun games I’d come up with for one of the kids I tutored. Those are more valuable to me than the hardships (although I’m not discounting them, either).

From confinements to curfews, my last year as an assistant couldn’t have been more different from the first time I was an assistant, but in some ways, I’m glad the differences were so stark (although, I would’ve been happy without one of the major differences being a global pandemic). Getting to experience such different contracts as a language assistant has made me feel more confident in my ability to take on living abroad, conquering French bureaucracy, and in my ability to navigate difficult situations independently. I’m grateful to have been able to call two different French cities home for a time, and to have seen multiple facets of the French education system. Despite the fact that I will not be a language assistant again, or the fact that I probably won’t be returning to live in France anytime soon, I think my time(s) in France have been well worth it, and are beyond more than just a few bullet points on my CV.

Ultimately, I’m glad I went to France this year. It might not have been the globe trotting adventure I would’ve dreamed for a second round as an assistant, but through it all, I can say that I navigated living in France again, and during a pandemic no less. I got to flex my French muscles, enjoy countless Schweppes Agrum’, and add another abroad experience to my life, and I can’t complain about that. Like I did last time I wrote a review piece of my time as a language assistant, I can’t stress enough that every assistant’s experience will be different given all the variables that are in play during the seven month contract. There are countless ways for things to go smoothly and well, but there are equal opportunities for difficulties and stressors. From my two experiences, I can absolutely say that being an assistant is a worthwhile experience, especially if you’re wanting to spend some time in France, improve your French, or even just have an adventure abroad. It’s definitely not perfect all the time, and the pandemic did make some of the shortcomings of the program/job more evident, but I’ll advocate for anyone to give it a chance if they’ve got the interest in it!