recently on the blog…

ANOTHER Reform ?!!

In 2025, the French government, searching for solutions to overcome a teaching recruitment crisis, made yet another reform to the concours system. As we get nearer to a presidential election year, different ministers have seized on issues in the public education system to make their mark, issuing numerous reforms in the school programmes and the…

Day in the Life of an American English teacher in France

8:30AM – Morning Classes Classes at my school can start as early 8:00AM, but since I am about as far from a morning person as there could be, I asked my school to kindly not give me any classes before 9am. Luckily for me, they granted my wish ! So, I usually roll up to…

After the storm : student teaching, school placements, and more post-concours logistics

Up until now, it may seem like studying and passing the concours is the hardest part of joining the Education Nationale as a fully certified teacher. Although the concours is strenuous, and the pass rate seems nerve-wrackingly low (somewhere around 20-30% for the CAFEP), I’m sorry to tell you that it’s only after passing the…

Road to the Concours ! – Study Tips and Advice

Now that you know what awaits you in the various CAPES épreuves, you might be wondering….but how in the world will I learn to do all of that ?! It certainly seems like an insurmountable amount of information to…

Toulouse : the good, the meh, and the wish list

It’s summer vacation here in France, and I’ve been using my much-needed pause from work to snuggle my cat and attempt to finally resurrect this blog. Going through old photos and files made me realize that it’s been almost…

Six months gone by…

It seems like all of my posts recently have begun in the same way: “Wow, I can’t believe it’s been such a long time since the last time I wrote! Oof, it’s been a crazy couple of months -…

How about an update

Hey there gang ! So I managed to participate in a full TWO days of the March Slice of Life Challenge, and haven’t found much inspiration to write since… Not because I haven’t been doing inspiring things – au…

Those who can, teach

There’s a pervasive notion, especially among expat communities that I’ve noticed, and that has been getting under my skin more and more recently. The idea is treating teaching English as a side hustle, something you do to support your…

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