Best of TAPIF

Here is  a compilation of tips, stories and insights about my own TAPIF experience. They date from 2015-2018 so you should take them with a grain of salt… There may be details that have changed since I was an assistant !

Check out my TAPIF Timeline for a complete overview of when I submitted what and to whom!

Preparing to TAPIF !

So you think you can TAPIF?

With TAPIF applications in the US due in the next few days, I am sure many hopefuls will be curiously Google searching tips and advice,…

Trip to the Embassy!

Last week, I completed another step in my journey towards France: The Visa Appointment. I’m very lucky because I live so close to my regional…

Ladies and Gentlemen, An Announcement!

That’s right everyone. I have an announcement! An important announcement!! An announcement worthy of a fanfare opening! Look, I’ve even provided one for you. I’ll…

the vicious TAPIF cycle

Recently I found a notebook that I bought in Chambéry and used throughout my year as an assistant. Tucked among the pages, I found a…

Every. Vote. Matters. – How to vote from abroad

In the past 24 hours, I inadvertently sent myself down a 9/11 rabbit hole, beginning with this extremely well done Politico feature about the reporters, advisors…

Académie d’Aix-Marseille: Anne in Marseille

I wrote this guest post for Alexandra’s excellent series on different TAPIF assistants’ experience in the various regions of France. With 2017-18 applications coming up,…

Living in France – Chambéry and Marseille

Life in Limbo

My first days in Chambéry, though thrilling, included probably the most anxiety-filled moments I have ever lived. Why? you ask. How could you possibly be stressed…

The Great Marseille Apartment Hunt of 2016

The wily explorer arrived to the Marseillais jungle with an accommodation booked for one week, and one goal: to finally capture a rare wild apartment.…

The chicken.

One of my French teachers once observed the difference between French and English: English has a million words which all have the same definition. French has…

Home is where the Turkey is

There are plenty of things to be thankful for when you live in a foreign country: being in a lovely city filled with friends and…

I Heart Chambery: anniversary edition!

I had the idea to fill this National Geographic questionnaire out from fellow TAPIF blogger Hardly Snarky, who wrote about her city of Aix-en Provence. I…

small talk

“March 26 – The bus driver chatted me up for 10 minutes about his BLUEGRASS BAND after taking the wrong route.” The bus I rode…

#journéeinoubliable

Prologue May 2, 14:35 A lot of work went into this very moment. Months of planning, whispering, stressing….

Même pas peur

Full disclosure*: I started writing this post over a week ago. I have been reading and talking and muddling through these pretty complicated issues and though…

J’écoute: songs for remembering

I love music. Not in the fanatic, must-have-something-playing-at-all-times way, but I am a strong appreciator of nearly all musical genres. Although my musical tastes are not…

Thanks / No Thanks

Well, all of a sudden I’ve been in France for a full month! Boy has it flown by or what?! Little by little I’ve been…

18 mars – questions for france

Why don’t pencils have erasers attached? Is the obsession with writing only in pen the secret work of the White-out lobby? Why do grown adults use scooters as…

8 mars – 20 steps to perfect crêpes

Crêpes are known as French pancakes, but they’re really so much more than that. They can be eaten with sweet jams, nutella, or syrups or…

So, do you like living here?

I am asked ALL THE TIME why I decided to come to France, if I like it (obviously), and what I like most about living…

Working as a Language Assistant – Lesson ideas and Anecdotes

Primary Assistant FAQ

In my time obsessively stalking all TAPIF blogs past, current and future, I’ve noticed the prevalence of secondary assistants across…

Flashcard games!

Here we go, current/future assistants, just in time for the start of your contracts. My favorite, easiest games that require…

27 mars – clues

Today I had a lot of different slices in my head, but I can’t seem to get any of them…

Starting a Pen Pal Exchange

In my two years of language assistant-ing one of my favorite activities has been establishing pen pal correspondences between my…

Is TAPIF a “real job” ?

For the past few years, April has been a grab bag of various bittersweet emotions… In 2014, I was about…

Je vous présente…

Let me introduce you to my school!! Name: Groupe Scolaire Concorde (The school is actually made up of two schools:…

Today, I was 9 minutes late to class

The #4 bus has somewhat of an unpredictable schedule. Sometimes it leaves early, leaving me stranded on the sidewalk. Sometimes…

keeping it 💯

Today was the 100th Day of School, and we all celebrated being 100 days smarter! Imagine my surprise when my…

two very different lessons

This afternoon, I sat in on a lesson the school counselor was giving to my mom’s class of 3rd graders.…

7 mars – English is hard

English is hard. Well, sometimes it’s easy: no crazy verb conjugations, no gendered nouns to memorize and accord with adjectives,…

Travelling anecdotes – because when else will you have 8 weeks of paid vacation in Europe ?!

Hiking in Marseille’s calanques: part 1

Stretching along the coast from Marseille to Cassis is one of France’s most unique national parks: the Parc National des Calanques. Whether by sea or…

Benvenuti in Italia

As brilliantly put by my good friend Julia: “Useful Italian words known: 0 Italian swearwords known: 6788984765658 Hello Turin!” The pack of Italian friends I…

Marseille: city of contradictions

Another six weeks of school, another two week vacation. And this time we wanted to get the heck out of the snow and mountains, so…

Postcard from London

Once upon a time, many moons ago, I went to London. I had originally planned to go way back in February to see a play…

5️⃣🏘🇮🇹

Today is the first day of NaBloPoMo/NanoPoblano aka National Blog Posting Month! I’m going to (attempt to) make a post each day in the month…

11 mars – hiking aux Goudes

2:40 PM Text message from Mom: Now they are calling for a snow storm on Tuesday!! I may finally get a snow day off from…

13 mars – priorities

One of the best things about teaching in France are the school holidays. For each 6 weeks of school, we have a 2 week vacation–…

When in Provence…

In April, one of my best friends came to visit me in Marseille all the way from Chicago! Laura and I spent a couple of…

Wandering feet Wandering mind

I’m on day 3 of 10 days of traveling during school vacation and I’ve already walked 30+ miles in dirty keds and two pairs of…

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