Contents
Why Should I Learn French?
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
What to Do?
Saving Up Money
Volunteering in France
Find a Job in France
Finding a Job By Yourself
Accommodation
Find a Job through an Agency
Travel
How Am I Going to Learn French Without Spending Time Studying?
Most of your learning will come from living in a French speaking country and interacting with friends, colleagues and locals. You will still need to study, but not nearly as much as you might expect.
What you want to do is learn a basic framework of French before you leave England. You want to learn functional words, the words that we use in everyday situations. Words like what, which, if, how, why. Phrases like there was, there is, I can, you can. These are the tools that we need to actually express ourselves and construct sentences in a language.
The details on how to do this are found at Constructing a Basic Framework in French
There are four phases to complete during your gap year.
Saving up money
Volunteering/ Staying in France
Finding a job in a French speaking country
Travel
You have a lot of leniency in the way you carry out these phases. An example of how this might look during your gap year is this.
July-September : Full-time job, save up around £800.
September : Grape picking job in Southern France
October - December : Volunteering on a farm in France
December-May : Full-time bar work in French Alps
May-August : Travel in South East Asia
By the time you leave to travel SE Asia you will be at a very high conversational level in French. If you wanted to progress further then you could travel around Madagascar/ the West-Indies. But even travelling around Asia (or any part of the world for that matter) you will regularly bump into French people, and blow them away with your new-found speaking skills.
The very first thing you need to do is to gain a basic understanding of French, that framework I mentioned, whilst saving up money.
The very first thing you need to do is to gain a basic understanding of French, that framework I mentioned, whilst saving up money.
Unless you're so rich that money ain't even a thang, yo. You're going to need some money.
How much money you're going to need depends entirely upon what you plan to do for the year.
In my guideline I have suggested spending two months volunteering. This is because it gives you a cheap and hassle-free way to get to grips with the language, before you go belly-flopping into the deep end. Depending upon where you volunteer you could spend as little as £300 during those couple of months 1.
At the other end of the spectrum you might decide to spend two months renting an apartment in Paris. You're looking at €400 a month for a tiny room in a tiny shared apartment that's in the wrong end of town. €600 is more realistic for a still small, but livable, apartment. And with a caution (deposit) ranging anywhere from €500-800 you will need well over £1,500 just for rent and deposit.
Whether you decide to volunteer or jump straight in there, I would highly recommend finding a grape picking job for the end of September.
Volunteering in France
Planning Your Time Volunteering
It doesn't matter how or where you stay, the important thing is to immerse yourself fully in a French speaking environment. The reason I suggest volunteering over something like couchsurfing or renting an apartment is that it is a lot easier and cheaper.
There are many ways to volunteer in France. For a full review of volunteering websites please check out Volunteering in France.
During Volunteering
So, you have your foundation in French. You successfully arranged a two month volunteering stint, and you've saved up enough money to sustain yourself whilst volunteering with a bit extra for post-volunteer job hunting.
This is where it will start to get tricky. The first day you're probably going to wonder what the hell you are doing over there. Don't worry, it will get easier.
The most important thing you can do during your first week is try not to speak, read or write any English. Let your mum know that you've touched down, sure, but other than that only speak French.
If you've got down time ask your host for a children's book to read, watch French TV or listen to French radio. It's going to be tiring, but by the end of the first week you should begin to feel well on your way to speaking and understanding French.
After this first week continue to limit your English to a bit of facebook every few days. Don't browse the internet in English, don't watch English shows and don't spend hours on the phone every night. The only way you are going to improve your French now is by spending as much time as possible immersed in the language. Make sure that every night you are lying in bed before you fall asleep you are thinking in French.
After your first couple of weeks you should start thinking about what you are going to do when you leave.
There are two ways to find a job in France - through an agency or off your own back. Getting a job through an agency will be a lot easier, but after spending two months in the country you should now be confident in speaking the language and finding a job by yourself shouldn't be too difficult.
I would recommend finding a job by yourself. You'll earn more money, it will be more of an adventure and in the process you are likely to find a lot more people your own age to make friends with.
Finding a Job By Yourself
The internet is your friend. You will be browsing a lot of websites, and there is going to be some pretty technical vocabulary so make sure Google Traduction is up and handy on a tab.
Before you start applying for jobs you're going to need to have a CV. French CVs are a lot more to the point than English CVs, you aren't going to be telling anybody that you enjoy playing guitar and socialising with friends. At some point I will write a guide, but for the moment here is an excellent guide on writing a French CV.
One of the best sites to use is Pole-Emploi. You can choose the area of France and the type of contract you are looking for in the search button. Make an account.
Other good sites include:
Monster
Indeed
Emploi
Decide where in France you are going to want to live and work before you start searching. One thing to consider is living cost, Paris is probably not a realistic option. You could do it, of course, but it will be a lot more expensive than other cities.
Once it looks like you have assured a job you need to start sorting out your sleeping arrangements.
Accommodation
In France it's pretty common for people to rent apartments by themselves. You could go down this route, but I would recommend finding a flatmate, or coloc. Not only will it stop you from getting lonely in the evenings (aww), having flatmates will also increase your chance of finding a decent social group outside of work. At this point your French is going to be quite good, but there will be a lot of vocab missing. You're going to be picking up words day to day just by having conversations with people, but you need to find these people to have the conversations with. Sharing a flat is great for that.
The best way I can advise looking for a flatmate is through E-Colocation. It's simple, easy to use and has plenty of available rooms for almost all large French towns.
Find a Job Through an Agency
Once again, the internet is your friend. This time though you're going to be looking at different sites to help you secure a cushy no-hassle job provided by an agency.
Travel
Yay, you made it. You've lived and worked in France for at least seven months and speak French fluently and confidently. Your reading and writing skills might need touching up, depending on how much time you've spent reading, but now that you understand French perfectly it will all fit together pretty quickly.
You are free to spend the rest of your gap year travelling with the money you have saved from working these last few months. The destination doesn't matter, you can speak French now! If you feel you want to progress even further than go travelling in the West-Indes, or volunteer in Mali.
If you're a little bit tired of French then go somewhere else. As I've said, no doubt that you will still bump into French people.
1. Based upon free food and accommodation, cheap travel and €30 a week for spending on extras.
I would recommend finding a job by yourself. You'll earn more money, it will be more of an adventure and in the process you are likely to find a lot more people your own age to make friends with.
Finding a Job By Yourself
The internet is your friend. You will be browsing a lot of websites, and there is going to be some pretty technical vocabulary so make sure Google Traduction is up and handy on a tab.
Before you start applying for jobs you're going to need to have a CV. French CVs are a lot more to the point than English CVs, you aren't going to be telling anybody that you enjoy playing guitar and socialising with friends. At some point I will write a guide, but for the moment here is an excellent guide on writing a French CV.
One of the best sites to use is Pole-Emploi. You can choose the area of France and the type of contract you are looking for in the search button. Make an account.
Other good sites include:
Monster
Indeed
Emploi
Decide where in France you are going to want to live and work before you start searching. One thing to consider is living cost, Paris is probably not a realistic option. You could do it, of course, but it will be a lot more expensive than other cities.
Once it looks like you have assured a job you need to start sorting out your sleeping arrangements.
Accommodation
In France it's pretty common for people to rent apartments by themselves. You could go down this route, but I would recommend finding a flatmate, or coloc. Not only will it stop you from getting lonely in the evenings (aww), having flatmates will also increase your chance of finding a decent social group outside of work. At this point your French is going to be quite good, but there will be a lot of vocab missing. You're going to be picking up words day to day just by having conversations with people, but you need to find these people to have the conversations with. Sharing a flat is great for that.
The best way I can advise looking for a flatmate is through E-Colocation. It's simple, easy to use and has plenty of available rooms for almost all large French towns.
Find a Job Through an Agency
Once again, the internet is your friend. This time though you're going to be looking at different sites to help you secure a cushy no-hassle job provided by an agency.
Yay, you made it. You've lived and worked in France for at least seven months and speak French fluently and confidently. Your reading and writing skills might need touching up, depending on how much time you've spent reading, but now that you understand French perfectly it will all fit together pretty quickly.
You are free to spend the rest of your gap year travelling with the money you have saved from working these last few months. The destination doesn't matter, you can speak French now! If you feel you want to progress even further than go travelling in the West-Indes, or volunteer in Mali.
If you're a little bit tired of French then go somewhere else. As I've said, no doubt that you will still bump into French people.
1. Based upon free food and accommodation, cheap travel and €30 a week for spending on extras.
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