How to Become a Language Assistant

Language Assistants

First of all, it is important that you visit the British Council page about the language assistants. There you will find information about English language assistants abroad, and about foreign language assistants in the UK.

If you want to become a foreign language assistant, you should click on this link to see if the British Council has an agreement with your country. You will also find the contact information for your country. If your country is indeed on the list, then you should find all the information you need here. You can also download a detailed brochure that will tell you everything you need (it's really well explained).
 Swiss Assistants in the UK
Application

How did I become a French assistant? Well, I visited the British Council website, and there I found the information contact for my country. I downloaded all the documents on the wbz-cps page. (On this website, you will also find the documents to be a French assistant in Germany or Austria, or a German assistant in the UK or France.) The new forms are published in October and the deadline is in January.  "All" you have to do is fill in the four-page form, make a CV and covering letter, ask one of your teachers to fill in the recommendation form, give your police record, go to the doctor to get a health statement, print out a copy of your last degree and send three copies of the application.

*Please note: you should be between 21 and 30 years old to apply and you must be a native speaker of French!*

Detailed program description here.

After you have sent your application, all you will have to do is wait. Then you will get a confirmation - by mail - and a convocation for an interview that will take place some time in February.

Interview

The interview. Ok so the interview lasts about one hour. First of all, you will be asked to prepare an oral lesson based on a newspaper article/drawing/advert/... You will have about 20 minutes to do that. Then, you will go in another room, where the interview will take place. There will be: the person responsible for the LAP (Language Assistant Program) in Switzerland and a representative of the British Council. First of all, you will have to answer some questions in French. Questions about your interests, your motivations, your experience etc (nothing complicated, really). After that, you will present your lesson in front of the two interviewers and explain things - they will also ask you questions about your lesson. Finally (phew), the last part of the interview will be in English and you will be asked even MORE questions, again about your motivations, and you will talk about your allocation and preferences.

The week after the interview, you'll receive a letter informing you that your application was accepted. Or rejected...

Waiting

In June, a preparatory seminar - compulsory for all the assistants - will take place. In June also, you should get an e-mail from the British Council concerning your allocation (provisional) and between June and August, your school/s should contact you. So a lot of waiting as you can see!


Visit the links I've provided here and on my home page for more information!
Good luck! ♣

No comments:

Post a Comment