Back on the treadmill

Reference has been made in two previous blogs to Mrs A having found a job. It’s now time to report a little more on this.

When we first decided to come across here, Mrs A had two concerns. The first was that, still being young and having enjoyed her work, she would miss being gainfully employed. The second was that, bless her, she felt sensitive about not making a financial contribution to our life out here. So, shortly after we arrived, she went to the local education department to enquire about the possibility of working as an English Language Assistant in a local school. The response was disappointing, with reference being made to her lack of teaching qualifications and the existence of many qualified French people searching for such positions.

Imagine our surprise when, more than four years later, a friend who works in the education department approached Mrs A and told her that they were short of a language assistant this year and if she could get an application and CV, both in French of course, in within five days, she would stand a good chance. Well, to cut short a long story, two weeks later, without interview, references or training, Mrs A was turned loose on the first of her groups of 8-year-olds!

The job is for 9 months working in 4 schools and a teacher training establishment for 12 hours a week. Once preparation, travelling and ‘dead time’ between lessons are taken into account, that expands to around 30 hours.

For the most part, Mrs A quite enjoys working with the children although each class has a few children, boys of course, who present challenges to the maintenance of discipline. It has to be said, though, that Mrs A, once so concerned about missing work, now finds that being tied to other peoples timescales and prioirities is an infringement of her personal liberty. It seems that after nearly five years, Mrs A’s strong work ethic is now firmly directed to the home and to our voluntary work. Now that’s what I call a positive change!