- Firstly, the issue of speaking too much English. Yes, you're being paid to teach English, but that isn’t to say that you need to keep speaking it outside of those 4 walls. As daunting and intimidating as this may sound, if you have older students go for lunch with them, or even a drink, and speak your target language. (Note to primary assistants: maybe skip this point, I'm sure your small, 'quirky' apartment is much nicer than a prison cell)
- Be insistent and perseverant with the teachers at your school – ask to speak in your target language, but do this politely, perhaps by offering to speak English on the odd occasion if they have a linguistic query. Also get to know them more, and accept any invitations, bar the strange, uncomfortable ones like going salsa dancing with just your 60 year old colleague and her husband.
- If you don't fancy meeting students outside of school, this tip is both humorous for you and beneficial for students. If you have secondary school(s), tell the students that you don’t understand their native language. This way, you not only give them no choice but to speak English in lessons, but the look on their faces at the end of the year when you tell them you’ve understood everything is hilarious. (Sounds cruel, but the French students found it both embarrassing and hilarious, as did I)
- Try and live with native students. If you struggle to keep the language up at school, there’s an abundance of youths who would love to live with a foreigner because we’re oh so intriguing.
- Immerse yourself into the culture by attending festivals (food, music or otherwise), going to the cinema, eating in traditional restaurants, learning some slang or perhaps donning their (in Europe, often very 90’s) clothing. There is also the option of joining some sort of class (cooking, dancing etc), which are normally advertised in the local newspaper, or ask advice from your colleagues.
- Find yourself a foreign boyfriend/girlfriend! A few of my friends managed to flirt their way through the European techno music into the arms of a charming, young French/Spanish man. Just like constantly chatting with a close friend, except the things that you're learning are a lot more useful! (I'm referring to language skills, of course…)
- Enroll at the local University, either for sports or just attending courses in your target language. For example, I joined Grenoble University's Ski School to receive discounted travel and ski passes, as well as French speaking ski lessons. Or if snowy mountains aren't as easily accessible as they were for me, a friend of mine was part of a University choir, and another in the girls football team!
- One for the organised ones among you: set up a sharing folder on Dropbox for all assistants to put in their lesson plans. Honestly, this was a great tool for the weeks when my creative spark was a little deflated (read: I had a crazy weekend and consequently was feeling too lazy to work).
- TRAVEL! Take advantage of being even further submerged into Europe, or if you’re really lucky, another continent. Invest in that railcard, save your wages, and book those cheap flights, because it’s so much cooler saying you’ve "popped to Milan for the weekend, as it’s close" than an expensive, extensively planned trip from England.
- Embrace the oddities of (insert country here)’s population. If you fancy some more reading, I wrote an article a while back for a great online magazine about one particular stereotype of the French. Whoops, plugged it!
One final tip: remember that learning a language is a slow and steady process, don't expect
to find living abroad easy, but do expect it to be an incredible, eye-opening
experience – one that I would do all over again if I had the chance!
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