May 11, 2021

Nicole Grace Awarded Position with TAPIF

Nicole Grace, of North Wales, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a position with the Teaching Assistant Program in France to teach at the Académie de Rennes in Brittany.

Grace, a 2021 graduate of Susquehanna University who earned a degree in French studieseducation K-12 and a minor in English as a second language, will return to the same region where she had been teaching during her Global Opportunities program when the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in her early return to the United States.

Although Grace said she was “devasted” when her study-abroad program was cut short, she chose to channel her emotions into her TAPIF application so that she could return “to the place that seemed completely out of reach while I was growing up.”

“I tried to channel all my energy into preparing for the application process, as well as putting as much effort into my French courses because I did not want my progress to slow down,” Grace said. “I wrote in French on my whiteboard calendar, ‘A new day is another day closer to France,’ to help me stay motivated and feel more at peace that I would make it back there one day.”

Grace’s position with TAPIF runs Oct. 1, 2021-April 30, 2022.

“My Susquehanna education, combined with the TAPIF program, will allow me to improve in my French competencies and gain a deeper understanding of the French culture, all while getting to practice teaching English,” Grace said. “I felt this program would be perfect for giving me the professional development necessary to be able to provide the quality education my future students deserve.”

The goal of TAPIF is to strengthen English-language instruction in French schools by establishing a native speaker presence, while also providing American Francophiles with excellent teaching experience and first-hand knowledge of French language and culture.

Every year, more than 1,500 American English language teaching assistants are hired by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, which manages the program. These assistants teach in public schools across all regions of metropolitan France and in the overseas departments of France such as French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion.