Hi,
After a couple of years teaching English in companies in Paris I now live in the rural South, so I've recently set up as an auto-entrepreneur teaching English via Skype. One of my students has asked if I can register as a 'centre de formation agréé' so as he can use me to train the staff in his company.
Does anyone know the process for doing this, or better still been through it?
thanks, Jemima
Well I've finally got my number :)
However, according to the information they sent me it seems that I have to charge TVA which I've never done before as I'm in the micro-entreprise regime. How do I go about doing this and what are the implications. I'm already approaching my earnings limit for this year - does TVA count?
Also, any idea what I have to include in my annual 'bilan financier and pedagogique'?
Is it download only Louise?
Hi, if I buy your guide will you answer any questions I might still have after reading it?
Hi - You may have already have your 'déclaration d'activité' if you managed to understand everything, but in case you haven't or were encountering any difficulties, I just wanted to add that it actually took me a long time to get mine due to a lot of red tape. Consequently i wrote a short step-by-step guide on the subject, in English, explaining how to get your official number (see url)
you should find on the DIRECCTE website all that you need to put into your convention. I just copied and pasted and tweaked - although the less you do of that the better as they send it back for avenants.
Hi, I think my student probably would sign a first convention - do you have an example I could take a look at with the opt-out clause?
thanks, Jemima
I don't charge VAT on my FPC (formation professionelle continue) training as I have not yet reached the upper autoentrepreneur limits. When I do change regime there is something about being able to opt out for VAT - they talked about it during our training. However, I can't really remember what it was and I will enquire again when I reach that point.
The most advantageous part is the hourly rate is substantially higher than my subcontractor work. Kaite
Hi!
Hope you don't mind me chipping in as this is an interesting discussion - I'm six months into starting out as an AE to teach English and FLE privately and have been looking at possible ways to expand.
I was just wondering if you're subject to VAT on any training courses you offer in this way? (Before I became an AE, I had considered starting out in a coopérative d'entrepreneur (our nearest one is in Toulouse: http://www.maison-initiative.org/) Because they are a registered Training Centre for entrepreneur, any lessons I "provided" whilst under their tutelage would automatically pass through their books...but for some reason I would have needed to pay VAT!
I also wondered if setting up and working in this way has been advantageous for you?
Thanks! Fran
Hi - I went through the process last year and it is fairly simple. In order companies to recover training costs or have them paid directly by the likes of OPCA, FAFHIH the training centre has to have a "numéro de déclaration d'activité". (This is not an agréement as they do not verify the quality of your work). This is issued through the DIRECCTE of your département's Préfecture. However, it is a bit chicken and egg scenario as in order to get this number - which the companies need - you need to have first signed a "convention de formation" and most companies will not sign a convention unless you have your numéro de déclaration......
You could try talking to the student that you already have and ask them if they will sign a first convention without the number. I put an opt-out clause in the first one meaning that the company had the option to opt out if the number was refused.
My préfecture's website had loads of information and the form I needed to complete and all the sample documents that I needed to produce. In addition I had to attend a 1/2 day training course, where they reinforced that what they are looking at is the traceability of the training and enough documentation to prove that it did, indeed take place.
Hope it helps and let me know if you need more info. Katie
I know this is an old post but wonderful to read that my new ideas I’m looking into are indeed not impossible!
I have had this happen just this weekend and have been trying to wade through the info to work out what I need to do. I need to set up my new ME anyway in order to take on some work with some centre des formations anyway so if I can do it all together this would seem sensible. My neighbour has over €3000 sat waiting to be used and wants to be able to do it directly through me and not through some big formation centre. He works in the medical area so is particularly keen for me to teach his as he is then travelling around the world training others (in English!) to use his medical products. Would be so exciting to actually use my years of study in some small way!
Katie, hi, I know you posted this years ago and I hope that maybe you are still around. Any links to more info on what sort of rates you can charge or other info?
That sounds fair enough, where did you find / organise this?
Anyone else doing this would love any thoughts / feedback! Thanks in adavance!
What a wonderful idea of your neighbour with his medical products Tory! I could see this going really well for you. Hope it turns out.
I hope it works out for you! 
I’m guessing the OP of this thread is long gone! And the book mentioned is from 2013 and lots has changed since then, I think 2015 new rules came in. Ahhh well all the research good for my French!
“Formateur en anglais” is a very good gig to get, not sure what it requires in terms of teaching qualification or experience these days though. It’s usually well paid (sometimes very well-paid, €40/hr) and a doddle frankly. A couple of acquaintances of mine from uni are formatrices in English, they love it.
https://fr.indeed.com/jobs?q=formateur%20en%20anglais&l&vjk=6f6f3ab4565c6eb8
Your French would need to be tip top though, understandably so. Plenty of work too in that sector, France spent over €35 billion on formation professionelle in 2019, including English of course.
Thanks for your thoughts Fred
I disagree on this point. Yes of course having a decent level of French of course but ‘tip top’ not needed - particularly with adults improving their English that is the important bit. Sure you need to have a level of French to explain in French if they don’t understand something but the benefit of a native speaker is the best gift for a student. IMHO of course!
I think if the teacher doesn’t have a tip top level of the pupil’s language it is hard to get nuance and subtlety and do a really good job teaching. But I am very picky when it comes to teaching /translation/ interpreting.
My post above, as you can see, is specifically about these organismes de formation, so language schools or organismes or any other bona-fide language provider, in other words a formal setting, with tests, exams etc., very different from informal tuition which is often geared towards conversation and of course where you can get away with “not excellent” French.
I suppose it also hinges on one’s definition of “tip top” (excellent), it will vary from person to person, a bit like the vague “fluent”. But for the sake of argument, the minimum I’d define as “tip top” would be C2 on the CEFR (C1 at a pinch I suppose), and I think that goes for most language practitioners like myself.
But more generally and without getting bogged down into definitions and too much theory, I think that you have to look at the thing as a whole, as if it were a big puzzle say. And while within that puzzle there will be a piece or two (component of a course) that would absolutely apply to what you’re saying, on their own this couple of pieces aren’t enough to prove the theory.
Practically speaking, there are a few things to consider here to address your point and mine in that short post last night as it needs fleshing out, both from the viewpoint of the employer (and of course the professional qualification they will require from applicants) and from the viewpoint of the course content, and possible subsequent tests/exams related to it.
The employer & professional qualifications. The employer, and I’d imagine that goes for language schools and organismes de formation providing English teaching, will require the applicant to have some sort of language diploma, or/and a solid experience in teaching language in a formal setting with exams and stuff (school, language school etc.). There can be exceptions to that rule of course, there always are, for instance if the applicant is bilingual or perfectly bilingual (def. of the latter: the person speaks both languages equally well) but they really are the outlier here.
Any language diploma, certificate, degree etc. worth its salt will require the learner to have a fairly high level of proficiency in both languages to be able to tackle any course. That’s because of the nature of the content in that course, that’s my second point.
The course content, and possible subsequent tests/exams related to it. Any “formal” or national diploma/certificate/degree etc. I’ve come across (and I’ve been involved in learning and teaching language for 40 years) had a translation component (usually both ways, E>F and F>E, version and thème in old money), at least in one guise or another. Whether you’re talking of the Baccalauréat, the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English, language degrees of course, BTS, DUT, A Level etc. they all have that built into the course, and more often than not also built into the exams proper. There can be interpreting too, both ways, and/or summaries to provide, in French, from English, etc.
As you found out recently during your informal ITW with a language school in the Dordogne I think it was, they welcomed your native speaker skills but as their main exam had a 3-hour long translation built in (an épreuve de thème IIRC, a version would have been less challenging for you but still difficult), you wrote that it seemed to be a problem for them.
Without C1-C2 French-English, all these tasks would difficult thing to tackle properly, with accuracy I mean. Of course one can always try to wing it and blag one’s way but that doesn’t usually work for long, especially if the exam/test results aren’t brilliant.
It’s not just about teaching, if you work in an organisme de formation it is more than likely that you’ll be required to do more than just teach. As I wrote, I know two acquaintances from my university days who work in that setting and their remit extends way beyond teaching. Look for instance at the long list under “Mission” and “Activités” list in this job description for a “formateur/trice en langue anglaise” in Belgium (and many such organismes want their pound of flesh), you’d certainly need to have excellent French to carry out these tasks.
Of course, some schools (ordinary schools, language schools etc.) and course providers sometimes employ natives just for conversational purposes, to tackle the oral component of a course, and you’re right on this one, in this case you wouldn’t necessarily need to have excellent French or English, especially for beginners and intermediates. I know for instance a couple of private high schools in England who employ a native speaker a few hours a week specifically to improve kids’ conversational skills and oral fluency, to improve their accent etc. entirely via oral activities, role-plays, “telephone” tasks etc. (I’ll add though that these people I know and have known have good or excellent French and English).
So, yeah, I suppose you could in some circumstances get away with “not excellent” French & English and still be employed to provide a specific task (maybe also if you have a specific skill too in a particular, sought-after area). A bit like the language assistants in a school, who are mainly used for oral & aural activities. Although, again, pretty much all the language assistants I’ve met (so, people in their 3rd year or with a degree) had good or excellent English. And maybe some organismes de formation do that, maybe they employ native speaker (who don’t have excellent French I mean), purely for conversational reasons, I don’t know.
There is also the matter of competition, there are many English speakers in France with excellent French, for a variety of reasons, so they would have the edge over others, especially if on top of their excellent skills they have a solid language qualification.
J’imagine que t’as envoyé pas mal de CV à des écoles de langue, des organismes de formation, etc. quelles sont leurs exigences en général ? Et t’as quoi comme retour(s) par rapport à ta candidature ?
Very valid points and I guess my focus needs to be on the type of students that don’t need me to have perfect French! I still think that my point of not needing very high level French is valid, particularly for adult learners with a focus on wanting to converse, either for personal or business reasons. I think TEFL would not have been around for so many years if this didn’t work well. They actively discourage teachers to use their students language at all in classes.
They were more than happy with me for the main part of the job which was a 1st year BTS Commerce class, they said I as exactly what they wanted as they wanted them to have a native speaker. It was for the much smaller part of the job which was giving extra help for the DUT english exam into French that was the problem . After my FIL retired as head of languages at Huddersfield university he set up his own language company where they would only accept translation work into someone’s native language. This is very much the norm so actually the desire to have a native English speaker for one part of the job and native French speaker level for the other is actually a pretty big ask. There would be very few people who are truly bi-lingual - my kids would be OK! 
He also successfully taught many, many people to speak English and unless they were French or Spanish speakers then he couldn’t have spoken to them at all in their languages.
Of the 3 centres de formation I’ve sent off to 2 have taken me on, one I already have my first mission and with the 2nd have to finish some paperwork and information on their website. They had no concerns about my level of French being an issue, of course they aren’t doing exam prep which clearly makes a big difference! The other were interested enough to give me a phone interview which I totally stuffed up so don’t expect to hear from them again! I shall be sending off more CVs when I have time so hopefully will get enough work to keep me busy. At the end of the day I have to support my family and even if my not C level French isn’t ideal I have to work with what I have and find work where they’ll have me.
When the pressure eases off Tory would a small ad in something like the ‘Nursing Times’ or whatever practitioners read in France, be worth considering when there is the money for it? You must be very rare in having English and a medical profession even if you are not currently practising.
All the best for your further missions