Hello all,I have a friend who is very interested in having more opportunities for speaking English--in fact, I have several of them. So I've offered to do a free conversation hour maybe once a month, or once a week, we'll see. I thought it would be a good way to meet people interested in English lessons, and it's fun, so I don't mind working for free a little bit.
But the same friend has asked if I wouldn't be interested in starting an association eventually for teaching a number of classes and then being paid by the association as a teacher. It could be fun. Maybe not my main income source, but I like the idea of finding a way to make English classes affordable for many people. Right now, in town, they're either too expensive or poor quality--or both. We're hoping we can cut costs by being an assoc?? Maybe getting free access to a place to hold classes. . .
Anyone tried this?
Tim I'm glad to hear at least one person saying that as I'll be embarking on that adventure soon. From other posts to this forum, you get the feeling that going AE is a real nightmare. . .But I've noticed that some administrative things in France are more nightmarish depending on what city you're in! Maybe I'll squeak by.
Yes sage advice.
My OH's choir just set up their own, but it was guided by French members.
Check with your 'mairie' I am sure they have something in place. Plus they get extra brownie points for 'cultural' stuff.
To be honest setting up AE is very simple (only trick is if you do not have a SECU number just put in '0' (zero) and they will allocate one. Paying on line is very simple too.
It is the BS at RSI if you do not have a carte vitale that is the issue.
What a great idea.
This is the link for my Departement (Somme; 80) so I imagine for other regions you'd just need to change the number of the dept & it locates exactly which communes have one.
http://www.foyersruraux80.org/le-reseau_2.php
Lily, I haven't done it yet--for now I'm going to do a couple of classes among friends for free--but we all know each other--but I doubt I can avoid paperwork myself because I'll need to get AE status since people are asking me to do school help and private lessons in English. I'm hoping to get more info on the idea of creating an association soon, but have been lazy during the hollidays!! I'll let you know what I find out.
However, I think if your idea is to avoid paperwork, you could do like Roger has said: see if there's an existing association. We don't have a Foyer Rural, but we do have a local assoc that handles all kinds of cultural activities including now the after school programs. If you find something like that, they could use the proceeds to help fund a few after school activities next year. Ask the person at the village what they have in place in terms of associations.
And I must admit, I go to a pottery class Friday nights but I told the teacher in advance that the time slot is really hard for me and that sometimes I just won't be able to make it! I send her a text when that happens. Even though I pay, it doesn't stop me from missing class! Perhaps you could handle it that way--just have people let you know? Or I've seen some groups decide that if you miss a certain number of times, you can't sign up the next year. . .
Hello Lily
Starting an association would surely involve more bureaucracy than getting AE status! But if you've got a local Foyer Rural and do your lessons through them, you could charge a participation fee (payable to Foyer Rural) and maybe then suggest to the Foyer Rural some good ways for them to spend the proceeds....
Hi Trish,
I'm in a similar position. I've been asked by the villagers to do some lessons. I'm reluctant to do it for free because I don't want people to not bother showing because they not paying anything. It'd only be an hour a week to start with so I can't be bothered with getting AE status. So then I thought, maybe I should set up an association and put all the money towards English themes events or holidays. Did you get anything figured out in the end? It'd be interesting to know what you found out.
I've never heard of the Foyer Rural, but in our village we have an association that handles practically all the cultural/athletic activities--so perhaps it's similar. I'll look into it though, because once you leave the city, it's pretty rural here.
Sorry not to have made it clear enough Trish. I'm an AE and I bill the Foyer Rural from time to time according to the number of people who come to the classes. The Foyer Rural is a not-for-profit association under the law of 1901, whose objective is promoting sporting and cultural activity in the commune. People have to be members of the Foyer Rural if they want to do the classes: there's an annual subscription (15E I think) but round here pretty much everyone who ever goes out to anything is likely to be a member already (e.g. I first joined through the ping pong club and my partner first joined for the annual storytelling festival). Lots and lots of rural communes and small towns have a Foyer Rural and there's usually a federation of them at departmental level. I rather assumed that there was an equivalent in non-rural areas (?)
Thanks for your reply Roger. So did you actually file as an association or are you an 'AE?' Is the Foyer Rural an association?? I don't think I've ever heard of it. Or do you just use their premises? In the town where I live, we have an association where I could probably do something like that--in the larger city nearby, I'd have to make up my own association to get access to public buildings for classrooms. By the way, I went once to Lozere when I lived in Aveyrone, long ago. It was beautiful, and yes, very rural.
Hello Trish, hello all
In deepest rural France (the Cevennes, in Lozere department) I'm doing some English conversation classes now through the Foyer Rural. Could this kind of model work for you? We use the Foyer Rural's (well heated) premises, and it's advertised through their newsletters, covered by their insurance etc. Each participant pays only a modest fee for each session, but if five turn up then I'm earning a reasonable rate.b