I have to say, I've noticed far more passive aggressive behavior and an increased lack of professionalism and maturity than I did when I was teaching stateside. I chalk it up to a number of factors:

1. I completely agree with the job security/lack of checks and balances. People are constantly in schmoozing mode so I think that cuts down on authentic interactions. Many people seem to be worried about who to build an alliance with.

2. Being abroad I've encountered four types of IE's (we all probably encompass more than one) :

a. people who are abroad because they love teaching and want to see the world
b. People who are abroad because they want to see the world and figured out that teaching will allow them to do it
c. people who are abroad figuring themselves out
d. people who are abroad because they're trying to avoid something back home

I feel like too much of the last three qualities makes for a serious lack of professionalism and just general immaturity in handling work situation.

3. Depending on where you are, you end up in these awkwardly constructed expat circles where you may not hang out with someone from work but you know there friends and there friends know your friends etc. I feel like people are always on guard because calling someone out in the faculty meeting might mean you don't get invited to the next event or they did something horrible (or you heard a rumor about something they did) on a Saturday night that has tainted your ability to deal with them at work. I find that your constantly have to reflect on the source of your anger and irritation with someone.

I've met some amazing fantastic people on the IE teaching but it definitely challenges your mental and emotional balance.

It depends heavily on where you are. It's a huge country. Most of my family lives in the Yucatan Peninsula (Cancun, Playa del Carmen...lots of expats and tourism down there). I go down every summer and travel freely with my young daughter. There have been some issues with drug cartels and killings but nothing that has rocked the area. I have other friends who travel throughout Mexico pretty frequently, another who grew up in Los Angeles but family lives in TIjuana. Tijuana has gotten a pretty bad rap (I would argue, rightfully so..) but he travels to TJ fairly often. The best advice I would give is to make sure that you research the area your traveling to thoroughly, talk to people who live there.

I think there's a tendency for the media to exaggerate conflict in a country. In Mexico's case, the stories aren't always exaggerated and there are definitely parts of the country that I would avoid mainly because I have a child now (I was a bit more adventurous before she was born). But again, Mexico is a huge country. It's not easy to assess how bad all of Mexico is.

It might be best to post this on the other forum. People tend to frequent that more. I can speak with limited experience. I recently signed a contract for my first IT position but I've been scouring this forum for about 3 years so I'll speak a bit from experience and a bit from what I've read. I've found that this whole process is a bit like playing Spades, skill definitely matters but it's also about the cards your dealt.

I started this process last year by signing up with Search and was registered for one of the fairs. I began applying to schools in September and by January had no responses from any schools. I ended up choosing to stay in the States for family reasons and cancelled my invitation to the fair. If I had chosen to go abroad last year, given that I had not heard from any schools by January, the fair would have probably been my best bet to finding a job.

This year I registered for the fair again, applied to several schools, heard back from my top choice within days and was made an offer after a month of Skype conversations with various members of the administration. So I cancelled my fair registration because I had no need to go anymore. My resume hadn't changed from last year (other than that I had completed another year of teaching)

The sense that I get is that a lot of schools do their hiring at the fairs. Hiring before the fair does take place but I think if you're a newbie, you either need to be in a high demand subject or you just happened to email your email just as the HR person was sitting down to read their email (probably how I got my job). I also get the sense that schools hire after the fair but really try to do most of their hiring before or during the fair.

In my opinion, registering for a fair is worth it (if you have the means to do so...I'm also a little biased because I live relatively close to a fair city). I just think it increases your chances of getting a job. Essentially you're making an investment.

If you're unable to attend a fair, I don't think that means that you are doomed to undesirable positions. Jobs open up after the fair for several reasons and this is just as likely at a top schools as it is at a tier 3 schools. I think it just brings more down to the wire.

So basically...I don't get the sense that you HAVE to attend a fair in order to get a job. It probably does help to increase your chances of getting a job.

I've noticed that many jobs are dually listed on Search and TIE. While I've used the Search site to search for positions I've never used the email or really any other part of the site to find jobs. I know that schools have to pay Search a fee if they find a candidate through Search. How does Search monitor this given that so many schools post on both sites and it seems like many people (according to the forum) just apply directly to the schools?

And...if I accept a position that I found on the Search website that was also listed on the TIE website and the school doesn't pay Search will I be penalized or held responsible for this?

Thank you National...this is really helpful.

I'm sure there's already a post about this but I can't seem to find it.


Has anyone found contacting schools through the Search email system to be worth it or advantageous? Do principals actually respond through the system or am I just as good sending a regular email?

Seems like this post hasn't been revisited in awhile. I see that Asmara International Community school is hiring. It doesn't seem to have great reviews but I've read about some schools that didn't have great reviews and then talked to people who worked there and heard that life isn't great but is manageable depending on your outlook. I would be breaking into an IT career and know that my first post may not necessarily be a dream post. I'm a single mom with a pretty resourceful 7 year old (we've spent a month backpacked through the Yucatan before and had a great time) so I'm not looking for a place with crazy fun nightlife. I'd really just like to be somewhere that's safe where there are opportunities to have new experiences. Anyone have any insight into life in Eritrea or life at AICS?

Last year I was invited to the SA Boston fair but cancelled days before when a family was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I'd like to start the process to get into IT again. Do you think that my late cancellation last year might affect my ability to get an invitation this year? Is it necessary to explain the details to my associate? I was planning to register again with SA but am wondering if I should go with ISS instead given that I cancelled last year and may have left a bad taste in my associate's mouth. Anyone have any insight or experience with this?

Thank you everyone. This is very reassuring!

I spent a good part of the year prepping for going abroad for the 2013-2014 school year, signed up with SA, got an invitation to the Cambridge fair and within the span of a week before the fair had an extended family crisis (that required all hands on deck) and was offered another position at my school. Although I've wanted to leave for awhile it seemed like being in the States for another year was probably the best way to deal with the family crisis so I took the position at my current school. Two nights before the fair I emailed SA and let them know that I would not be in attendance. This summer I plan to begin the IS job process over again and would like to use SA but am worried that my short notice cancellation will hurt my chances of getting invited to another fair. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this?

I currently teach in the States and am in the process of applying abroad. When I first started teaching, 5 years ago, Workshop model was a huge deal, at least in my state. The lesson plan and evaluation templates that we use at my current school are all designed for Workshop model so it's pretty much become the expected norm in my district.

If this is the new thing for international schools then it would probably be worth it to do some research on it. It's not terribly difficult. The basic idea is that instruction should be student centered so that in an hour long class the teacher may spend about 15 min of the class time teaching a skill or concept (the mini lesson) and then the majority of the class time is spent with students working either independently or in groups to practice the skill through some sort of activity (writing and reading), generally with some sort of end product. Usually you take the last 5-10 minutes of class to debrief/share out work/assess whether or not students understood the concept. At my school there's a huge emphasis on making sure that each lesson has an opportunity for students to read, write, speak and listen.

It's definitely a good model although I personally feel like, especially in the upper grades, students should have experience with varied teaching models. Most college classes are not activity based and I've found that some of my former students who come back to visit really struggle in their larger classes where the professor may lecture because they haven't really built up the stamina to sit and listen to someone just talk for 45 min.

I applied to a school directly through TIE and just got my Search profile activated. The school is also listed on Search. Is it too pushy to send the principal an email from the Search acct as well just letting them know that I'm a Search candidate?

Any suggestions for how to appropriately mention a dependent when you're applying to a school directly?

I have a certifications in SPED, ESL and English Language Arts. For the past 5 years I've been teaching ELA in a public international school (i.e. we are a school that works with students who were born in non-English speaking countries). Technically I've spent the past 5 years as a Regular Ed ELA teacher but would argue that most of my classrooms were really more inclusion because 1. I've always had students who were on IEPs for some language based learning disabilities or 2. I've had a bunch of students who definitely had some sort of LD but were undiagnosed. I'm in the process of applying to schools abroad and I'd like to move into Learning Resource/SPED positions. I did my teacher residency year in a substantially separate classroom and imagined that I would be a SPED ELA teacher but over the years settled into the ELA teaching life.

Am I a marketable candidate for resource positions abroad despite the fact that I haven't been doing it officially and directly for the past 5 years?

I'm also interested in hearing from someone about what Resouce/SPED positions actually look like abroad. I've read that it's more like SPED lite but what exactly does that mean?

How long should it be? Right now I'm at 1.5 pages single spaced but am worried that I'm setting my application up to get ignored.