Here's a great article I read last year about successfully raising TCK's:

http://issuu.com/centeredontaipei/docs/cot_april2014/30

I second shadowjack. We hired a babysitter in Bangkok when we went to the fair there. She was great--the kids didn't want to leave. There are usually some kind of reputable baby sitting service in any big city.

I would NOT suggest taking your kids with you to the interviews. Unprofessional.

I'm not sure, but I think he would still be a "trailing spouse." Most schools' contracts that I've heard of require them to provide visas and airfare for all your immediate family, so it still impacts the school even if he doesn't really "depend" on you for anything.

How formal do we need to dress at the job fair? I know the basics: clean, ironed, nothing too flamboyant or distracting. But I still am figuring out what to pack.

For Men:
Suit and tie, or is a nice blazer, button up shirt, and black or tan pants ok?

For Women:
Do I need to wear my one suit, or is a pencil skirt, nice cardigan, black tights, and dressy flat shoes ok?

In both cases, the latter, more casual options are our normal teaching clothes, and we'd be more comfortable in them.

Any opinions?

I've heard from friends at the International Bilingual School, Hsinchu (IBSH) in Taiwan that they have very strict recycling rules, and that all trash in the school is meticulously sorted by the students every day into recyclables, food waste, and non-recyclables. Sometimes the teachers there chafe under how strict those rules are. I don't know about how green they are in other ways. They have a good academic reputation here in Taiwan, but are a smaller school, so aren't really known outside Taiwan.

TAS does have the IB DP:

http://www.tas.edu.tw/page.cfm?p=413

But I get Mick's point about North American bias. This isn't a research-based venue, it's a forum, where people post their own experiences. Don't expect objectivity--we can each only post what we know.

The best school in Taiwan is Taipei American School. There is a short list of other schools that also have good reputations, but none are in the same league as TAS.

I second newchapter...could anyone post a list of reputable, well established schools in South America?

We've used these for years and many, many international flights:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/stor ... d=10004100

They have latches, so you don't have to mess with duct tape. Also, as I mentioned in the other thread, I put table cloths on them and create side tables in my new home, which is nicer than figuring out how to store that many suitcases.

Last time we recruited we did ISS, and we liked it, but I've been leaning towards Search because of the November admin fair.

I was thinking about attending the Search Bangkok admin fair to see if I could get a HOD job, then if that didn't pan out to do the January Search Bangkok fair.

Some colleagues have told me to do BOTH ISS and Search, but it seems like a lot of extra work without much clear benefit. Will I be missing out on tier one schools if I just do Search?

Thanks for your input, guys! Great advice.

Thanks for your replies, everyone! We're overall quite happy at our current school, so we will only be looking at offers that are obviously a step up for us. If we don't get an offer we're thrilled with, we'll just stay put. So we will be kind of picky, but on the other hand, we're pretty open as far as locations go. We're open to going to most of the world.

Anyone willing to chime in on our chances of getting into a Tier 1 or great Tier 2 school? (We're not shooting for the really elite schools, since we don't think we have a chance.) Here's our stats:

Me:
8 years teaching High School English, including 2 years IB DP experience, 5 years AP experience.
4 years Curriculum Coordinator, on leadership team
IB DP training, level 2.
Masters in Educational Leadership currently in process


Mr. Teachermom:
2 years experience in ESL/art teacher position(taught elementary and high school art, including one digital art class)
Masters in Elem. Ed, Certified in Elementary and Art.
ESL and Remedial Coordinator, 2 years


Total 5 years living abroad as a family, plus I grew up an expat kid.
Two grade school kids.

We're really looking for a school with a big focus on inquiry based learning, and with a diverse student body so our kids aren't the only foreigners in their classes any more.

Any opinions on what caliber of schools we have a chance at?

I use these trunks as suitcases.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/stor ... 00&N=71235

They make them in the size that just fits the airline limits, and you can put a padlock on them. Then, in my new home, I stack two of them on top of each other and put a table cloth over them, and have a side table--whereas suitcases have to be stored in a closet.

Also, for clothes and bedding, try a space bag:

http://www.containerstore.com/shop?prod ... =space+bag

These are very cool--they vacuum pack your clothes, so all the air is squeezed out. For things like sweaters or blankets, you can pack like twice as much in the same space (but watch out for the weight!).

Yeah, most of the schools that I'm interested in go to both fairs. Since we're a teaching couple, we need two positions, so I just worry that if we go to Search, the schools might have filled one of the positions the week before, at the ISS fair.

And I suppose it could work the other way, too--schools going to the ISS fair and wanting to hold out positions to see if they can get someone better the next week.

Anyone else have any experience either way with this?

Hi,

My husband and I are planning on going to the Bangkok job fair next January, and I'm trying to decide whether to sign up with ISS or Search. Does the order of the fairs make a difference? I mean, should we sign up with ISS because their fair is first? Or does it not make that much difference?

I'm just worried that I'll sign up with Search and then get to the job fair and find that all the jobs that match the both of us are gone.