Hey all, I am planning to attend the San Fran fair this Feb.

I am planning on taking a job and then moving with my girlfriend. She is not a teacher.

How does the housing package work if you plan on living with a person who is not a teacher?

Any advice from people who have moved with a non-teacher, non-married partner would be appreciated.

Like all job changes or moving experiences it seems that there are a lot of costs that one does not think about until they actually confront them. As a teacher who is looking for a 09-10 int job placement I am trying to figure out how much it is actually going to cost me just to get to my final destination (a teaching job in a foreign country)

So I will put the question out there to all you experienced intl teachers who have gone through this already.

About (very subjective i know) how much does it cost to finalize a intl teaching job?

These are the expenses I foresee already:
- ISS profile fee
- ISS fair fee
- Travel to fair
- moving expenses from current living place
- storage fee while gone.
- .....

What else? I know there are a lot of expenses that one is confronted with when they choose to teach intly?

Everybody's input is greatly appreciated.

I know that most schools request 2 years of teaching experience, but as I am sure is the case they prefer more.

So what is the chance of a newbie like myself with only 2 years of teaching experience (2 years in Oakland Public Schools:USA) landing a pretty decent (by decent I just mean not one of these horror story schools I have read about) international school teaching job?

As for other experience:

- California credentialed teacher

- Possible* M ed by time if departure ( I have not decided if I will finish in time of departure: I would assume this would boost my chances?)

- Experience in international education programs (ran a summer English camp in Thailand)

- Teach for America corps member ( I am not sure if TFA is known in the International school community, Anybody know???)

Your Input is greatly appreciated by someone who is just starting to figure all this out.

Thank You!

Thanks for your guys input I appreciate it. However, this then brings me to another question.

For a newbie like me (looking to get my first international teaching position next year 09-10) traveller1 makes it seem that you just have to take your first assignment and do your best with it because regardless of everything else your going to get stuck in a cruddy situation.

Can this really be the truth? Call me ignorant, but with the amount of international schools there are how can so many of them be so bad/corrupt/mismanaged etc????? I mean a lot of the discussion on here makes me feel that my underfunded and violent East Oakland Public school isn't so bad after all.

Someone please tell me I am wrong.

I don't want to come off ignorant or as a know it all because neither is a trait that I ascribe to, but since visiting this site I have begun questioning whether international teaching is all it is cracked up to be. Now, maybe it is the fact that this site offers real advice that no other sites do offer, but I swear I cannot find a consistently positive thread in this entire website. I know that everyone experiences things differently, but all this negativity does not put a good face on international schools. Why is it the case? What is going on here? I am sure there are other posts on this. Can anyone give me any quality feedback? Thanks