I really don't imagine it being widely successful for the entire population. As others have said, student motivation, even amongst the best students, can be very low without the day to day interaction.

I hate online classes, both as a teacher and a student. As a student, having to respond to discussion board topics and answer poorly written multiple choice questions is not my idea of engagement in a topic. The only time I enjoy discussion boards is for topics I have a high interest in, and even then I am rarely moved to respond to the topics at hand.

As a teacher I saw the results of online education: The poorest levels of engagement and the lowest pass rates I have seen anywhere. A recent article I read referred to a study that showed that in my home state online schools students have poorer results than they would have had in their home districts. Teachers in the local schools see the lack of progress made when the students return to their classrooms.

Parents consistently believe their children when the child says they are logging in and doing work, despite the parents ability to check their log in times and gradebooks. They refuse to call the help desk to resolve technical issues, they allow their voicemail to fill and don't respond to teacher or administration tests. Many elementary teachers have not been able to speak to students all year long, either the parent refuses to let the child speak, or they just never call back. I have to believe that a high percentage of those children are being abused.

Even the most unengaged student in a traditional school at least hears some of the content every day. At online school they can go for weeks without opening a classroom and when they do decide to catch up, they are not doing anything meaningful besides rushing through the easiest assignments.

I hope this might mean something good for me. I can't take off time to attend fairs in my current position. I don't have international school experience, but I have worked in local schools in different countries (not ESL, but as a classroom teacher in a European school), which I don't think has "counted". Any ideas what directors/heads think of that?

If there are many new teachers without much expereience at all I'd hope my CV and cover letter are making it to the right places for opening in my field. I hate feeling resigned to my current position.

Homesickness is very normal, even if you are familiar with the country you are moving too. And after you are gone, you can be homesick for your old host country. I left England after 2 years and was homesick for lots of things there. I know part of my problem is nostalgia for experiences in both my home country (the US) and my second home country (the UK) and that there will always be things to miss about each because of the make up of people and experiences in each.

I remember when I came home for Christmas the first year being so shocked by how large my bedroom at my parents house seemed in comparison to the room in my cottage where I lived in England, it was so bizarre. You get used to switching as you do it more frequently. Hope you had a happy holiday!

Thanks eion - that's basically what the review said about the changes made at the last minute and no compensation for working weekends. I am looking for my first post, but I think hold out for something in a location I'm more interested in or with a company that is more upfront about the calendar and timetable.

Does anyone have first or second hand information on this school? There is only one review and it lays a pretty bleak picture of working hours, housing, etc. and just wanted to see if this lines up with more than one persons experience.

Okay, thanks. Our school is online, but uses mostly free software that doesn't really translate into those platforms and may not be known by others (since I'm guessing international schools are willing to pay for those things mine won't). Thanks for the concrete items.

Do you have a co-teacher you could use? My principal now never sees any of my lessons, there is a supervisor, but because of our lack of contract I don't want anyone to know I am looking. I have used one of my co-teachers from the inclusion team to write my reference from this school. I don't know if you have anyone like that or a peer evaluation process you could go to for help.

What technology skills do you think that schools are looking for specifically? I feel like I'm listing some things that are super easy and that I don't feel like is something that is a skill that no one else posses.

If you download Open Office (free) you can convert to PDF too :)

Stop it with the freaking attacks on people. If you don't like what they have to say, skip their posts, easy as that.

Thank you for that detailed reply Zsejanko (though I know I wasn't the person asking the question!) - I feel like your list will help me in refining my application materials for this year. I had absolutely no luck in any applications this year, despite some things I felt were really in my favor.

I did a search, but didn't find anything more recent.

Does anyone have an updated information on Clifford School in China?

I had my UK bank card as the authorized card, so maybe that was the problem? I rarely use iTunes because of the mp4 format and instead get music from amazon, which had the country block issue as well.

Hopefully the others are correct in their assesment, as it will be easier for you that way!

You might not be able to download new music that hasn't been released in your country yet. When I was in England I wanted to download a new Taylor Swift album, but it said it wasn't avaliable in my region yet, but this may have been because I downloaded iTunes in the UK, not the US, not sure, just my experience :)

I lived and worked in England for 2 years, but not at an international school, just regular "public" schools and I'd say it depends on your situation and life style as well as what the pay difference might be between the international schools and what the average teacher makes. I didn't save, but did travel about 3-4 times per year, including flights back to the US for Christmas, summer and one of the other holidays to see my family, if I hadn't made all those trips I could have saved a lot more. You have to be smart about housing, living in a house share is a good way to save a lot of money. The international schools I'm aware of in England are in fairly pricey areas from what I can see, so living on your own or supporting a family would be difficult. I'd say it's possible since I obviously did parts of it and if I had been smarter probably could have saved a little (I also had US bills to pay so that took away from some potential).