I saved a bunch in Thailand and also in Pakistan. South America was not so good because for saving because the salary was so low.

I know Puerto Vallarta well. I am not familiar with the school. Puerto Vallarta is a tourist trap in Mexico. It is not Mexican culture but instead high-rise hotels crowded along the beach. A block or two behind the tourist section is poverty. I personally would get very board living there in about one day. If I were you I would go there and check out the city before I accepted.

The school has mixed reviews and a couple that look contrived or posted by admin for the purpose of damage control. If I were looking into this school I would do as much research as I could. Mexico is a fantastic place. I've traveled there extensively for many years. The people are warm and welcoming and the food is out of this world. I don't know about this school but I'm always skeptical when things sound too good and someone is telling me to believe the reviews. Who wrote them....admin?

After watching this kangaroo court I just can't fathom why any one would go to Indonesia to teach. It was not too long ago the government made all schools remove the word "international" from their name and all signage. Crucifying Neil as a warning to other teachers thinking about coming to Indonesia is about as corrupt and low as you can get.

I can't remember a school I worked at where we didn't get a pay slip in our box even if the check was direct deposit to my bank in the UK. I would hate not knowing what they were doing to me. Interesting that some schools do not offer pay slips.

Yes! I haven't been on TES for some years. Your comments remind me of the time I was at the Jerry Lewis just down the street from the Bob Hope. I've looked for you guys over there but can't find you. Can you try to post a link here. Maybe it will last long enough for me to see it.

Unfortunately they won't let us name schools or people and comments of any use to me are not permitted. There is some good information there but it stops short of what I'm looking for. Any other suggestions? I'l love to find another resource. Dave's ESl Cafe has some good forums but there terms of use are super strict, and even compared to the recent ISR update of the forum use rules. Here's an example from ESL cafe.

Public comments or questions regarding Moderator actions or decisions have never been permitted on this board.
Instead, address your comments/questions by PM to a Moderator. Public posting of such comments/questions here will result in a permanent ban to include one's IPs. There is no requirement for a Mod Team explanation or justification of actions or decisions taken. This is something all members agree to when joining this board. This policy is applicable to all forums on this board.

Hey! Maybe the ISR forum ain't so bad after all. I for one am glad to see some of the worst offenders gone from this venue.

In a perfect world schools would be searching us out. Even in the States when there was a teacher shortage the schools were not actively pursuing teachers. I found it very interesting that I had a number of unemployed teacher friends looking for work with their names on the district's availability lists and still the district did not contract them. I went to the district office and said I am ready to get to work. I was interviewed the following week and got a job.

Reminds me of the statement - "You can't win the lottery unless you enter."

I look at the prevalence of Halloween photos and holiday, good-time, photos dominating a school's web site as I do pictures of tree fogs, swamps, landscapes and people with big smiles dominating a travel publication for a specific country. You know there is not much in the way of theater, art, music and great architecture. Like wise a predominance of fun photos on a schools web site signals me that academics are probably secondary here. I do think you are on to something.

I think Sid has hit the nail on the head here. That fact that you are not actively approaching schools tells directors that it may be wasted energy contacting you. The only time a school contacted me was when a director I had worked for in the past moved to a new school and sent me an email asking if I would like to work there the next academic year.

I lived in Bucharest and worked at AISB. This was some years ago when they were located in the middle of town. I loved Romania and traveled extensively throughout the country. I found the Romanians a bit cold but once you get to know them they will give you the shirt off their back. I found that Romanian was easy to pick up on and I could basically understand it upon arrival as my Spanish is good and Romanian is a Romance language. I don't know what it is like today. I was there for three years but this was more than 10 years ago. I would recommend that you go given the chance. The art and cultural offerings were, and I would imagine, still great. I sorry to hear the admin is not what it was when I was there.

I just discovered how to use the user control panel of this forum to block posters.

After you log into the forum, click the "user control panel" icon near the top-left of the screen. Then click the "friends and foes" option. Then click on manage foes. Enter the use name of the person you want to block and click to complete the action.

I entered a certain poster as a foe and they have completely disappeared from ever page I view on this forum. Problem solved!

Here is what I found out about this feature.
"What are my Friends and Foes lists?
You can use these lists to organize other members of the board. Members added to your friends list will be listed within your User Control Panel for quick access to see their online status and to send them private messages. Subject to template support, posts from these users may also be highlighted. If you add a user to your foes list, any posts they make will be hidden by default."

No comment reviews are useless!! Does ISR take money from schools not to post reviews? That's a no brainer. You sound like a director who wishes ISR took money not to post about your school!!! Good luck with that rumor.

Gladly Teach and learn: you are are so off track!! Your argument is the same as saying Verizon should be held responsible because the director fired you using a Verizon telephone and they shouldn't let guys like him have a phone. Please: you were fired because you can't reason in terms of reality. It's plain to see! WASC is an accrediting body and not a legal organization. They are concerned with academics. And, from what I have seen the school is doing all it can to support it's teachers. So stick your tail between your legs, pull that stick out of your "wazoo" and accept the fact that you failed at your last school and move on. If you want revenge, hire a lawyer. You are barking up the wrong tree --- get it? tail --- tree?

In your opinion, what motivates someone to become an International Teacher. I've been an International Teacher for 4 years and in that short period I can really sense the difference between me and my friends back home. What is it that motivates some people to explore the unknown, take chances and have new and different experiences, as compared to someone content to get a degree, go to work, grow old and retire without ever seeing the world. I'd love to hear the thoughts of International Teachers on this topic.