Are you asking if I love teaching? Or if I love teaching internationally? Or if I love the specific age/subject I teach?

The answers are yes, yes, and mostly yes.

I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was young, and then almost quit my first year teaching (back home, not IT) because it was dismal and miserable and horrifying. Glad I stuck it out though, and going international probably saved me from quitting teaching altogether. The only thing I might change, if I could go back, is my area of specialization. I had 2 specific passions in teaching, so I picked one to get my MEd in. Sometimes I wonder what would've been if I'd pursued passion # 2 instead. I'd be more marketable for sure!

I have a little time to pursue outside interests, but that's a function of where I work. At my last school, I had loads more time for friends and a life. At my current school, I've traded away most of my free time for a great salary. It's not sustainable long term, but it's worth it to me for a few years.

Good luck! Math certainly is a good area to pursue for marketability purposes.

Comprehensive post. So comprehensive that I admit I started skimming. However, I don't think I saw anything in there about recertification. It's a good thing to investigate before going overseas as each state/province has their own rules about the process. I learned this a few years ago when I was facing the need to renew my state cert while abroad. The requirements I had to meet (and the documentation, fees, and other paperwork) were different from my fellow American colleagues who were from different states, and it was also quite different from my Canadian and Australian friends.

The worst part of living in a deteriorating country is the instability. The best part is having a perfect excuse for leaving after a short stint. Believe me, most heads will be aware of the situation in your location, and almost all of them will understand why you want to leave.

Been there, done that. There's honestly not a ton of hope. Sad, but it's true.

There are a few resources. If you went through a big agency like Search or ISS, you can try getting their help. In my case, it worked and they were able to exert some behind-the-scenes pressure to get the problem resolved. Out of 5 people I know who went this route, I was the only one this worked for. Some people never even heard back from their contact person.

You can also try and get your own lawyer and/or go to the country's Ministry of Labor/Dept of Immigration. Sometimes these avenues work, but it can be costly in both money and time. And if you just need to leave the country (or have been forced out), it's pretty difficult to fight through the courts while overseas. This tends to work better in countries with strong workers' rights, like W. Europe. Much harder in places like the ME.

And lastly, you can blast the school across the Internet. Some people have even gone so far as to create their own blogs/websites about their situation. It's tempting, but no matter how righteous, the creators of these sites rarely come out looking good. And that can be important if you need another job.

I grew up as a military brat, and moved to Europe at a slightly younger age than your child. In many ways, Europe is a great first international post; it's foreign, but not nearly as much of a stretch from North American culture and life than many other places.

I would highly recommend reading up on Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and Culture Shock--there are lots of books and blogs about these subjects. They would give you an idea of what to expect and how to cope. If you plan to do the IT thing for a while with your daughter, the TCK info could also give you better insight into your daughter (assuming you didn't grow up as an expat yourself). I know sometimes my parents don't always get how different my childhood was from their own. Wouldn't trade it for a different experience, though!

I have no doubt she'll be fine; I know many people who moved around a lot as kids, and none of us have turned out too horribly. ;)

I don't have specific information for these schools, but I can speak to being an ESOL teacher in an international school. For every school I've worked at (3 different regions and varying Tier levels), ESOL teachers are held to the same expectations as classroom teachers: teaching degree/license and X number of years experience, usually 2+. And with that comes also the same benefits as all other overseas hired teachers: salary, housing, flights, insurance, etc.

I'm sure there are schools out there that hire ESOL teachers without the above qualifications. Even at good schools, I get the feeling sometimes that ESOL is viewed as the red-headed stepchild by many admin. However, I've never personally worked at a school with different qualifications for ESOL and homeroom teachers.

Uptown is a middle-of-the-road school for Dubai. The savings and lifestyle are fine, but, like most ME schools, it's a for-profit school. And the parent company, Taaleem, has a VERY for-profit, corporate mindset. The Uptown principal can only shield the teachers from Taaleem so much before they feel it. If you're desperate to get IB experience, do your 2 years, keep your head down, and then leave. If you already have IB experience, then you don't need Taaleem.

Not even at my somewhat shady, for-profit ME school would this have been an issue. Especially if the child looks Western. Those kinds of schools love to promote those kids because they lack international students. The bottom line is that if you think the school you're going to is such a bottom feeder, then it's not the place to take your child. If you've gotten a good vibe from them, especially when you visited, then you'll probably be fine.

Welcome to international teaching!

It wasn't clear in your initial post, but were you trying to secure a job for 2015-2016? Because the IT world does recruiting long before US public schools do. The peak of recruiting is December-February. There are still jobs available for next year, so I never say never, but your best bet would be to wait for this fall to begin job searching for a 2016-2017 position.

Also, as shadow jack mentioned, 2 teachers + 2 kids is fairly standard, but if your wife is not trying to get a job, that leaves you in the much tougher position of being 1 teacher + 3 dependents. Again, not impossible, but a long shot for a good job. And there are very few schools in Europe that would provide a package you could support a family with on only 1 salary. Your best bet is to apply as a teaching couple. Your wife could try teaching this coming school year to bolster her resume.

I worked in Italy in one of the smaller schools. I did it fresh out of college, and it was a wonderful, amazing, fabulous experience. I will never go back to teach in Italy, however. I'm now older and wiser and with different priorities (ie not being dirt poor). At my school, everyone lived with a roommate because there just wasn't enough money to get your own place. The only long timers were the Italian teachers and those who had married Italians. Otherwise, people moved on to better financial situations. And as for bringing along a child, I wouldn't have put my own child in that school because it was only filled with locals and being non-Italian would've caused a lot of social problems. This, however, might not be a problem at one of the larger, more international schools.

I will always hold a special place in my heart for Italy. But now I prefer to work elsewhere with a killer salary, and visit Italy on holidays.

Yes, it is quite late in the season, but that doesn't mean there's no chance at all. I was looking at the websites of some very good European schools last week (doing research for next year's recruiting season which will start this Oct/Nov), and I saw that some of these schools still have vacancies listed for the 2015-2016 school year. They don't have many listed, but positions still do exist.

If you have to remain at home for one more year, use that year to beef up your resume. You say you're certified 6-12 math, but what have you actually been teaching these 2 years? Would it be possible to switch grade levels or teach AP/IB to broaden your experience? Or could you show how you could contribute to a school community by coaching a sport or sponsoring a club like Mathletics or robotics? Or can you take on a position of leadership, like a grade-level or team lead?

Being open to other parts of the world is helpful too. Perhaps consider places that are easy flights to Europe, like the ME or N Africa (but do your due diligence because many schools in these regions are awful). Good luck!

wrldtrvlr123 wrote:
> mamava wrote:
> > Those EAL positions are supported by 10 LS teachers, including early reading
> specialists,
> > so they are actual EAL teachers that work with children to develop English
> language
> > skills, especial academic language proficiency. They are not reading
> specialists.
> ------------------
> Your experience is much closer to the reality. Schools like ISBKK, ISBrussels and
> ISBeijing (just to stick the ISB theme) etc, all have full time ESL teachers and even
> separate departments. To the OP, ESL is neither rare nor restricted to lower tier
> schools.

Yes, that's like my experience as well. My Tier 2 school in the ME had 1 ESOL teacher for lower elementary, 1 ESOL teacher for both upper elementary and middle school, and one .5 ESOL teacher for HS plus 1 LS specialist for elementary and none for secondary.

But in my Tier 1 school in Asia, there were 4 ESOL teachers for lower elementary, 3 for upper elementary, 3 for MS, and 1 for HS. Plus 2 LS specialists for lower elementary, 3 for upper elementary.

While there are definitely schools that use 'reading specialists' (or any Native English speaker) to pull double duty as LS/ESOL, there are also plenty of schools that recognize the differences in those roles and plan their staffing appropriately.

I'm not sure who told you ESOL positions were rare in IT. They're not. I've worked on multiple continents in several countries at schools of varying tier levels, and they all had ESOL teachers. Of course there are more ES teachers than ESOL, but that doesn't make ESOL rare. Especially as more schools pop up, and fewer companies are sending families abroad, at least to certain places, the pool of native English speakers is shrinking even at Tier 1 schools.

Your list of experience suggests to me that you'd be more competitive as an ESOL teacher because that's where most of your experience is. Good luck!

That's a pretty tough budget to work with in Beijing. $1000USD is roughly 6000RMB. Most apartments in Wangjing/Lido/Chaoyang Park areas are more in the 9,000RMB+ range. That being said, I do know someone who found a studio apartment in the Liangmaqiao area for about 6500RMB. Or maybe it's a 1 bedroom apartment, not sure. Either way, it's not going to be easy to find something for only 6000RMB.

My first job was in WE, but as an intern (basically a TA).

Best: Everything! At the time I was young, fresh out of college and debt-free. I didn't have tons of responsibilities or work as a TA, so I was free to enjoy everything I could about Europe. I made some great friends, traveled a lot (on the cheap, but I didn't mind staying in hostels back then), learned a fair amount of the language, and being exposed to that kind of school and those students put me on the path to where I am now, which is in a pretty good spot.

Worst: Honestly, at the time I didn't think anything was bad. I was too young and too new to IT to have the perspective I do now. Which is that the school was only a so-so kind of school (though filled with great people) with a poor package. The only tiny grievance I had at that time was that the school wouldn't hire me as an actual classroom teacher, even though I had the degree and the teaching license, because I didn't have 2 years of experience. But even that wasn't a big complaint because I knew that was the school's policy going in.