Love your students. Enjoy spending time with them. They'll be the highlight of your job.

Be involved in things outside of your school. Exercise and eat well. Maintain balance: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Volunteer for things in your school. Find out what no one else is doing, and do it. Maybe it's a club or running a group, or helping out with new staff. Ask your administrator what areas she'd like to develop in the school and see how you can align your strengths and interest into her vision.

Realize that International Schools are a business and you're a commodity that can be replaced. Schools owe teachers nothing and admin can drop a contract for whatever reason they deem reasonable. They don't have to wait until the end of a contract, even if the contract appears to say so. I've seen more international teachers let go/non-renewed than any non-tenured public school teacher in the States, even those with families in tow. None of the people I've seen let go would have ever been let go in the States. Regardless of being good teachers, they didn't "fit" after admin changed. There can be power struggles in International Schools and good teachers can get caught in the wake of administrative changes.

Stay out of the drama in the school, but be friendly with and respected by as many people as you can. Be seen as positive and helpful, not negative or gossipy. Smile. If people ask how you are, reply with what's going well, not what's frustrating you. Make it a habit.

If you want to succeed as an international teacher, make the parents and students happy. Usually if the students are happy, the parents are, too.

Assume that your colleagues and administration are doing things for good reasons. "Ascribe positive motives to others." It'll keep you mentally and emotionally out of a danger zone of frustration and angst.

If you have a question about why something was done, go and ask in person, but only when you're in the right frame of mind. Remember to assume that the person had good motives for what was done.

Become friends with local hires and local staff. They're awesome, fun, and make living overseas way better than it would be secluding yourself in the expat part of town, which is where your school will probably be located.

Every job offer I've ever recieved has come with a contract then and there. The contracts stated on the top which step on the salary scale I'd be at and the benefits offered.

I don't think I've ever asked--They give the whole salary and benefits package with the offer. If you have an offer and no salary/package/benefits given, just say that you are excited (or whatever) and would love to review the details of their package and get back to them after you've looked it over. Or, if it's a dream job, accept it without looking. It's very, very normal and expected for teachers to look over the insurance policies, the calendar, extra duties, housing benefits, etc. Totally normal question and they'd probably wonder if you didn't ask about it! For salary scale, schools have just looked at my resume and calculated the years I've worked as a teacher.

So what's the update, OP? Did you ever get any interviews?

Here's my opinion, living in China myself: Anyone with children, who is active outside, who wants to spend time outside, who has any concerns about breathing issues, etc. should very carefully consider if the pollution is worth the money shelled out in China. For 2-3 years, perhaps.

It's not just about life expectancy, it's about quality of life as you're living it. Having 30+ days in a row of no sun because of pollution and smog is not quality of life. Having haze drift down school hallways is not quality of life. Spending more and more of your time indoors is not quality of life.

I will say on the flip side, making $60-80K a year is fantastic and the financial stresses lessen in China. I do feel the stress related to health, work-life balance, and other things are what you're compensated for with that high salary.

We are the same as the poster who said, "We used to have an air purifier on all the time in our apartment and even had to filter the shower water with a special device." Buy these.

If you do move to China, I strongly urge you to have a good quality air purifier--Blue Air or Allen Air. It's expensive to outfit your apartment ($2000-3000), but it is not something I would ever skimp on. We also have the shower filters from home (Sprite brand). I researched those a long time before deciding on which kind to get.

The average AQI in Los Angeles seems to be under 15 2.5 pm. Annual PM 2.5 Federal Standard was 15 ?g/m3 until 12/14/2012, when it was lowered to 12 ?g/m3. In Shanghai, it was rarely below 150. It's good to have a comparison of cities to see the difference in air quality. We would literally cheer when it was below 100 2.5 pm and our children would constantly ask, "Is it a green day? Can we go outside?"

Reference for LA: http://www.portoflosangeles.org/AQ_Moni ... 014%29.pdf

I'd say 20-30 schools, plus a fair registration.

It's a LOT of cover letters and e-mails to write and keep track of. I always make a very organized list of first contact date, who I e-mailed, any contact back (if it's a form letter or personal), 2nd contact made, etc.

We sent them out in waves. Our first 8 picks (5 interviews gained), our next 7-10 picks (3 more interviews gained), then the 3rd wave in early December. We had schools we'd first written to in early-mid November contacting us back in late December, after we'd already picked from the contracts offered.

Hope this is helpful--I'd send out more for sure!

Ok, good to know. Thanks for your correction.

Lived in Shanghai for years. Never heard of this one. I don't think it plays sports with or interacts with the schools in Shanghai that I've heard of (BISS, SAS, Concordia, Dulwich, SCIS, YCIS, SCIS, WISS). That would be a big thing to consider along with the negative reviews.

Hi there. Schools cover airfare and insurance for dependents. Often, housing benefits are also increased. Often, shipping or settling-in benefits are increased. Most schools offer free tuition for children. This is a huge cost factor.

I don't think I've ever met someone with a trailing spouse and 2+ children working in an international school, unless they had the children while overseas...or were admin.

When there are dozens or hundreds of applications for each job posted at many schools, it's hard to see the advantage for a school to hire someone with 3 dependents. I don't think many will be swayed with the idea that in 2 years, the other of you will also be able to teach. They can hire a couple NOW that can both teach.

That doesn't mean you can't get a job, just that you're not as attractive of a candidate as others, perhaps.

I don't think you or schools should consider bargaining or bartering for lower benefits or salary for having 3 dependents. Really, that's a slippery road to head down.

Let's not judge if someone wants to have good childcare for his/her children or assume that the OP is white. Why not just assume that he/she is trying to do the best for his/her family and desires to have good people around him/her to help care for their children?

Besides, one of the perks of teaching in many parts of the world is not having to do your own laundry and cleaning...which leaves more time to spend with your family.

When we looked at HCMC, we were surprised to find out how many of the schools are for-profit. They almost ALL are. I'd do a bit of research about that to decide on schools.

I don't think your concerns are valid. However, if you have reservations, then don't apply to JIS. It doesn't sound like you really want to work there. With 3 dependents, you probably wouldn't be high on their list either. Shadowjack, thanks for posting and keeping things "real" instead of hyped-up.

Thanks for sharing. Brings a lot of thought and contemplation about priorities in life.

I would say that most contracts tend to be for 8-9 hour days (7:30 to 3:30 or 7:30 to 4:30). Of course you'll be working a bit more than that, depending on what you need to do for planning and grading. Most schools ask you to participate in after-school activities for an hour or so, once per week. There are also the usual concerts, weekend events, and all-school activities that you go to, but I find them fun and exciting, so even though they're required, it's not a chore.

I would guess with 8 hours at school, and perhaps 2 hours outside of the contract hours for planning, grading, etc, you're looking at a 50 hour week, give-or-take.

The first year can be more, as you're setting up everything, though. Certain times of the year are a lot more time-consuming, too, but overall, I can't imagine an 80-hour work week in an international school setting. I'm sure schools would be thrilled if you did work that much, though...but it's not sustainable or healthy.

I hope you find a great job after your NQT!

Agreed with poster above. This is not about WASC at all and it just makes my previous thoughts about the WASC-hater more solidified.

Trojan, they don't.