"why not teach for no money?"

I do not want to imply, nor do I assume that everyone has a great time teaching overseas. I also do not automatically assume that everyone must have a bad time because I had a bad time.

Why don't I teach for free? Well if you knew me, you'd realize that money is not a driving factor for me. Here is the huge difference though, I am working for my money. ISR merely publishes what others have thought about, and later typed up. ISR just runs the website. While I appreciate the forum section, the paid section is a result of other people's work. Every time someone types-up a review, ISR benefits. The better question might be, "Would you work for free and let someone else claim the credit and money?"

It is interesting that you said that you wish you could have seen the reviews before you went to work for your school. Almost every school has multiple negative reviews - no one would work anywhere if most of the reviews were true. I'm sorry, but I don't see it as that bad. Bad school here and there - sure. All bad - something's wrong with the system. I have even read reviews that I know first hand are completely false and not even close to being accurate. I have been overseas for a while now, but I am totally unable to separate the false/untrue/revenge reviews from the realistic/fair reviews (unless I have first hand knowledge). How is that helpful?

I think there are a couple of reasons. As much as most people are against the "evil for profit schools", this site is for profit. You get that profit by driving traffic to your site. ISR does that with anonymous, unverifiable, and sometimes outlandish claims. Some are true, some are not - you gotta pay to see them!

Secondly, ISR is much more interested in the sensational side than they are about the truth. The sensational side sells subscriptions - the boring truth does not. Who knows what is true, but if people talk about it, the truth may come out. This does not sell subscriptions. I know people talk about the wild, yet untrue reviews for our school. Word goes around like the flu and we all huddle around the computer and laugh, argue, and try to figure out who wrote the review. Finding out that a disgruntled employee wrote a review gets old really quick, but you have to pay to learn more. While most people at my school want to read the outlandish reviews, hardly anyone trusts them - even fewer want to pay to see them.

The disturbing part is how the admin takes comments out of context and starts a blog, or writes headlines without asking for permissions.

There are positions open, and I would subscribe to www.tieonline.com as they list lots of positions - even once the school year starts.

If you are looking at one of those jobs, could you live/travel to that country, or would the money/job be the only thing keeping you there? Are there travel opportunities? Is there enough for you to do so that even if the job stinks, you could get by because of all the extras? This will narrow down the openings and at least allow you to get through a possibly bad job experience - now you have experience and are in much greater demand.

You easily could find a job now - just don't get stuck somewhere because the money was good/they actually offered you a job. I would also be appreciative of all the extra things you could do, as well as see, in your new country. Many people complain about their job experience when they are in an exotic location with immense travel opportunities. Those people (who complain in these circumstances) remind me of spoiled children. Sure the job may not be the greatest, but wow! Look at the opportunities that are available - travel to exotic locations, airfare to your country, many travel opportunities. That sounds cool to me!

I have to agree with you bayani. this site is built upon anonymity, yet they don't want to enable the pm feature because of anonymity? I sense an admin conspiracy!

As far as I know, all states either have "life" certificates. or certificates good for 4 years or so. I have never heard of a situation where they would put it on hold. My certificate is a blend - two areas are for life, the other for 4 years. I think the trend is going towards renewable (brings in a lot more money and allows for more background checks).

His post is dated Fri Aug 01, 2008. That's over a year ago.

Wow! You went back a year to find something to bring up. Did Ichiro do something/say something that still bothers you?

If I were an an administrator (I'm not) and someone asked me about the "negatives on the ISR website", I would immediately end the interview and not offer a job to that person. Asking the person hiring you about all the negative things you have heard comes across very badly. To ask those kinds of things in an interview, to me anyway, makes it sound like you don't want to work there and/or you are a person who likes to complain/gossip.

I have two thoughts on this: If you have second thoughts about a school, don't take a job there. I have found that a person's first intuition is usually right. If it is not right, is it worth taking the chance? Secondly, if you do have a nagging question, ask some of the teachers that work there. See what they have to say about your question - you'll probably get a more accurate answer anyway!

Let's turn this around a little bit. A company interviews you, and others, and offers you a job - which you accept. Later on the school meets with another teacher that would be absolutely perfect for the job. So they cancel your contract and hire the "perfect teacher". I could only imagine the amount of gnashing of teeth and comments about how unfair this is and how we need unions and all to prevent this. You might even go to this site and "blackball" a school by writing bad reviews and suggesting people work elsewhere.

Aren't you proposing the same thing? I am a teacher, but if I were the administrator I would be so ticked off. Anyone heard of the Golden Rule? Well in today's society you can get away with this.

I'm not saying people don't kick themselves for not waiting and/or accepting a position they didn't really love but you really need to either wait it out or accept the first offer.

I'm not sure I would take it. Is it a reputable school? Is it a local hire contract? What part of the world? Do they help you with visas? It's hard to make a decision without more info.

I have yet to hear of any school that is so progressive, and I very highly doubt they would pay extra for it. Having said that, it might be a very welcome add-on to a Resource Room/Special Needs position. I dream of the day that we would have easy access to a Speech Specialist. At our school, I'm not even sure you would get the parents to approve of speech therapy or tutoring - they barely approve of having their sons/daughters receive "extra help" now.

As much as I love teaching overseas, the one area that disappoints me is the attitude of other countries towards the special needs populations - even for the very moderate needs of some.

A chance? Sure there is a chance, and teaching math will help. I would highly suggest you get moving on organizing your materials for a job fair. If breaking even is okay, you should be able to find something. I think ISS or Search would be better for you. UNI (Iowa) is awesome, but there are not a lot of European schools that go there. Someone else should comment on those as I am only familiar with UNI.

Good luck! I honestly think the economy will turn around slightly by the time the job fairs roll around so there might be more openings. It didn't seem like there were a lot of openings this year.

I forgot to add a point or two. The European economy is doing no better/maybe worse than the USA economy - European Ed jobs have never been plentiful anyway. I would highly recommend that you expand your "acceptable places" to more than just Europe. I know that Europe has that appeal, but the schools know this and the pay (after taxes and housing) isn't all that good. As a result, the higher paying schools in Europe are very competitive and they would be looking for international teaching experience plus graduate degrees.

There are very cool schools in South America, Africa, and Asia that are fascinating places to work/visit. These are also great ways to gain some international teaching experience and put you in a better position for a European job when the various economies turn around. That being said, math is in very high demand.

I totally agree with ichiro. The schools will see right through the "half-hearted" looking, with many of them offering jobs quickly. They also expect quick answers and will not be interested in "let me think about it for a while".

I would also advise against leaving a stateside teaching job in mid-contract. In Texas they can pull your certification if you do not fulfill your contract.

I would really do some soul searching before continuing, but recruiting season starts soon so you don't have a lot of time. In October the schools start asking, "Who is staying? Who is going?" with an increasing number of schools hiring as early as November. I also agree about getting a subscription to tieonline.com. It does not cost much and you could very easily land a job from there.

As for teaching out of your area. I highly doubt a Math teacher would be moved. A lot of schools need math teachers and it is one of the harder positions to fill.

Good luck!

There a lot of pompous know-it-alls on this forum. They will lecture you as if you are stupid and gullible. International teaching, in my opinion, has been wonderful and I'm grateful for the opportunity. People who are unhappy try to make others unhappy with them - truly the bad apple does try to spoil the bunch.

A good teacher is a good teacher. It does not matter where this person teaches, or where this person started. If you are good, you are good. It is absurd to say that a good teacher is not a good teacher because they did not spend enough time at a certain school or in a certain place.

If you are happy teaching in the States/Canada/wherever - great. If you are happy teaching overseas - great. I guess this makes me stupid and gullible.

I guess I should lecture everyone on how you could not possibly know and how my years as whatever gives me ultimate knowledge...