Aspiring International Teacher. Advice Welcomed

PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@CaliPro

I can understand the confusion. I cant remember ever defining the difference, a recruiter is the person who handles the applicant pool and interviews you. They may not be a member of the schools staff, and may work for an outside agency. They may be a member of the schools staff, such as a teacher in the subject your applying for, and has expertise to assess your content area, typically the recruiter makes a reccomendation. Admins have actual hiring authority, they can "push the button", and can make you an actual offer and sign a contract. All admins are recruiters but not all recruiters are admins.
Schools have different levels of organization; in some schools hiring authority is empowered in the HOS (sometimes referred to as the director), in some schools its with the division principal (primary, secondary, DIP, etc), in some schools its with HR. Further complicating matters is that in IB the principal may be referred to as a coordinator (such as the DIP coordinator).
You would think that would be complicated enough, but given the fair schedule, a school needs to be in two places at once, so at a fair you may be interviewing with an AP or Deputy that doesnt have hiring authority. They have to either call someone to get approval or wait until after the fair for everyone to compare notes and then make a decision.

Always follow the vacancy instructions. Unless your submitting an unsolicited application, the vacancy should list the application email address. If you are submitting an unsolicited application, you cant go wrong sending it to the HOS, but you might have troubl finding the email address, in which case the website should have a general inquiry email address, and you just have to hope it gets to the right person. Sometimes you can "social engineer" the principal or HOSs email address. Most schools use the same convention for all addresses, so explore the schools website and you might find an announcement or news article or staff personal web page. Maybe its an announcement for the school fundraiser and you find an email for donations say its john.smith@isgenovia.net, well thats pretty much first name, last name separated by a period so if you find out the HOSs name (usually on the welcome page of the website) and their name happens to be Jane Doe, then you could try sending the email to jane.doe@isgenovia.net.

The IB maintains a list of IB schools, which you can filter by country among other things, so you can find the list of IB schools in Columbia here:

http://www.ibo.org/school/search/index. ... hools=Find

You can select different countries on the left hand side of the screen, and then just start selecting schools and navigating to their employment page, then bookmark the school in a folder maybe called Columbia.

The various regional accredidation agencies such as WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) maintain list of schools they have accredited. SCA including columbia typically pursue SACS (Souther Association of Colleges and Schools), which they have recently renamed "AdvancedEd" to refer to their K-12 accreditation branch. You can go to their website:

http://www.advanc-ed.org/

and at the top of the page click on "Find Schools" when you get to the search page just select Columbia from the drop down list and you get a list of the accrredited schools in Columbia:

Altamira International School
Colegio Albania
Colegio Bolivar
Colegio Bureche
Colegio Granadino
Colegio Jorge Washington
Colegio Karl C. Parrish
Colegio Nueva Granada
Colegio Panamericano
Fundacion Liceo Ingles
GI School
Liceo Taller San Miguel
Montessori British School
The Columbus School
CaliPro
Posts: 209
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:08 pm
Location: United States

Post by CaliPro »

What are the main sites to search for job openings? TES, TIE, JoyJobs, IBO, ISS.

Am I missing any?
Mr.C4ke
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:34 am
Location: Thailand

Post by Mr.C4ke »

COIS is worth a look too.
Cheery Littlebottom
Posts: 207
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 8:32 am

Post by Cheery Littlebottom »

Try TRIAUST, at http://www.triaust.com/
Husband and wife team, well-connected, low fees, very personal approach. They tend to work with experienced IS teachers and like to meet you. They mainly recruit for asian schools as they are australian. Very nice people.
amaya284
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 11:55 pm

Re: Aspiring International Teacher. Advice Welcomed

Post by amaya284 »

Hi!

I'm considering the Teacher Ready Program and wonder if you did end up going through the program? If so what was your experience like? What were the pros and cons? How long did it take you get licensed?
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

Teach ready is an okay program. It results in a FL professional teaching certificate, and FL is well regarded and accepted world wide. A few observations of the program:

1) It is truly self paced as opposed to Teach Now (another provider) that uses a cohort model. Meaning you can do your studies when you want to at your pace. No required meeting in the middle of the night (due to time differences).

2) Teach Ready/FL use the FTCE, these are only offered in the States, so you would have to travel back to the States to take the exams (unlike Teach Now which uses Praxis and is available world wide). You will also likely have to travel back to have your fingerprints done.

3) 12 hours of graduate credit from a "real" university.

4) FL teacher certification is expensive if you plan on pursuing multiple certifications or endorsements (SPED can easily include 4 certifications alone, though exceptional needs is the "general SPED certification), and there is no "Science" certification but individual certifications in bio, chem, physics, earth science. Lots of tests lots of applications.

5) The most significant difference is how field experience is done. It starts at the beginning of the program, and you have to have a cooperating IS well in advance. I wouldnt even bother with applying until you have secured an IS that will sponsor/support you. This is so critical because the IS has to be an accredited IS, you cant do it at some bilingual IS/DS. Depending on your location your options may be VERY limited, and if you cant get a IS to sponsor you you cant finish the program.
The advantage to Teach Ready (over Teach Now) is that the mentor teacher at the IS only has to hand over the actual class to you for 1 week/5 days. The rest of the program is mostly passive/observational, or small instructional periods throughout the program. 5 minutes here, 15 minutes there. This works for candidates because ISs are fee collecting schools, parents pay a lot for their child to be properly educated, not to be a learning teachers guinea pig for 3 months to a semester.
However, 5 days in a classroom will prepare you for ZERO/NOTHING. Teach Ready gets you a certificate, but 5 days in a classroom, a couple demo lessons, observations and online slideshows is NOT going to prepare you to the same degree as teacher candidates who went through more traditional routes of certification and who spent a semester or longer doing their field experience (QTS is a whole year).

6) FL only grants certification to US citizens/permanent residents.
MedellinHeel
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:59 am

Re: Aspiring International Teacher. Advice Welcomed

Post by MedellinHeel »

amaya284 wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'm considering the Teacher Ready Program and wonder if you did end up
> going through the program? If so what was your experience like? What were
> the pros and cons? How long did it take you get licensed?

I am the OP. I lost my login / email info for my original username.

I highly recommend TeacherReady.

Pros - easy, cheap, convenient
Cons - not really sure if there is any cons if we are speaking from solely a alternative certification program.

Due to my own procrastination, difficulties of finding a school and mentor close to where I lived in Korea, complications with previous schools (mentor leaving, bad timing i.e. end of year testing, etc etc) I have drug my license out very long. Just now back in the US and gonna be finishing my final 5 days student teaching this month or next. Altogether, it will have taken me 3 years. The program itself is only 9 months if I remember correct so long as you experience no complications and do not procrastinate.
marieh
Posts: 212
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2013 11:33 pm

Re: Aspiring International Teacher. Advice Welcomed

Post by marieh »

I agree with MedellinHeel's assessment of the TeacherReady program. I graduated a year ago and received several job offers before I even finished. The cost was reasonable and I was able to teach during the duration, instead of having to take time off to do formal student teaching through a university. The program itself took 9 months to complete, but it took a year to get my license due to F processing times.

You do have to go back to the US to take the exams, but these can be completed at your own pace. I just took them while I was at home for the summer.
MedellinHeel
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:59 am

Re: Aspiring International Teacher. Advice Welcomed

Post by MedellinHeel »

marieh wrote:
> I agree with MedellinHeel's assessment of the TeacherReady program. I
> graduated a year ago and received several job offers before I even
> finished. The cost was reasonable and I was able to teach during the
> duration, instead of having to take time off to do formal student teaching
> through a university. The program itself took 9 months to complete, but it
> took a year to get my license due to F processing times.
>
> You do have to go back to the US to take the exams, but these can be
> completed at your own pace. I just took them while I was at home for the
> summer.

What avenues did you use to get those job offers?
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