Search found 49 matches

by s0830887
Wed Dec 02, 2020 5:40 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Requesting criticism on my plan to become qualified/competitive.
Replies: 29
Views: 25328

Re: Requesting criticism on my plan to become qualified/competitive.

I did Teach Now and got a...hmm let's say adequate... job teaching two subjects right off the bat. I did have a lot of background in tutoring, however, and a solid academic history in my subjects. I think any program where you end up with a full license is a way more secure option any kind of provisional license, but depends on how much time and $ you want to spend I guess. It's definitely true you won't get a great job but already being abroad (less of a flight risk) and having experience in ESL plus a license would be enough for plenty of those lower tier schools to consider you, based on the number of interviews/offers I had right after finishing TN. Just check the number of openings on TES that accept NQTs. My current job is kinda shit, but I'm teaching a desirable curriculum and the students are lovely. If you can suffer through that first contract, you have a lot more options. I also taught ESL in SK and honestly if you can thrive at a hagwon you'll have the patience to get through a few years at a crappy international school.
by s0830887
Thu Oct 22, 2020 6:39 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: PGCE or TeachNow for QTS/professional teaching credential
Replies: 10
Views: 10681

Re: PGCE or TeachNow for QTS/professional teaching credential

[quote=PsyGuy post_id=59911 time=1602951765 user_id=68047]
There is no reason to avoid HI. You no longer need a letter from HI to apply for QTS. HI instituted a public online credential portal over the summer of 2020. This is all you need to identify your credential to the TCL/TRA in the OTT application.
[/quote]

This is incorrect.

[quote=Smoko post_id=59903 time=1602914228 user_id=247370]
I was lucky enough not to have any issues with my QTS application and it was approved without question, but from following the Teach-Now Facebook group, it looks like people who were initially rejected for QTS were subsequently emailed by Teach-Now recommending that they reapply. They were advised to upload a letter from the CEO as one of their supporting documents. Not sure if that's still needed or whether people are back to being immediately approved. It looks good for now, but all of this comes with the caveat that it could change at any point in the future.
[/quote]

I didn't need a letter, it was automatic. And I second that caveat. If you do TN, join the FB group and keep an eye on which way the wind is blowing.

Why do I suck at quotes.
by s0830887
Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:45 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: PGCE or TeachNow for QTS/professional teaching credential
Replies: 10
Views: 10681

Re: PGCE or TeachNow for QTS/professional teaching credential

Definitely route 1a. QTS is now being awarded to TN graduates with DC licenses, TN worked hard to get that rejection business overturned. I was awarded QTS a few months ago on my DC license having done my student teaching outside of the US (this was the crux of the issue), and being rejected with the same exact application documents a year prior.

Another reason for DC over HI is that non-US teachers with HI licenses are currently being rejected for QTS because HI is claiming that without a social security number, HI cannot verify that the teacher has no sanctions against them in the NASDTEC database, therefore they cannot issue a letter of good standing as is required for QTS. This is not true, you do not need a SSN to search the database, but it is happening and who knows how long it will take to fix. So, you should avoid HI for now. TN is already trying to figure it out but it might take awhile. As far as I've heard, this is only happening with HI teachers who don't have SSN and not DC. But, if you haven't figured out from my post yet, if you have any issues with reciprocity, TN WILL work to fix them for you.
by s0830887
Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:21 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: chances in Europe
Replies: 15
Views: 16961

Re: chances in Europe

Under EU law, as the spouse of an EU citizen, you have right to residency (including right to work) with her anywhere in the EU, no restrictions on how long you've been married. I went through this with my husband last year, you do have to provide a few documents depending on the country, but mostly it's a simple matter of registering at the foreign police. Way easier than getting a visa. Idk why PsyGuy is talking about citizenship, that takes years of residency to get.
by s0830887
Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:01 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Advice for married couples working together
Replies: 10
Views: 9741

Re: Advice for married couples working together

It is definitely up to the married couple, I've seen a lot of ways they make it work. My husband and I work in a small school that neither of us particularly like, so we see each other a lot during the day and it's a bit of a saving grace for our mental health, I think. Last school was bigger, big subject departments, we only saw each other at lunch. Don't see any reason to hide the relationship--if you can't handle a bit of teasing from students, don't be a teacher!

What PsyGuy said about not passing on messages from leadership to your spouse, or being their "designated advocate"--this x1000%. Nope, nope, nope. If you let it happen, it starts out as people just asking you where your spouse is on campus at any given time (as if you would know where they are exactly at every minute?), or passing along a message. But it (potentially) ends with senior leadership trying to complain about your spouse to you and expecting you to use your marital influence to solve the problem. Last year our HOS was having a kind of mental breakdown right before she quit and spent an afternoon angrily storming back and forth between my husband and I because neither of us would discuss the other's work performance with her. We had to get the deputy head to intervene because she just wouldn't stop. So yeah, establish those boundaries!!!
by s0830887
Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:05 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: PGCEi or TeachNow - I'm Latin American following my French husband.
Replies: 4
Views: 5731

Re: PGCEi or TeachNow - I'm Latin American following my French husband.

I graduated from Teach Now. We were told that if you don't have someone at your school who can mentor you through the practical, they will arrange someone in the US to mentor you remotely, so don't discount that possibility. I don't know much about the PGCEi though I have generally heard good things about the course itself. I don't know that one is better-regarded than the other; they're both alternate routes to certification, just from different countries.
by s0830887
Thu Jun 11, 2020 6:21 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Questions about Teach Now (PsyGuy please help me)
Replies: 23
Views: 29152

Re: Questions about Teach Now (PsyGuy please help me)

Hi Boomba, I am a graduate of Teach Now (and I highly recommend it for licensure). Don't take the exams before you enroll. The program will walk you through all of this, including options for exemption from some of the Praxis exams, there is a suggested schedule, one-on-one sessions with placement coordinators, etc.

PsyGuy is full of shit and at least half of the stuff I read him post about Teach Now is bad info that he clearly read online, as anyone with access to Google can do. The support staff at TN is lovely and I encourage you to reach out to Andres Barnes, the client relations manager, directly by email and ask him your questions. His job is literally to talk to prospective students like you and answer these questions...accurately...and he was so helpful for me before and during the program. You can find his email on the TN website (am not sure if I'm allowed to post it here...)

Once you are enrolled with TN, you should join the Facebook group "TEACH-NOW Cohorts Community" full of current and former students, and TONS of info about Praxis PLT and subject specific exams, study tips and materials, etc. It's a great community, and super super helpful! Get your info straight from the source and current/former students ;-)
by s0830887
Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:06 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Cambridge exams
Replies: 6
Views: 8724

Re: Cambridge exams

I don't think there is a way to avoid a can of worms here...the only way to ensure objective grades IMO is to cancel the series and force all students to postpone until Nov., which I don't see happening. I'd much rather provide evidence of student work than be asked to just estimate their grade based on my own opinion, because (as someone on the TES thread on this topic put it) the morally virtuous schools will get worse results and the morally corrupt schools will try to hand out free As. :-/
by s0830887
Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:21 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Cambridge exams
Replies: 6
Views: 8724

Re: Cambridge exams

My understanding from the email was that nothing is finalized, schools are simply meant to try and gather evidence and then report to Cambridge what evidence they have been able to gather, and they'll go from there :-/
by s0830887
Fri Mar 20, 2020 3:33 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Not finishing the year
Replies: 8
Views: 12353

Re: Not finishing the year

Hi, this is unrelated to your actual question, but I am from the US and my husband is from the UK, and while we were in the US several years ago, we also had an extraordinary situation and had to look into options for how to extend his stay. There IS an option for the regional director of a USCIS office to sign off on an extension to the 90-day visa waiver program (even though technically it's not extendable ever...which is why a regional director has to sign off on it) for emergency circumstances. We made an appointment at immigration in San Antonio, printed off the documentation about the extension, and the people at immigration had no idea what we were talking about, walked it upstairs to the director who said he'd never heard of it (despite being shown the print out from the USCIS website!!!!), and they told us to drive down the road to the airport and ask Homeland Security. So we did, the Homeland Security guy rolls his eyes, confirms that USCIS DOES have the power to extend the visa, and they are the ones who SHOULD be doing it, but I guess he felt sorry for us so he disappeared with my husband's passport and came back 15 minutes later having written a note in red pen extending his stay for 30 more days. Told us it was all taken care of in the computer. This is a long rambly story, but I just wanted to share as the worst case scenario is sending your husband on an expensive trip to a noncontiguous country for I don't remember how long just so he can re-enter the U.S.; Both USCIS and DHS can extend, try those routes first! Good luck!
by s0830887
Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:29 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Director Invited me Out - Help!
Replies: 40
Views: 73203

Re: Director Invited me Out - Help!

I don't see a problem with going to brunch and being friends, but it is definitely a problem if the director is trying to pursue a romantic relationship with you. Putting your perspective aside for a minute, this person would be pursuing their subordinate, which speaks very poorly of their professional standards and awareness of power dynamics. These days it's actively considered misconduct. Even broader, it will make the people around you uncomfortable and mistrustful. My colleague started openly dating our boss a few years back, really tanked office morale and the boss was forced to drop from an admin position in secondary down to primary. Proceed with extreme caution.
by s0830887
Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:32 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Teach-Now Completion and License Renewal
Replies: 16
Views: 25784

Re: Teach-Now Completion and License Renewal

@psyguy Indeed it does, I hope you listen to your own advice and stop being such a tool when you are presented with new information.
by s0830887
Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:34 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Teach-Now Completion and License Renewal
Replies: 16
Views: 25784

Re: Teach-Now Completion and License Renewal

PsyGuy wrote:
> Theres a lot of drama with the TCL/TRA regarding the DC credential and Teach Now.
> Ive written about it before extensively

...really? Because when I was denied QTS just about six months ago, I posted in this forum and you told me there was no possible way it was because of Teach Now. I copied and pasted the denial email I received that had the exact reason stated and you still told me I was wrong. You are so full of shit it's hilarious.
by s0830887
Tue Jan 14, 2020 12:11 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Creating fake references
Replies: 26
Views: 51584

Re: Creating fake references

Dude f you are ghosting schools mid term just because you are bored, you should not be a teacher. If you do this, I hope someone hires you only to find out what you did and sue your ass for fraud.