Search found 5 matches

by teach321
Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:29 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Should we pull out of China move?
Replies: 30
Views: 31558

Re: Should we pull out of China move?

If you have dependents, be careful about China. We have a new staff member who came in the fall and expected their family to be able to follow a few months later. It is now almost March and there are no signs the family will be able to get their visas anytime soon.
by teach321
Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:02 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?
Replies: 21
Views: 35818

Re: China People - What Does Online Learning Look Like for You Right Now?

My husband and I both teach secondary but have 2 elementary-aged kids. My 2nd grader's teachers are using Seesaw to post short video lessons and activities. That has been great because she can do a lot of it without our help, the instructions are clear, and we all know where to turn in assignments. Her teachers are also holding conference calls once a week for about 20 minutes for reading and math groups through Microsoft Teams. My 4th grader's teachers are using Teams to post video lessons along with assignments for students. Some subjects have been clearer about where to find resources, what to do, and where to turn stuff in than others. It is A LOT of work for all of us and there have been several frustrated breakdowns from both of our children in the 4 weeks we've been online. We have fallen behind and some days my kids get overwhelmed by all the tasks they are being asked to complete. From a parent's perspective, lessons should ideally be easy to access (not having to go to various folders, etc. to find resources) with clear directions about what needs to be accomplished by the student and how the assignment should be submitted. We don't have access to a printer so lessons that require printing have not been done. Live lessons are also hard because of differences in time zones.
by teach321
Fri May 03, 2019 9:51 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Canada/China Relations
Replies: 7
Views: 8162

Re: Canada/China Relations

I'm from the US, not Canada but feel very safe in China. I work with a few Canadians and they have never mentioned feeling unsafe or unwelcome. I have 2 young kids and would never take them anywhere I felt unsafe. In your day to day life, you won't notice the political issues at all.
by teach321
Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:35 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Feeling like I want to move my family back home
Replies: 29
Views: 30135

Re: Feeling like I want to move my family back home

I know that if you already have a credential and add on an authorization through taking the CSET you have to take a subject area pedagogy class. Not sure how that applies to your husaband’s situation though.
by teach321
Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:51 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Feeling like I want to move my family back home
Replies: 29
Views: 30135

Re: Feeling like I want to move my family back home

My husband and I taught for many years in California (north of Sacramento) before moving to teach abroad. Are you certified to teach in California? CA has some of the strictest credentialing requirements. It's easy to move to another state if you have a CA credential, but not always easy to move to CA from other states. Pay in CA is dependent on the district and ranges from around 40K/year to 100K/year. Obviously, the 100K is usually after many years of service credit and is usually only found in districts with really high costs of living so that $ doesn't go very far. Health care costs have risen significantly since I first started teaching and that eats into your pay each month.

My husband and I were comfortable financially but each year we were getting more and more burnt out by the challenging behaviors of students in the classroom and the lack of support from administration. (And I had always wanted to teach abroad.) Class sizes are generally on the larger size (30ish in elementary and 35ish in secondary) and there is a huge emphasis on standardized testing. In general, the elementary teachers I knew were happier than the secondary teachers.

The teacher shortage is being felt more in districts with higher percentages of socioeconomically disadvantaged students than in the better districts. I worked in a "better" district and most of our new hires came from other districts nearby and we did not have a hard time filling positions. CA has a strong union and a great pension plan, but if you start now you'll have to work until you're 65 to collect full benefits. I started teaching fresh out of college so taking ten or so years out to teach around the world still leaves me with the option to return to teaching in CA and earning a pension later if I want (and with the number of jobs posted each year on edjoin I'm not worried about finding a place to work).

When you have young kids, sometimes being close to family outweighs the other benefits that might come from teaching abroad. My kids are older but I'm glad we were close to family when they were younger. I think teaching in CA is a lot better than other states in the US and I haven't ruled out going back some day. The main thing you'll need to figure out is whether you are certified to teach there and whether they'll count your years of teaching abroad for placement on the salary schedule. Check out ctc.ca.gov for credentialing requirements and edjoin.org for job postings.

Good luck with whatever choice you make!