Looking for suburban living is a challenge in a city. Many international schools are in cities and then you're looking at condo living. That can be nice too for a family if the condo has other families living there. We lived in a high-rise in Shanghai, a multilevel compound in Guangdong, a semi-detached house in a housing development in Malaysia, and a detached house in a Bangkok neighborhood (that took 3 weeks to find). My kiddos were born in China, were younger in Malaysia, and older and more independent in Bangkok. I wouldn't have little kids in Bangkok if I had to choose. Shanghai was challenging enough and the public transport, infrastructure, and cleanliness, were definitely better than in Bangkok. It's a struggle to push around a pram in Bangkok unless you are in a mall. I took my little kids on my bicycle in Shanghai, but they had space on the road, Bangkok does not. I think some areas of Malaysia are better for younger kids, we had a car.

I have never used search. I hate the gate keeping of it all. I don’t pay for recruitment services, ever. Until last year, because I was desperate and felt vulnerable. I’m older, I was out for a year, I was concerned. I paid for Schrole and also used TES. I got loads of interviews through them. I took a position that was on Schrole, but in reality I got it through connections. A former colleague helped support my application. So, there it is. It’s who you know, for people like me, I rely on it. My partner is a white male Math teacher schools fight over him.

goblinhunter wrote:
> tangchao wrote:
> > Well we can see things haven't gone her way and she's immediately calling
> > people racist. I'd avoid her like the plague.
>
>
> I could doxx myself but your account is new, so I don’t want to rub in my success at
> the direct approach, but I do want to ask why you won’t comment about reasons for
> rejection? Because there are none. They don’t want to put in the effort to convince a
> school to take on someone who isn’t white.
>
> ..applying for search associates has no visual or audio element. They can’t judge my
> personality and say I’m a basket case and reject me as my references are great, and
> I’m more than qualified. They do ask for my photograph though :) I suppose looking
> at many Search Associates staff lists and seeing only one or two teachers in hard to
> fill spots is another damning point you won’t consider. From my own experiences, I
> know some incredible schools who discriminate openly due to the perception that a
> British person can only truly be ‘white’ - but to see it from a company like this is
> shameful.
>
> it’s weird to see people who don’t seem to know what the signup process is and blame
> me for supposedly missing details. You are assigned a recruiter and they ask for your
> CV multiple times, you provide all previous schools - if my references are bad, then
> why have I been offered other positions are schools people on this site salivate
> about?
>
> No reason was provided, I asked them to elaborate, and I was given a reason that I
> wouldn’t be competitive. This matches what was said by the SearchAssociates
> whistleblower, who said that they’re told it’s not worth wasting time on people of
> colour. I suppose this explains the white teachers who are principals with only a
> TEFL.

Be in the face, look in the eyes and call out a bully.

tangchao wrote:
> Well we can see things haven't gone her way and she's immediately calling
> people racist. I'd avoid her like the plague.

What do you mean? Are you talking about me? I happen to be white and only suffer a bit of ageism, but I have black friends and acquaintances who have been openly discriminated against in hiring, or if hired are treated poorly by the parents so the teacher leaves if they don't want to deal with it. It's a fact.

This is the definition of racism: a person who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards people based on their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. From the Oxford Dictionary.

A school owner who says she doesn't like to hire black people because her clientele (local parents) doesn't want their children being taught by black people means what to you?

Try AI to get some ideas.

So…….Michelle is an admin and they talk like that???
They speak so insensitively. Do you know any people of color or know what that experience is like when looking for jobs overseas?

My last school has hired black and brown people but has said out loud that they don’t try to because local parents in Thailand don’t like the brown teachers. They are racist. And it’s common in Asia, the reluctance to hire brown people. I’ve been here, in E. and SE Asia, for almost 27 years. It has been and is still really a problem.

Michelle wrote:

> I'm thinking you have an attitude.

I love this- what a Gaslighter YOU are!

Use ChatGPT, give it a prompt regarding your skills and experience and it'll spit something out to get you started.

Dear OP,
We have been overseas (China, Malaysia, and Thailand) with our 3 kids for over 20 years. Initially, I was a trailing spouse, when we arrived at our first international school with the first child. Our family grew to three kids during that time. When we left that school, we did have a hard time finding a job for my husband, who is an HL Maths and TOK teacher. So, I started getting my qualifications and got a job at our second school. The third school had no problems with us having three kids, although I didn't get a job there (or anywhere) and it took some time to get that job. More recently, in the past 6 years, we've had no problems. It helped that we each got jobs at different schools in the same city. We each had a two-child allowance. Now the oldest has graduated and we're down to two. I think the demographics of international schools in Asia has made it more desirable to have teachers with kids, lots of kids to balance out the numbers. That's a theory, but my last school had three teaching couples with three kids each and was trying to keep the local student population to less than 50%.

traveler76 wrote:
> My husband and I taught abroad for 15 years in great IB schools. We moved
> to the US in 2020 as an experiment, and originally had plans to do some
> other work besides teaching. That did not pan out so I am teaching in a
> public school. This year I am teaching all freshmen and it has been the
> hardest year of my entire career. I am unable to do anything
> "fun" or meaningful as all lesson plans have to be tightly
> controlled as to try to minimize behavior problems. I was shocked to find
> out that I cannot use groups of 4 for seating charts--I have my tables now
> separated as far apart as possible to minimize potential problems. In my
> other life (overseas) I could not have imagined being so "old
> school." Still, in May, I spend a lot of time asking students to sit
> down, turn around, not say the F word, stop yelling/whistling/making
> noises/burping, take out a notebook/pencil, please don't call me
> "bruh" or "dude" etc....with only some success. There
> are of course some wonderful students, but the disrespect and attitude from
> the loud and distracting students make it an enormous challenge on a daily
> basis. This also makes me so sad for the students who want to learn and do
> their best, as I cannot teach them the way they deserve. I have thought
> about quitting every day since I started, and now am counting down until
> the last day.
>
> I have tried to figure out how teachers here make it through year after
> year. Most of them are just as tired as I am, and just as discouraged. The
> answer, as far as I can tell, is the pension and lack of other options.
>
> Oh, and we are headed back overseas in the fall and can't wait.

This makes me feel a lot better. My classes in the States are very similar. It's been very exhausting and very unfulfilling.
I also am returning overseas, and I too can't wait.

Dave's ESL Cafe is the place to go with these questions. And a good place to look for a job.

I returned to my home country after over 20 years overseas, living, teaching and having a family. All my children were educated entirely overseas. My oldest graduated last year and then had a summer job in my home country. He has the passport, but has never been here for more than holidays. He’s had a few jobs and is adjusting.
I brought my youngest home with me to experience school in America. I got a job as a substitute in the district.It has been a complete shock, for all of us. The youngest and I are happy we had this experience, but we’re going back overseas. The chaos in the classrooms, the violence every day, the lack of respect, and discipline. Then there’s this attitude or approach to the students where we want them to feel included and we’re allowing all sorts of stuff so that the kids show up because attendance is down. So, the dress code is thrown out the window and kids come in pajamas or worse. Anyhow, my youngest is desperate to get back to uniforms and discipline and order. Me too!
The oldest has gone into the military. He’s craving order and discipline too!