Hi Bookshelf and Amy,

To answer your questions.

1. I would put it in other. Some schools on Search post for generalists, most do not.

2. Target where you want to be. It is no use targeting a school in Xiamen if you really want to be at a school in Bangkok and know that, if Xiamen offers you a job, you would not take it. Turning down a bunch of schools where you have initiated contact and expressed interest only to say, "I don't want to go to your school" when receiving an offer, is bad form.

3. By all means, bullet point all your relevant library experience/teaching experience. One thing that schools might be looking for is developing content units/resources with teachers. Not sure on that as I have never applied as a librarian :-)

4. Add the math cert for Mr. B. I will be bluntly honest with you. Mr. B will be the one heavily recruited. You just hang on and go along for the ride. Take what they give you just to go where you want to go and then work your way to where you want to be once you are on the inside. However, it may work out that you get offered the librarian job anyways :-)

Let me ask you this though - would you turn down your dream school because they offer you grade 5 elementary instead of the library? Or...would you accept a job from a tier 3 school in an out of the way place because they offered you a library position and Mr. B a math/chem/bio position?

Also, do your English cert. For 200 bucks it can't hurt :-)

5. Boston will be a busy fair. London will be more European flavored. Are you after Europe or Asia or ? Remember, Search asks that you make yourself available for three geographical areas. All of the Search fairs are still open, so no worries. The Bangkok fair gets full around late October and the London one around late November. Boston and London are likely the two busiest, with Bangkok being a close third.

6. Bullet-point it, but understand that at many international schools the US curriculum is utilized, but it is not always the driving force, especially if you are at a PYP/MYP/IBP school.

Hope this helps!

You usually have 24 hours...some will extend, others will give you less time (ie you must decide now).

Here are three or four I found just by a basic Google search...

http://www.scholarship-search.org.uk/

http://scholarships.leeds.ac.uk/

http://www.studyin-uk.com/e/scholarships/

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAn ... /DG_171571

Some are pay, some are advertising, others are government and uni's.

Target the unis your child would like to go to and research their sites very carefully for hints and links for scholarships. Email their admissions officer or their student center office for more information.

You have a nice window of time - UK uni's don't send out acceptances until July...so do your due diligence (wow - alliteration city!) :-)

Good luck!

Joethelion

what you describe seems to be a bit of a mish-mash system, perhaps to accomodate those students who wish to attend North American universities.

"Real" British marking is very similar to IB. When I taught GCSEs in the UK, my students had predicted grades based on previous assessments in Key Stage 3 (years 7-9). My job was to make sure that they learned to the level needed in order to obtain or exceed those grades.

The scale was from 0 to 7, I believe, or else 0 to 5...it was awhile back. It took me a bit to wrap my head around it, but I eventually did and my students did well on their GCSE courses.

Don't do it. Honestly, the top schools look askance on anyone who leaves after only one year. Secondly. you will be relegating yourself to 3rd tier and 2nd tier schools and delaying your "plan" to get to a top tier school by 4 or 5 years.

Finally - if your school is bad for you financially, start tutoring students from other international schools in your spare time. Instead of working so hard on your material for your classroom that the students find to be a ton of work, put some work into making some money for you (but not to the detriment of your students).

One thing to be careful of at international schools are parents. If you are making it "hard" and students are suffering grade-wise (for example, let's say that you have 8 students who are getting mostly A's in their other classes but getting only B's in yours), the parents, admin and maybe even the board (it has happened) are looking at YOU - and that is the kiss of death.

So stay the course, start doing some tutoring on the side, and leave after 2 years with your great reference in hand for a higher tier school.

Just a warning - many international schools do not cater well to special needs students. Note, Many. The best thing to do is to approach the schools themselves or see what they are saying about this on their websites. That will give you an idea of their programs and philosophies. I was at a school once where they made it very clear that any special needs requirement would result in your child not gaining admission to the school.

First of all, talk to your child's counselor at school. School counselors are paid to do these sorts of things. Second of all, contact prospective universities and examine online registries - often they list a wide range of scholarships applicable to the UK or other countries, many of which require quite esoteric things to be granted.

Hope this helps!

Heyteach, just out of curiosity, how long ago was this?

For the OP, my friends still say that if a school finds the right candidate they will pay for the training - but again, if you are willing to do it on your own, maybe that would tip the balance?

Can they claim that you have abandoned them and they have no means to pay for uni? What about scholarships?

With a teaching couple, one versatile in elementary and you in AP chem, you might find something in Bangkok. There are two parts of the issue - one is neither of you have IB experience and many schools won't consider AP as equivalent due to different philosophy and standards. However, there are schools out there that will hire and train the right people.

The second point is that you are only two years into teaching. The top schools want more years of experience than just two and like experience in your home country beyond practicums/internships.

So you can go to the Bangkok fairs and maybe find a position. Chemistry is a strong field to be in, and many many jobs are yet to be posted on Search because schools still have not had their teachers submit intent letters. However, there is no guarantee. As my friend said, often the fair you don't go to is the one you should attend.

Friends of mine went to Bangkok last year and saw singles, IB teachers and teaching couples with no children getting offers. They have three kids and came away with nothing. However, they went to LONDON a little later in January, came away with three possibles, followed them up, and ended up at a great school this year which embraced them and their three children.

Have you considered trying to do London in later January and then Dubai at the end of February/early March? Emirates flies out of Beijing to Dubai directly...

Just a thought.