Ideally 1M, but the more I do the math on this (had a lot of time to play around with some projections during lockdowns) I think 2/3 of that would be more than fine given that I plan to retire in a place with low cost of living.

For some teachers the allure of a particular city or country alone can justify going there. I would guess Switzerland (and Europe in general) is high on many peoples lists. Then you have Asia, look at places like Hong Kong, Thailand, or Vietnam which all have schools with pages and pages of bad reviews on this site. Yet when was the last time you heard of schools in these countries needing to look hard for teachers?

If the city is awesome, the money is good, and there are lots of travel opportunities, some people are fine putting up with a mediocre / crap job for a few years. They can still write a review for a crap school to let people know what they are getting into.

You don't mention where you are headed, but I doubt you are going to save any money in the end. Voltage issues, customs issues, and wondering if your TV will be damaged in transit just makes it pointless IMO. Assuming it's a new TV in box, customs charges are almost guaranteed.

Everything I've heard indicates Italy is a lifestyle post - as in the first line of your benefits package probably should read "You get to live in Italy".

Reminds me of the ASP (Paris) job postings which actually listed "living in Paris" as a benefit, and a school in rural Thailand that listed a "bicycle to ride to school" as part of the compensation package.

Might be fine short term, but you aren't going to accomplish much career-wise or financially. Maybe as a sort of pre-retirement gig it would be ok?

In addition to checking carefully if the MAT would lead to a credential (many programs will not), you need to check if the University will charge you international student tuition. If so, those fees can be massive...

The coup was just a formality I think. Did anyone seriously believe the army wasn't calling all the shots? Myanmar had a "democracy" about as solid as Thailand's...

Agree with above, the only issue would be if it suddenly became impossible to get money out.

Wouldn't mind going to work at ISY at some point.

Although Japan is extremely appealing, I would not even consider going to a quasi international school or signing a local hire contract.

Are schools cutting positions or non-renewing due to enrollment drops? Are teachers bailing out or hunkering down? Will it be easier to break into Japan as an international teacher after Covid? Or will it get <gulp> even harder than it already is?

I'm not really talking SY 2021-22, but more like 2022-23...anyone in Japan now care to comment?

Questions about medical issues may be because the school is located in a country with poor/zero medical care or a lack of care options for certain conditions. I would not be put off about that.

However, asking for an attendance record would be a red flag for me. This just screams "we won't treat you like a professional" and micromanagement hell. Is this school going to make you scan in with fingerprints on entry & exit too? No thanks...

Need to be up front, there are lots of different country-specific regulations for this. In some countries there won't be any issues, but lots of countries do not recognize common law marriage. Further, even if you made your marriage legal, some countries will not allow a wife to sponsor a husband for a dependent/spouse visa (they will only allow the reverse situation).

I think you are thinking too much. Apply to the top tier schools and you will be fine - with your resume you should be aiming for only top tier schools anyway. It's the bottom feeder schools that can play the "you don't look foreign (western) enough" card. Most of the top tier schools won't play that game.

I disagree about Taiwan, you should look elsewhere in Asia because with a Taiwan passport you are not going to get an expat package in Taiwan and this can make a huge difference in your overall salary & benefits. Mainland China may be out as well for this reason though I'm not totally sure about that.

If you can pass off your "home of record" as the USA you will get a nice flight allowance from east Asia too.

The only real knock against you is lack of IB, unfortunately this will lock you out of some schools at this time.

Smokegreynblues wrote:

> A certain school dubbed as the best/top bilingual school in Thailand has
> shown some interest.

LOL, "top" bilingual school in Thailand. Oh I've heard that one before, still can't avoid laughing. I'm betting the school name starts with the first letter of the alphabet...

Do some research on Thai bilingual schools before jumping into anything. If it is run for-profit and managed by Thais (even if they have a puppet westerner in a pseudo-leadership role), and/or they are running a mishmash of Thai & international curriculum, run away and don't look back.

Perspective & empathy. Especially important given the demographics of most international school students.

What currency is listed in your contract? If you choose to get paid in a different currency than in your contract, it is highly likely you are going to get a screwed a bit (or a lot) on the conversion. The exception to this is if your contract is in USD, but you elect to get paid a % in local currency to your local bank account - that is quite normal.

Not worth taking a year off with the lost income when there are so many online options for an MA now.

You can find programs where you can get your MA in 3 semesters online, and there are also programs that will let you take an exam at the end rather than write a thesis.