Our large Shanghai school has made recruiting teachers already in China a priority and has started to do so already. Whether this will take the form of poaching some teachers is unknown.

My wife and I are of the age when you start seriously thinking about pulling the plug and calling it a career. Well the past 8 months have made us reconsider the plans we had at the end of 2019 and we are retiring. The past 8 months, and specifically the past 2 months, have made us realize there is more to life than working overseas. We have pulled our SA applications and are looking forward to exploring our corner of North America.

Illiane_Blues wrote:
> Addis Ababa?
>
> Just out of curiosity: what do you like about Addis Ababa?

A sense of adventure combined with a desire to return to Africa.

Vienna
Hong Kong
Singapore
Addis Ababa
Warsaw
London

My significant other and I have taught in the same school for 17 of the past 21 years without any conflicts. Based on other couples' experiences however, my one piece of advice is to let your spouse fight their own "battles", whether they be with parents, students or administration.

As the school year begins I find myself wishing that I had taken the year off.

The 20 hours of indoctrination, excuse me PD, might scare some off. Where we pull that amount of time from baffles me, perhaps Saturday PD here we come.

Yes, it is Shanghai American School that has let go or furloughed 22 teachers and told 12 new hires they were not needed this year. We have been told that the process to bring us back has been outlined, whether it's started or not is another thing. In the meantime here we sit trying to enjoy the summer.

A large American based school in Shanghai just informed 22 current staff they were A)being furloughed, or B)Let go and at the same time told 12 incoming teachers that they would no longer be needed. In addition, compensation for those stranded outside of China may be adjusted if their role is diminished.

Hmm, Geneva pays 308% better than Shanghai! That means I would be making roughly $400,000/year, I am definitely in the wrong city.

and in the end I am still a teacher in China currently sitting in my dining room in the USA because the borders are closed and the Chinese government won't let me back in. Of course there is also the issue of lack of flights and transit countries not allowing transit passengers.

Our board specifically addressed this issue in a letter to parents after numerous requests for refunds and said budgets were based on tuition and no refunds would be forthcoming, other expenses such as bus fees were refunded.

Teachers are not getting back into China right now, the door was closed no matter how exceptional you are.

I teach in Shanghai and I can confidently say 75-80% of my students are in Shanghai and more are returning every day as the situation evolves both in China and around the world. We may lose a small percentage of students but I don't see this current crisis having a lasting impact.

Even a VPN doesn't do it because not all students have VPNs and we have been told not to use Youtube. However, we work around that by downloading them and serving them from alternate sources.