In Shanghai, many schools I've heard (maybe they all have; I just know about 5 of them have from friends) have followed the guidelines of the local government and students won't be back on campus until Feb 17th. I'd guess they could push that back if needed.

As far as teachers reporting to work, that has varied. Some won't have teachers back until Feb 17th. I've heard of one that wants their teachers back in Shanghai by Feb 3rd when school was going to start up, and another that told teachers to return by Feb 10th.

There is a lot of things up in the air. I have friends in a southern Chinese city who were also told to be back in the city by Feb 3rd, though school has been cancelled until Feb 17th.

China feels a lot like it did during the SARS outbreak. This time the problem was made worse by the city government in Wuhan this time, though I think the national government in Beijing is working to share information and make important decisions. The national government post-SARS has generally been effective as bird flus, swine flus, MERS, etc have impacted China to varying degrees.

I do think if you have another 2 - 3 years of teaching secondary math then you can find options to get into IB.

I don't think the IB thing is as much of a Catch-22 as people make it out to be. Both my old school (Tier 2) and my current school (Tier 1) take experienced teachers and give them the option of teaching IB. Yes, once you have the experience you're more competitive, but there are places that give people the chance.

@dannydecha,

That's too bad that the program director isn't being flexible. There is a reason there is a shortage of credentialed school counselors. I had to navigate some issues similar to what you're dealing with but I was in the US so it was easier, so I was able to sort things out.

This is one of the reasons you can get good jobs without a credential in school counseling. If you end up not being able to get a credential, I think it would be important to note this in future job applications. While it won't matter at the places where it's a government requirement for a visa, at other places it could make a difference.

I hope you can get figure out a way to get the credential through an alternate route. Good luck.

Eion

Neither of these schools are long-term prospects if you're hoping to climb the ladder of in terms of pay or better schools, you probably don't want to stay more than 3 years at either of the places you describe. Once you have a couple more years under your belt, you should be able to move to a better place with IB or AP teaching options if you have a degree in math and can teach more advanced classes.

I think the trade off is less the possibility of getting to teach 1 student AP calculus, and more about the relative stability of the quality place versus a Chinese-run school. If you end up getting that salary at the bilingual that's great. I've seen and heard of things changing quickly at Chinese-run schools for little to no-reason or because enrollment isn't there. I'm wary of places that are Chinese-run as a result, though I've also had colleagues be happy for short stints at those types of places. But on the other hand recruiters are not so enamored at quality places either. I don't think it will help your CV that much.

Either can be a gateway to something better, but you're probably looking at 3 years to get to that place. What does help you bridge to other and better schools is having former colleagues vouch for you when they move onto other places. If you have a good reputation with peers who move on, they'll be important along with good experience, cover letters, and interviews. Network with people you meet at other schools in your city or those people you meet when doing training. This frustrates some people, but it's important nonetheless.

Good luck.

Eion

@dannydecha,

Are you in a city that may have other US certified school counselors? Maybe your program would let someone at a nearby school supervise you even while you work somewhere else? It's worth asking. Often there are city-wide or country-wide networks of international counselors that help support each other. I find that's been the case in my current city and my last city. It's worth asking, and then trying to track down someone to help if your program and your school would allow it.

For some principals the credential may ensure you are well trained, but I think if you have a master's for most principals it's a vehicle for a visa. There are some countries (Singapore is one) that you wouldn't be able to get a visa without a credential. I don't know how wide spread an issue that is, but it's best for flexibility and future changes in law that can happen to maintain one. For years it wasn't needed in Singapore and then they changed the laws and it was needed.

I know people working as school counselors with counseling training, but no credential. And I know other people like you that have been hired who are part way through the training. If they have good experience they're going to be marketable, except at places you need the credential for the visa.

Good luck.

The thing I'd find frustrating about working in Ecuador is the number of contact days. They work long school years for those low salaries. It's government mandated (something that happened about 8 years ago or so).

Eion

AISG people pay taxes on their earnings. They used to give a stipend for housing, but now at least for new people they provide housing. But I was talking to someone working there who is planning on moving out of the provided housing and using it to rent a place themselves. Several years back the salary scales were increased when the RMB was revalued. I think a lot of schools like AISG in China are re-evaluating their pay scales with the RMB re-evaluation. I know my school is considering it.

My friend who works there told me they switched up they salary scale a year (maybe it was two) ago with the intent to be more competitive with other APAC schools who they see as peer institutions. It was better for many people and more incoming people, but there were aspects of the health care that changed which were not so good for my friend's family.

You used to be able to keep money that was allocated for housing that you didn't spend. I'm not sure if that's still the case, but you would have to pay the 25% tax the housing stipend above what you spent. You could reduce the tax liability by collecting food fapiao (official receipts spent at restaurants). There were people who were earning through not spending their whole housing stipend.

Eion

Political science isn't a position I've seen in my region in East Asia. I have one former colleague teaching an IB politics course in South America and another friend teaching the same course in South Asia, so maybe it's more useful in other regions. Geography as a subject seems more common in British schools than in US patterned schools.

English is widely taught as well, but lots of potential teachers. It may give some flexibility when a school has to split one of their teachers between two departments so it's probably better than being a single subject teacher though no as useful as the other subjects I mentioned before.

Eion

As long as you have a credential (which for some countries is mandatory), I don't think it should be a barrier having parochial school experience. You could also look at independent schools, which California has a number of depending on where you're living. There is a regional headhunting firm CalWest that's kind of does a similar thing to ISS and Search Associates does abroad. Carney Sandoe does it nationally, but they should also post a lot of jobs at California independent schools.

What may be more important is how closely the curriculum you teach links with the curriculum that is being taught at the schools you apply to (IB, AP, Common Core, etc).

If History is your teaching subject, it's not a high need position so competition is tougher than some other subjects. Experience teaching economics and psychology (maybe business) as well as history could help your marketability if you're wanting to teach high school. Some middle schools are teaching language arts these days by combining social studies with English literature. The most valuable thing would probably be IB curriculum experience, though AP subjects can also help you.

Good luck.

Eion

I've taken a dog and a cat overseas and I have a number of colleagues who have as well. @Thames Pirate covered most of what you need to consider already.

A lot of it will be country specific, and some may depend on where you're bringing the dog from and if it's an area that has rabies. Some island countries may not allow importation at all or have highly restrictive quarantine, so if you're taking the dog you could be limited by the countries you consider.

From what I've seen, the bigger the dog (crate) the more it will cost you. Policies vary substantially from airline to airline too. Just because one airline might not work, it doesn't mean other airlines won't work or that they may be way less expensive. So it can be worth to call around, and unfortunately at times it may be hard to find airline people who know their own companies policies.

One issue is that airport often limit animals on planes if the temperature taking off is too hot/cold or the landing location is too hot/cold. Usually since most schools are on a Aug - June schedule it's a heat issue in the northern hemisphere or in the tropics. So you may want to be careful with times and locations you take off and land.

Quite a lot of my colleagues have dogs and cats. It's generally not an issue for marketability. For marketability, your trailing spouse and child are likely to be an issue. In the end it will depend on how badly they need someone as you'll be relatively expensive. The ability to teach upper level math and experience with AP Calculus, Honors Pre-Calculus, and IB Math High Level would help. You help yourself by having experience and interest in helping with after school activities and clubs regardless of what you teach. So coaching, advising debate/MUN/student council, etc can help you land a decent job.

Good luck.

Eion

In regards to arguing with PsyGuy, I think George Bernard Shaw's quotation is very applicable.

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

Block him from your view and then you only say the bs from him when it's quoted by others.

As for the offer, it looks quite good. Savings potential should be very good.

Eion

My impression from talking with lots of folks who have worked at both British and American schools overseas has been that as a secondary school teacher you tend to get more contact hours and have more preps in British system schools. Again, this probably varies from school to school, but I've heard it from enough sources that I'm think it may be a trend.

Eion

It doesn't hurt to pursue it and see what happens. Teaching grade 12 students would be the right age group for what you want to do. The question really becomes is what level of math can you teach well. If other high school math courses opened up the following year teaching algebra or calculus, would you be able to step in. If you're only teaching statistics that is less useful transferring into other system's curriculum. AP statistics is at best an elective class in US style curriculum. I haven't seen a clear breakdown of what math is taught in the new IB curriculum. Statistics will be a part of all of them, but I suspect it will be a bigger part in the IB Math Applications curriculum. Even then, I don't know how big.

I read back through some of your previous posts. You're right that you need some teaching experience and your options will be limited to start. You need 2 - 3 years of teaching experience before you can get to the next rung on the ladder. For what it's worth, I would the cities in order of where I'd want to live like this Hangzhou > Qingdao > Dongguan for day-to-day quality. Hangzhou and Qingdao have more outdoors stuff. Hangzhou and Dongguan have better access to bigger, more international cities (Shanghai for Hangzhou, Shenzhen/Hong Kong for Dongguan) for weekend trips.

Wherever you go, do get involved in some after school activities (coaching, running math clubs, etc) so you can be more competitive for your next job.

Good luck.

Eion

Hey Indogal,

I have many colleagues with trailing spouses. A trailing spouse with no kids isn't a huge issue at most schools. Your spouse won't be taking a classroom space the way a child might, which would be much more expensive for the school.

Work visas for your spouse will depend on a number of factors related to what he can do and what passport he holds. Without knowing what he'd look to do and what passport he has it's impossible to say.

Generally, trailing spouses increase the benefits that a school provides. This may include bigger housing (or allowance), flights from/to your home country for you both, health insurance, covering visa cost (generally not a visa that he can work on). Better schools will provide those to both of you, but some won't.

Better schools in East Asia and the Middle East, though in the ME there may be more issues with you sponsoring your husband on a dependent visa from what I've heard. Someone with real knowledge about this (ie, so someone other than PsyGuy) can weigh in.

Western Europe would be tough if he isn't working. South America may provide a good life style and you'd probably have a good quality of life there, but the take home isn't so good at the majority of schools in the region.

Some couples deal with it a lot better than others. A lot of the people I know in this situation end up doing supply/substitute teaching and/or coaching at the school. Some have found other jobs. Tutoring students can be lucrative if your spouse has backgrounds where he can tutor content subjects. Teaching English jobs are easy to find in much of East Asia.

I'd say your husband would want to have a plan of what he'd do. A lot will depend on the country/region. I find the couples in this situation either have plans to be overseas for limited periods, the spouse has a career that he can work any where (mostly online), or the husband is older and has already retired.

Good luck.

Eion

@kellysensei,

There are 33 cities in China with subway systems by my count. It's pretty mind-blowing how fast they're growing too. I've lived in two major Chinese cities and been to a lot of others on vacation. I try to ride subways in different places I've been to in China. I will say that sometimes the subways are a big time saver, sometimes taxis are great options (Didi makes it very easy to use places I've lived and traveled to and it's relatively cheap compared to most countries), and frankly buses can be quite accessible too.

One of the other major quality of life improvements that's happened in a fairly recent period is buying nearly everything by delivery. From groceries, to alcohol, to appliances, to clothing, to household necessities, etc, makes the hassle of navigating things much, much easier. If someone hasn't lived here in the past 4 - 5 years, they may not realize how accessible using these things has become compared to what it had been.

Macau is pretty charming. I think living there you'd quickly learn to go to Hong Kong or mainland to access more, but it's easy to do. I've had friends live in Zhuhai and appreciate it. Xiamen is a great southern, beach city with great climate. I have a former colleague working at an international school there. Guangzhou is very conveniently located with several decent options to get IB experience (after the best international school, it drops down in quality a bit but several places to get experience with IB or AP).

Generally speaking outside of Hong Kong, you'll get a few decent tier 2 schools and lots of bilingual schools for Chinese and several for-profits. The bilingual schools and for-profits are not generally places where people stay too long, but I think for 2 - 4 years, they can be decent and a good way to get experience in general and/or IB/AP/A level experience.

Dalian's winter air quality gets pretty bad and it's very cold. I've traveled there and I really liked it for the weeks I spent there in the summer, but I'd be cautious about the winter when they burn coal.

Chinese people love kids, so that's in your favor. I think Southern Chinese are also more open in some ways than the Northern Chinese. I think it's easier to engage initially, but when you make a Northern Chinese friend it's a long-term friend.

The schools where my friends work at have VPN, which usually work. At times during heavily sensitive anniversaries or political events even those may have issues. Generally, they start working again once the period of time that the government was concerned about ends.

It's possible to find Western restaurants in all the cities discussed. Guangzhou and Shenzhen will have more. The quality will vary. Pizza isn't always what you expect it to be. You'll pay more for Western food in general.

Just to discuss your qualifications, some schools (better ones) will want to see you have credentials as a teacher beyond a MA in ESL. It wasn't clear from your post if you have that or what level your experience is with. Having 3 dependents (husband, two kids) will make you expensive. Some places employee foreign tech people as department heads, so if he was able/willing to work for the school that is likely to make you much more marketable as that would mean two working parents with two dependents which is much more economical for the school.

Good luck.

Eion