Has anyone had any experience (positive or negative) with living or working in Nicaragua? Is an IT salary generally enough for a single person to live comfortably and save? From what I've read, it sounds like a relatively safe country compared to some of it's neighbors but it's hard to tell what the quality of the schools there are like (without naming any names).

I'm curious about this too. My thought was to try to buy a place in or near a college town that I could rent (furnished) to students during the academic year and then live in it myself during the summer and maybe even winter break if it's possible to write that into the lease. I don't know much about being a landlord and obviously there is a big potential for headaches, but it sounds like a good plan to me in theory. Has anyone else tried doing something like that?

I don't have a lot of details about these programs and I couldn't speak to their quality, but the degree names sound right up your alley and the price can't be beat. And it's in Spain! I know they are designed for auxiliares, but I don't know if you actually have to be an auxiliar to enroll.

http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/aca ... ach-learn/

I've looked at a lot of IS calendars, mostly because I'm interested in schools that have a break calendar that closely matches the school calendar that my family would have back in the States. I can only think of one school that had days built into the calendar as make-up days for when school could be cancelled for weather or other unforeseen circumstances. In the U.S., we ALWAYS make up the days we miss even if it means shortening summer break. Is that not a common practice in ISs or do they just not denote it on their calendars? I'm interested in some schools in the Philippines, but I know there will be typhoons and floods that could cause school to be cancelled. I don't want to sign on to a school thinking their calendar matches my family back home only to find that I end up having to make up weather days late into the summer. In general, do most ISs expect the days to be make up at the end of the year or are snow/flood/weather days just days off?

At what point in the hiring process (if at all) is it appropriate to ask a recruiter to be put in contact with a current teacher to get a feel for what it's like to work at a particular school? It seems like I've read somewhere in the forums that you can sometimes do that. Might it be safer to state the reason for wanting to contact a current teacher is to get a feel for some aspect not related to the quality of the school (such as concern about what life outside of school would be like for your kids or how possible it would be to make ends meet given a specific financial situation you are in)?

Did the reviews on paid side of ISR raise any red flags? If the school is for-profit, I would be especially concerned. Sure, what they write on their Search form is no promise. At worst, they were intentionally trying to mislead you and it is disingenuous. At best, it is an oversight which could be an indication of a poorly organized school to begin with. You should definitely ask them why there is such a discrepancy and if you're not satisfied with their answer, tell them no and take the other job.

I think you would find it easier than you might anticipate to get a job in the US, whether it be in ESL or history, especially if you are willing to consider all the states, charter/public/private schools, etc. I realize that's not your goal right now and you're right that teaching in a terrible charter school is no fun, but PG is right about having to wade through the mud for a few years to get to where you really want to be. Don't be fooled into thinking you can't get hired over Skype for a DE job or that they will be unimpressed by your experience. There will be principals in the US who know nothing of IE and have not been trained to think that language school experience shouldn't count for anything (though it likely wouldn't count as years of experience on the pay ladder). There will be some who actually think your ESL experience abroad is "really neat" and may want to hire you just because of it. Everyone in IE and on this forum is well-traveled and has a wealth of diverse experiences in education, so they are much harder to impress. That's simply not the case in the majority of DE schools. People who spent a month teaching English in South Korea last summer might be a dime a dozen in IE, but that's not something most DE principals see on an average résumé. As far as not being certified in ESL, I think you could get hired at a DE school with the understanding that you would take the test and get your paperwork in order before school starts (or even shortly after school starts). Again, the fact that you have a lot of ESL experience will give them confidence that you know what you are doing even though you aren't licensed in ESL yet. You would just need to do your research into which states allow you to add additional subjects to your license by testing. The Master's would probably hinder you more in DE than IE in terms of making yourself too expensive. Many DE schools prefer to hire someone with 0 experience and no Master's to save money. What you have right now is "free experience" because you have been working/teaching for several years but they don't have to pay you for it. I could be wrong about this, but it seems like some ISs value having a high percentage of teachers with a Master's to use as a marketing tool. I've seen several IS websites that advertise that xx% of their teachers have a Master's. DE public schools don't care about you having a Master's because they don't need to impress the parents of their student body in the same way ISs do.

If I were you, I would wait until you're ready to move back to the US to start your Master's. Land your DE job first, and then start the Master's in ESL. Teach for two years, complete your Master's during those same two years, and then you will be ready to enter the IE recruitment process as a much stronger candidate. Of course there's no harm in continuing to apply to ISs between now and then. You never know what might happen, but I think you realize that getting a job at an IS is going to be a long shot until you get your 2 years of (qualifying) experience. Even then your options may be pretty limited just by the nature of your subject area(s) being in low demand.

I think part of the problem is that you don't technically have two years of classroom teaching experience. As I'm sure you know, experience at a language school (even if it's well-known) doesn't count for much around here. Maybe consider teaching ESL full time at a public or private school in the US for two years. It shouldn't be hard to find a job in the US, especially if you're willing to consider all 50 states. You could probably even do Teach For America or a similar program and get your Master's paid for. If you did that while you got your M.Ed., you would have two years of experience and certification in two subject areas. That could be valuable to a smaller IS that doesn't have the enrollment to support hiring a full-time teacher in only history or only ESL. It probably won't be a Tier 1 school, but it might get you in the door somewhere and help you build your experience even more.

Political situation aside, what would you say are the main differences one would notice on a day-to-day basis between living in these three places? I tend to think of Hong Kong and Taiwan as being more modern and "easier" places to live, but I have no specific examples to back that up.

What advice would you give to someone whose primary certification and area with the most experience is English or elementary (a more competitive position due to the greater number of qualified candidates) but who is also licensed and minimally experienced in teaching a subject like math or science (a more difficult to fill position)?

Congrats, @beanie! It sounds like you've had more success than most. I know you said it's your first go at international teaching, but do you have a great deal of experience in your home country that you feel made you marketable or was it just good fortune that you were able to land at school you felt was out of your league? I'm not recruiting this year, but I also plan to be quite picky so seeing people who say they've applied to 50 schools and have not gotten anything is concerning. I've studied a lot of schools and I would be hard pressed to find that many that I would even be willing to work at, let alone for ones that would actually have a position for me.

Thanks for all the info. Do you have any experience with the Transmetro? The videos I have watched make it look really safe, but of course that's to be expected. Do you have any recommendations for areas of the city that are more safe than others? Are there any suburbs or small towns within the driving distance that would be acceptable to live in? I'm really interested in improving my Spanish, but it sounds like it's difficult to have much of a life outside of school or interaction with the locals. Did you know Spanish or did you find opportunities to learn/practice?

Was the school in zone 16 too? I would worry about having to commute through the less safe areas. Did you own a car? I've read that auto theft is an issue as well, but public transportation is also extremely dangerous. I guess the only option is taxi, which seems risky as well. I can see where it could be pretty isolating. Were there any teachers that tried commuting from Antigua or is it too far? I know it's somewhat close to the city, but I've been there and felt perfectly safe.

I really love Guatemala and I've been trying to convince myself for a long time that the safety issues aren't that big of a deal. For those who have lived in Guatemala City, do you feel like choosing your housing very carefully, sticking to the "safer" zones (10, 14, 15, 16?), avoiding being out after night in the city, etc. reduce the risk enough to not be living in constant fear? Do you have any safety tips aside from the obvious things like not flashing your valuables or walking along at night? I don't have kids, so it's really only myself that I have to worry about. I feel like pickpocketing or even mugging I could deal with, but I'm not willing to risk my life to move there. I have visited Guatemala several times without incident, but I didn't spend any amount of time in the city.

@AnotherIT - When your apartment was robbed by the security guards, were you living in housing provided by the school or was it an apartment you found on your own? I was thinking that living in a high-rise would be reasonably safe.

I definitely see @sid's perspective on that one. I hadn't considered that the parent community having access to that info could lead to a lot of problems - both from the side of using it as an excuse to complain about why their tuition is too high and also from the side of superiority. Some parents (and students) at international schools probably feel they are above having to take orders from someone who only makes X dollars per year.