Then no i got nothing for you. I havent found a summer program that pays much better then language school wages (and almost all of them are summer language programs).

6 months per year, i wonder if there is a curve to that? I can see if youve been gone 2 years and it taking a year to acclimate, but does it really take 5 years if youve been gone a decade? If youve been gone 2 decades does it really take a decade? Ive got to think that moving back home, would be just like your first trip moving overseas, it takes 6 months to get settled, and after 2 years you have friends, and know your way around the land. I cant really think of an overseas post that would take 5 years to get acclimated (the deeper intricacies of japanese culture exempted).

Define "decent"?

When Im not logged in the time is set to GMT (I dont know what the "default" time is if your in the USA?), once I log in it switches to my time zone which is GMT+2.

When your reading the forum your seeing post times reflected based on your own time zone. I'm 5/6 hours ahead of the east coast (depending on DST). So what looks like 1am to you is already morning for me.

Was reading the going home thread, and wanted to ask what newbies and veterans miss most about where they are from originally?

I have a couple issues with returning home:

1) Ive been out of the public school system so long now, and havent kept up on changes in laws regarding curriculum, special ed, assessment, for me going back would almost be like going back as a new teacher again.

2) My classroom management skills havent really been needed. Id maybe have one problem a month tops. My kids in the past have all benn motivated to learn. Not that i couldnt find that back in the USA but a public school would be tough.

3) Ive gotten use to the lifestyle and the money. I dont have a house of my own back in the sattes, and dont even have a car. When i think about registering it, and trying to explain to an insurance agent, why I havent carried liability insurance for 5 years thats not a conversation i want to have. Public schools are paying right around $50K a year and private schools around $35K a year, thats a pretty big cut once you start factoring in housing allowances, etc.

4) The respect and feeling like im part of a noble profession would vanish. Being an educator is values where Ive been, the USA doesnt respect the profession anymore. Attitudes towards teachers back in the states are toxic.

5) I do like the idea of being closer to my family, I havent had thanksgiving dinner with my family in almost a decade, and its been years since I spent Christmas. That would be nice. I also miss mass back home, that would be nice to get back into doing.
Voting would be easier, but I wouldnt miss actually having to do my taxes anymore. If your a big sports fan (outside football, sorry soccer), I could see how making due with televised games when you can would get boring. Its nothing like sitting in the stands at an actual game.

Things I miss about the States, sounds like a new thread

The last two schools (my current one included) had great PYP programs. they were the strongest part of the overall school curriculum. In both schools the success of the programs, rested almost entirely on having experienced veteran PYP trained teachers, who simply had been doing it for years. Neither school hired very many (one maybe 2 tops) new inexperienced PYP teachers, and when my previous school hired 2 new PYP teachers, those two teachers co taught a single classroom, and were heavily mentored.

I have been in schools that have "under developed" PYP programs, they arent bad so much as they just resemble american/european classrooms. Integrated learning isnt a foreign concept outside of PYP, but its not an all encompassing approach either.

PYP coordinators, really dont have anything too do classroom/curriculum wise as long as they have strong teachers. PYP really requires organization, and thinking many moves in advance.

They mainly work with university students and new graduates, and primarily the public school system (they specialize in internships). Most of their positions are all in low paying schools, and in undesirable locations (like the ME). They are legit, but they cant really do anything special for you, that a real teacher cant do themselves. There are lot of jobs in the ME practically all year. Lastly, they arent "free". If your not paying them the school is, which means that your still paying them.

I agree with the problem of "expired" vacancies, were the vacancy appears to stay up forever. Id suggested that vacancies have an automatic expiration date, that ould need to be renewed if it was still open. That will never happen though, because the schools are the real clients not the candidates.

Winters are generally mild, they feel more like late fall in the USA. It almost never freezes, being so close to the coast insulates them from extreme temperature conditions.

The good salary question is a trick question. Istanbul is a deceptively expensive city, and none of the school offer a truly great salary.

If your a real international teacher you can do a lot better. If your more interested in just going to Japan for whatever reason and cant get a real job, Aeon, is the best of the big three (Aeon, GEOS, and NOVA). Its a lot of teaching contract hours, but little preparation, and while the salary is the minimum 250KÂ¥ a month you need to really live of off, its about on par with the amount of work you do. Theres nothing to take home with you, so when you punch out for the day your down.

If you had nothing else to do, and it was JUST for the summer, and you had somewhere better to go at the end of summer it might be bearable. Summer programs arent like the traditional school year, but youd really have to have nothing better to do.

There was a pretty complete post on this back in January that you may want to look at, as it addresses the issue pretty well.

http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... ight=skype

So was today International Teacher Skip day and I didnt get the memo? Usually i log on in the morning post some responses, then by the time bedtime comes around, someone else has posted something and the circle of life repeats itself?
I ask because if today was a Skip Day, and i didnt get forwarded the memo thats not cool.