I am an attorney as well as a teacher, and I would never sign a contract with terms as vague as you outlined. The contract that my husband and I signed has the shipping allowance specified, payment terms (i.e. amount in US dollars, 12 monthly installments, the step on the scale, etc). The purpose of a contract is to have both parties on the same page as to the relationship between the parties, and any ambiguity should be resolved.
It should be perfectly reasonable to write them and ask for them to insert specific language as to each of the benefits you will receive, number of working days in your contract, etc. If they balk at your request, you should think twice before signing.

I agree with wrldtrvlr123; I'd also love to hear what parts of the world PsyGuy considers worth living/visiting for more than a week. Not that it matters much, because I can tell that his priorities in exploring an area/culture differ from mine. Out of curiosity's sake, though, and to help me understand the lens through which he's coming from when making his evaluations.

I'm happy to see what you wrote about AISD, @shad. That's where we're headed, and it had everything we were looking for. That being said, we were more interested in developing countries like Senegal, Tanzania, Myanmar, etc rather than Switzerland/France, etc.

@threeplustwo, AISD is by all accounts a great community for the kids (we have three and our oldest is 11 so I hear your concerns about finding the right fit for her)--there are some incredible opportunities for the kids, including traveling to other countries for sports and a week-long service learning traveling as well. It also offers a package that is hard to beat for its employees. I know what we're in for as far as the poverty/pollution goes; I think I'll have the hardest time with the heat/humidity. We felt like we made a really nice connection with the outgoing director (John Gates will be interim director as they continue their hiring process this year) as well as the principals. Both the director and one of the principals have children, and they have been in Bangladesh for a number of years.

AISD has completed their hiring for the upcoming year, but keep them and other similar schools (we also really liked the idea of ISD in Dakar) in mind for the future. Good luck!

Congrats @twoteachers!! KL will be fantastic; we are probably building in a quick vacation there as we start our journey abroad. Happy to see others with kids nabbing positions. :)

It's promising that you like the folks from both schools; we only had three interviews but would have been very happy with any of them. Please continue to keep us posted; it is thrilling to be at a fair, isn't it? So inspiring!

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Here is my advice from my very limited experience. If you are new to the international scene, I can't underscore the importance of going to a fair enough. We made a last-minute decision to begin applying to schools at the start of January; I received no response/interest. We went to the UNI Fair, and meeting people in person is a much more effective way to show who you are--we had far more success and walked away with jobs.
Also, while I think it's important to be very professional, I think it's also important to show your personality. Administrators are looking for people that genuinely like kids and people they want to have as part of their community. Our followup emails and parts of the interview where we spoke more about ourselves as people and our interests seemed to have far more impact than what our resumes showed. Be yourself, and they'll connect with you more.

I think it really depends in what subject you teach--with an art specialty, there were 21 jobs posted at the fair, and only 4 we knew of ahead of time that we compatible with what they/we were looking for. We brought 15 resumes, and had plenty left over. I so made copies of transcripts, passports, teaching license, and had evidence showing we got fingerprinted...but no one asked us for any of it, even when we got an offer. HR is contacting us in a few weeks, so maybe that's when it will come into play?

I know everyone says not to have your heart set on a school, but of course I did. We ended up accepting a position in a totally different area, but it still had everything that was important to us (true international student body, wonderful package with support upon entry, yearly flight home) except for close proximity to the ocean. But that's what vacations are for, right? It's a good sign that you've already had Skype contact; we only had acknowledgement emails prior to the UNI Fair. Best of luck to you, and keep us posted!

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