Dear ISR,

I have been a paying customer for 5 years. That means that I have paid $150 to use your site. However, in those five years there has not been any update to your user interface, at least that I can recall. Surely there are funds available to do so as the operation of this site has a clear low overhead.

I send this with all good intentions because I use the site frequently, especially with my mobile device, and would appreciate updates that are compatible with new technology.

Thank you very much.

Dredge

@IAMBOG - Of course the question is now where are you going?

@psyguy... It's almost impossible to do anything but the minimum here.

@chilagringa... It is such an easy problem to solve from an administrative perspective. All they have to do is just hold the students accountable. However, then the administration isn't 'cool' anymore.

Here is a true story:

During one of my prep periods the other day, I was walking to make some copies. There were two administrators hanging out in a common area on the way talking when one of my senior students walked by. One administrator puts an arm around the other administrator moving her hand up and down for my student to take assessment and says to my student, 'Oye *name of student*, quien es mas flaca?' I witnessed the whole thing and they definitely were not shy about it.

If this is the type of behavior that is acceptable by administration, we teachers have no hope in the classroom.

@global__nomad. You must have worked at one of my schools, except that the administrators are former students, who are now current parents..... Ahhhhh, stop the insanity.

I agree that they care about the number they receive for their grade, but few care how that number is achieved. Copying and cheating is rampant on assignments, then 75% fail the tests as if they were never in the class. I promise, I truly am not bitter. It's just what I have seen at two different SA schools in two different countries and conferred by numerous colleagues.

South American 'international' schools are GENERALLY:

1. Not international
2. Homogeneous in student body
3. Not English immersion (I have never heard to students willingly, or purposely, speak English to each other
4. Focused on social gatherings, appearance, social status, materialistic
5. Not staffed with complete international staff, often less than 50%, often in middle management or above
6. Divisive between local and foreign hires
7. Like country clubs for rich

All of this mirrors how the students generally are:

1. Friendly, but whiney and complainy all the time about everything
2. Rasict, classist, sexist, entitled (you could view these things as just cultural differences if you want)
3. Poor logical skills, maths skills and science skills (math and science are negotiable here)
4. Super chatty, can be good or bad thing
5. Exclusive to everywhere they go in the city
6. Generally, lower English skills, but some are exceptional because they love US pop culture
7. Have parents who can be bullies because they went to the school, as well as their parents, their grandparents, so they feel entitled
8. LOVE TO festejar and are not shy about bragging, in Spanish of course, about their weekend binge drinking around teachers
9. Generally LOVE their school and traditions
10. Put academics as second to all other functions of the school

THESE ARE gross generalizations and I can't speak for students in the more developed SA countries, but I believe my gringo colleagues would all agree with what I stated. You have to be really flexible and at the same time self-assured to enjoy teaching here. It can be a love-hate.

Well, Shadowjack, so far I like what you have to say. I will be looking in the fall if you can PM me more info. On your other point, maybe your school should go a step further and bring a teacher to the recruitment fairs. I used to be admin and from that point of view, that's what I would do.

Try TES, or find someone with a Search account that will let you look at the openings. There are lots.

Thanks... So it's not possible, or just not likely, or not worth it for either .? What is FINCEN? Financial incentive... just made that up.

Hello All,

Am I wrong to assume that the schools in Brunei will not hire United States citizens? It seems they prefer every other English speaking nationality... If I am wrong, can someone elaborate, please.

Thank you very much.

D

I helped start and was the head of a PBL Charter school for three years in the States. My take is that there are many different methods to project based learning. I found that what you can do with 6th graders and what you can do with 12th graders is completely opposite. Younger students need months of coaching to even begin to design and direct a project. I read something somewhere that said it takes one month of PBL instruction for every year of traditional education for students to be truly successful, however I feel it depends on how much a student has already developed independent learning skills. For me, that was truly the life skill that we were teaching.

That being said, as we are all educators we know that differentiation is necessary. PBL would claim that because the ideas come from the students, they are more motivated to learn at a deeper level. I did not see much evidence of this. Most, if not all students who were successful at my school were already independent learners and thinkers who basically did not like being told what to do. It is not for everyone, just like lectures are not for everyone, worksheets are not for everyone, tests are not for everyone. If I was a parent who knew that my child was independently driven, I would not hesitate to send my kid to a PBL school. The problem is, you have many parents who have children who haven't been successful elsewhere so they try the PBL schools and then those kids are not successful there either. These kids abuse the 'free' time and do not produce much, just like they would anywhere at that point in their lives. Time can change many a thing.

I had the same issue applying this year, but I am curious about how you had credentials from 4 different countries. My issue was with my State certifications in the US. In one State I had multiple certifications, which expired. In another, I am certified in only one general subject area, which is still current. I put on my resume both, but listed the expired ones as 'previous' and the other one as 'current'. Got the job I wanted in the area that had expired. Truly, it is only expired because the State has ridiculous renewing requirements that seem impossible to renew from abroad.

As a person who hires teachers, this would not be a problem at all. Just send the new one.

If you don't want to go through an agency, try the TES website. Every year, all year, there are lots of jobs posted for Europe.