Bilingual school experience versus home country experience

[WileyECoyote]

How much weight if any is given to bilingual school experience or would home country (US) experience always have more value? In the process of finishing a masters in education as well as an alternative licensing program while living abroad teaching English in Colombia. Would prefer bilingual school options here for first experience instead of trying to apply for a visa for my wife to move to the states for 2-3 years while I gain experience and likely have a low starting salary doing so. Any insight that could be provided would be great.

[sid]

Define bilingual school. There are various iterations which range from almost useless to top notch in recruiting scenarios.

[WileyECoyote]

Schools with local students that are offering several subject areas being taught in English. Some of these schools are using IB or US curriculum. At least that is my understanding of some of the schools here that define themselves as bilingual schools as opposed to international schools.

[chemteacher101]

There are many definitions for what an international school is. If a bilingual school is IB and many classes are taught in English, you can spin it as an international school; it has an international curriculum, foreign teachers and English as a medium of instruction... Many of these even use recruiters such as Search Associates. It would be debatable, but not definitely wrong, to dub a school like that as an international school... International schools come in many flavors; having an international curriculum with local students is one of them.

In Latin America, the use if bilingual is often preferred by schools and parents over "international" simply because of the context; that doesn't mean some cannot be considered as a type of international school.

[WileyECoyote]

Would the experience gained at those types of schools be as valuable or somewhat close to as valuable as home country experience? Trying to decide if we need to apply for a spouse visa and move back to the US for a few years or if it makes sense to stay in Colombia and get some teaching experience here. Wife is also changing careers and is in school here for a Colombian teaching license but attending school online which could be done anywhere I believe.

[chemteacher101]

Opinions may vary. In my view, teaching at a top "bilingual" school in Colombia with an IB curriculum will be seen as more valuable than that teaching at a public school in your home country (to an international school, that is). This is simply because you can say you taught at an international school in Colombia, particularly if the school is IB, IGCSE, etc... You would not dub it as a "bilingual school", but simply as an international school in Colombia with mostly local students. I would think the same for schools that offer the curriculum and diploma of another country (many Latin American countries have an official American school, a British School, a German School and a French Lycee)...

In short: f your aim is to continue working in international schools, a top international school in Colombia will look better on your CV than working for some regular public school in the US (or whatever your home country is).

What school do you work at in Colombia? I have a close friend who worked there for many years and can find out where your school is on the spectrum of bilingual schools down there if you'd like.

[WileyECoyote]

Not working at one yet. Still finishing my license and my Masters in Ed while teaching English for a company here and online private classes. Worked for 20 years in the nonprofit field focusing on education programs as well as law related and civic education, so I have spent a lot of time in the classroom (none of which would count for anything I know). Decided to make the transition after teaching English here for a while and working on the Masters. Plan is to get the license and graduate degree this summer and then begin looking at schools with an August start. We live outside of Medellin but open to moving to Bogota since thats where most international and bilingual schools are located.

[chemteacher101]

Sounds like a plan. The one thing I would say, is that since you are already in the country, most schools will treat you like a local hire and will not give you an expat salary. If you are on a local contract as a teacher, you will most likely get about 1/3 of the salary you would get as an expat... Also, in Latin America, local salaries vary a great deal between different schools. The highest paying schools in most LA countries are usually in the capital, so Bogota would be your best bet to get a decent salary.

Another suggestion would be to not wait until August to start looking for a job at a school there (if that is what you are after); sometimes good schools look for people in the middle of the academic year due to different circumstances, and if you are available, it might give you a chance to get into a good school. Do keep in mind that not all IB schools are the same; there are some rather dodgy IB schools in LA, so do your homework in terms of which ones have a good reputation.

[WileyECoyote]

Thanks. I registered for the UNI fair which has 80 schools attending including 1 from Colombia, another from Ecuador, and a number from Mexico along with Venezuela. Will see what happens and continue to look at building skills and credentials while I go.

[PsyGuy]

It depends more how you spin it than what it is. If your bilingual IS:
1) Runs its program weekdays, morning to afternoon
2) You teach an academic subject
3) There are other (white) expat ITs around you on the faculty
You can reasonably call it an IS.

The value would depend on the DS if its a private/independent or parochial DS than yes that has more value than a public title I DS that has its own SWAT team and you get called 20 curse words in the first hour and then the parents do the same to you over the phone. I could go on. Essentially, private/independent DSs are more alike ISs in the sense that they may be ISs.

I concur with @chemteacher101, you are more likely to get an LH than an OSH package.