Video Highlight

Video Highlight: Australian International School – Sharjah (An international school in the United Arab Emirates)

September 17, 2017

There are a few international schools to work at in United Arab Emirates!  How do these schools stand out from each other?

Australian International School – Sharjah

How many international schools have done a sky-view overview of their school campus using a drone?  Australian International School – Sharjah has! 

Having an opportunity to see an aerial view of an international school really gives you a great idea of what life will be like in and around your future international school. Maybe all schools should consider doing this and then make sure to share that video when they are interviewing people to work with them.

The sunset scene of this video is truly beautiful, and look at all those beautiful trees on the campus!

Hopefully you are not actually leaving school at this time (assuming the sunset stays pretty similar throughout the year at around 18h or so), but if you were to, then it would indeed be a nice ride home.

This video is reminiscent of a blog series we have called, “The Journey to School.” In this blog series we get firsthand accounts of what it is like to travel both to and from various international schools from around the world.

Living in the Middle East does sound very enticing. For one, the sun will most likely be out almost every day of the year. The summer will be quite hot, but the winter won’t be too cool. It is important to note though that there appears to be some overcast can be see in the video, and it might be because of pollution and not clouds!

However, desert life can indeed be quite nice for many of us. The adventures of exploring the desert and its sand dunes are not too far away. Many of city’s buildings are constructed using traditional Arabic architecture with wind towers and finishes in colors reflective of the nearby desert and sea.

There are also lots of beaches, theme parks and movie theaters in nearby Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Currently on www.internationalschoolcommunity.com we have 76 international schools listed in United Arab Emirates.  Here are a just a few of them (the number of total comments and information that have been submitted for each school is listed to the right of the link):

• Al Mizhar American Academy (Dubai) – 54 Comments
• Abu Dhabi International Private School (Abu Dhabi) – 43 Comments
• American International School (Abu Dhabi) (Abu Dhabi) – 68 Comments
• American School of Dubai (Dubai) – 98 Comments
• Jumeira Baccalaureate School (Dubai) – 104 Comments
• Raffles International School (South) (Dubai) – 59 Comments
• RAK Academy (Ras Al Khaimah) – 56 Comments

If you know about what it is like working at one of these international schools in United Arab Emirates, log-on today and submit your own comments and information.  Become a Mayor of one of these schools and you will receive unlimited premium access to International School Community for free!

Video Highlight

How to Get an International School Teaching Job (Youtube Video Highlight)

June 11, 2016

We recently ran into this guy who made a video series on how to get an international school teaching job; based on his experiences.

In the first video he talks about what type of qualifications that you need. He also discusses the different types of schools like non-profit and for-profit international schools.

The second video talks about how people go about finding these jobs. One way is to use one of the two big recruitment agencies: ISS and Search Associates.  He also refers to some review websites, though International School Community is unfortunately not mentioned!

In the last video, he discusses the timeline that people must follow to be the most prepared when recruiting. He mentions that the recruitment process really starts in September and can go all the way up to July.

Part 4 of his video series talks about the tips for getting an international school teaching job. One recommendation he mentions is to be flexible when job searching. Another recommendation is to keep an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the information you are receiving from each school.

If you have a video that you would like highlighted on our blog. Email us here.

Video Highlight

Video Highlight: The British Schools – Montevideo (An international school in Uruguay)

May 7, 2015

There are a few international schools to work at in Montevideo!  How do these schools stand out from each other?

The British Schools – Montevideo

How many international schools can boast about being over 100 years old?  According to the international schools listed on our website, there are 33 international schools with a founding year of before 1900.

So how great this school in Uruguay put together a tribute video to the history of their school.

Looking at all the old pictures really gives a good glimpse into their past students, the past school grounds, and the past staff that has worked there over the years.

It is hard to imagine what life as an international school teacher was like back then.  How did that school find the teachers to work there?  Were they hired locally or from abroad? Did they move their stuff and themselves by ship from the USA or England (or ???)?

In parts of the video, it seems like there was maybe a separation being the boys and girls at one point. It could be that they had different sections of the school for different genders.  Also, it appears as if sports and competitions are/were an important part of this school’s programme.

Looking at all the people in the video, it reminds us that working at an international school is truly working as part of a family.  And not just the current family, but the past family too. If you are lucky to get a job at an international school, you are a part of that school’s history forever.  It is great how an international school starts something one year, and then it continues year after year becoming a tradition; which makes each international school a unique and interesting place to work.

Currently on www.internationalschoolcommunity.com we have 93 international schools listed in South America.  Here are a just a few of them (the number of comments and information that have been submitted for each school is listed to the right of the link):

• Colegio Panamericano (Bucaramanga, Colombia) – 34 Comments
• Colegio Granadino Manizales (Manizales, Colombia) – 43 Comments
• Colegio Menor San Francisco de Quito (Quito, Ecuador) – 31 Comments
• American School of Asuncion (Asuncion, Paraguay) – 58 Comments
• Uruguayan American School (Montevideo, Uruguay) – 32 Comments
• Colegio International de Carabobo (Carabobo, Venezuela) – 21 Comments
• Escuela Las Morochas (Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela) – 28 Comments

If you know about what it is like working at one of these international schools in South America, log-on today and submit your own comments and information.  Become a Mayor of one of these schools and you will receive unlimited premium access to International School Community for free!

Video Highlight

Sell Your Crap. Pay Off Your Debt. Do What You Love.

April 12, 2015

TED talks are pretty awesome. This one caught our attention because it is reminiscent of the life of an international school teacher.

Living in your home country, sometimes you can get caught up in materialism. You want to get your own big house. You want to get your own nice car. You want your own cool, huge television in your living room…along with all the other things in and around your house.

After “buying” all of those things, though, you might find yourself in some debt, like the guy in the TED talk. Living your life in debt, the credit card companies and banks are taking away a bit or most of your freedom.  Not the best way to live your life.

But as an international school teacher, most of that materialism goes away. Some of us do not want so many possessions anymore in our lives. For the more possessions you have, the more you have to move to the next country! Kidding aside, our priorities seem to change to a different path.

There is a shift from wanting to be materialistic to wanting to get more experiences; the more experiences, the better!  We also want more freedom; more freedom to do what we want with our lives. Additionally, we want to go traveling more, to get more of those experiences; to explore the cultures of the world firsthand.

On a foreign-hired benefits package, we are now allowed to be more in control of our money situation. International school teachers are able to pay off those debts that we had in our home countries.  Furthermore, we can finally start to have some savings that we were not able to do so easily in our home countries. We can now make plans to use our savings to buy those big things without having to be in debt.

Having the freedom to live our lives without always worrying about the bank and credit card companies is a dream that can actually become a reality in the world of international school teaching.

Of course not all international school teachers have the same result when they decide to teach abroad, but many of us do. It all mostly depends on what school you work at, in which country and what benefits package you have.  You also have to set personal and financial goals for yourself/your family (like the guy in the TED talk).  Once you have made some goals, you can work hard to achieve them.

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We have a comment topic on our school profile pages. It is called – “Average amount of money that is left to be saved.” Knowing this information ahead-of-time will be one of the most important things to know when considering working at an international school.  Here are a few of the hundreds of comments that have been submitted in that comment topic:

“Relative in accordance to lifestyle and discipline with savings. There should be no problem saving 20,000 for those who enjoy their comforts of house cleaners and the weekend visits to Western restaurants. For those a little more attentive to how they spend their money, it is possible to save over $40,000 as a single teacher each year.” – Seoul Foreign School (Seoul, South Korea) – 45 Comments

“They match a certain amount of the retirement funds that you put away. I personally save about $800 a month, though I have a wife and two kids to support.” – KIS International School (Bangkok) (Bangkok, Thailand) – 61 Comments

“As a family of four on a single salary we managed to save about $20,000 USD in two years. However, it all depends of course on how frugal you are. Traveling in Japan is wonderful but trains and accommodation are expensive.” – Hiroshima International School (Hiroshima, Japan) – 64 Comments

Video Highlight

Video Highlight: Knightsbridge Schools International (Bogota) (An international school in Colombia)

July 2, 2014

There are a few international schools to work at in Bogota!  How do these schools stand out from each other?

Knightsbridge Schools International (Bogota)

The campus looks very nicely taken care of, lots of plants and trees and grass!

Nice to have a code of conduct. Hopefully all students are well aware of it and act on it.

It appears as if they have some cross-grade level lessons, where older students are working with the younger students.  Always a great learning experience for both students involved.

Interesting how they highlight the other Knightsbridge international schools.  I wonder what type of (if any) collaboration is done between all their schools.

Well the languages part didn’t really highlight so many. I think I heard Spanish, English and French.

The after school activities that they showed in the video seemed a bit basic.

So many girls that were in the video, hardly any boys were filmed.  At one point I thought it might be a all-girls campus.

Love the ending when the boy was holding the spinning globe. Great idea!

Currently on www.internationalschoolcommunity.com we have 7 international schools listed in Bogota.  Here are a just a few of them (The number of comments and information that have been submitted for each school is listed to the right of the link):

• Colegio Anglo Colombiano (17 Comments)
• Colegio Gran Bretana (3 Comments)
• Colegio Los Nogales Bogota (6 Comments)
• Colegio Nueva Granada (15 Comments)
• International School of Bogota (0 Comments)
• Knightsbridge Schools International (Bogota) (0 Comments)
• The English School (6 Comments)

If you know about what it is like working at one of these international schools in Bogota, log-on today and submit your own comments and information.  Become a Mayor of one of these schools and you will receive unlimited premium access to International School Community for free!