May 2015 Newsletter: Talk with an admin to go over each part of your contract!
Check out our latest newsletter here.
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May 2015 Newsletter: Talk with an admin to go over each part of your contract!
Check out our latest newsletter here.
One of the best parts of living abroad is to explore the nature (flora and fauna) of your host country: a day trip into the mountains if you live in Switzerland, a weekend safari trip if you live in Tanzania, a group tour to the sand dunes if you live in Abu Dhabi, a car trip to the rainforests if you live in Costa Rica, etc.
Each country has their own unique offerings of nature.
What is on offer in your host country with regards to nature?
Photo contest topic:
Your best nature shot from one of your explorations of your host country.
By nature we mean animals, plants, trees, insects, mountains, bodies of water, sky/clouds, etc.
The PRIZES:
1st prize: 2 YEARS FREE of premium membership
2nd prize: 1 YEAR FREE of premium membership
3rd prize: 6 MONTHS FREE of premium membership
(Those submissions that are not in the top three will receive 1 free week of premium membership for just participating.)
Send your photo to editor@internationalschoolcommunity.com. Please remember to:
• Write your name and email address
• Attach your picture and write a short description about it
• Enter these words in your subject: International School Community Photo Contest Entry: Nature
or
Tweet the photo and mention our profile @IS_Community to make sure we will see it. 🙂
(Deadline to submit your photo: 12 May, 2015. Maximum one photo per contestant.)
Check out our previous Photo Contests here.
Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.
Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other?
This blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same city.
Bangkok, Thailand
Currently, we have 49 schools listed in Bangkok on International School Community.
Schools with the most submitted comments:
Bangkok Patana School (Bangkok, Thailand) – 17 Comments
Concordian International School (Bangkok, Thailand) – 23 Comments
KIS International School (Bangkok) (Bangkok, Thailand) – 61 Comments
NIST International School (Bangkok, Thailand) – 65 Comments
Ruamrudee International School Bangkok (Bangkok, Thailand) – 21 Comments
Wells International School (Thailand) (Bangkok, Thailand) – 18 Comments
Recent things they have taken on
“In 2012 the school implemented the Literacy by Design program for K3 – Grade 4, and the IB Diploma Programme in 2013. It also began scheduling more consistent weekly professional development meetings in 2013, including WASC focus and home group sessions, and grade-level meetings. As of 2012, it joined EARCOS and now regularly sends its staff to the annual conferences.” – Wells International School (Thailand)
“The ELD team just attended the ELLSA conference in Bangkok.” – Ruamrudee International School Bangkok
“In 2014 the school will be launching the Professional Development Hub, which is intended to be a central location for teachers in the Southeast Asian region to receive professional development.” – NIST International School
“The school is well-known for IB standards as quite a few of the teachers are IB Examiners and moderators. The Head of School is also on the Board of the IBO worldwide. Currently they are participating in a pilot study for the MYP.” – KIS International School (Bangkok)
Expectations of staff
“Teachers are assigned a maximum of 25 contact periods (45 minutes each) per week, while department heads have a maximum of 20. Minimum expectations include curriculum mapping on Atlas, and personal daily or weekly lesson plans that are attached to the maps. Weekly professional development is mandatory. Staff are encouraged, though not required, to take on extra-curricular classes or activities.” – Wells International School (Thailand)
“Expectations are high but lots of support.” – Concordian International School
“(Sorry, as admin it’s hard for me to comment, but teachers seem to work hard, but get non-contact time).” – KIS International School (Bangkok)
“High expectations, but with exceptional support and resources. Teachers are expected to participate in 2 extra curricular activities each year, which is quite manageable.” – NIST International School
Kinds of teachers that work there
“Approximately 30% of staff are from the United States, while the rest are a mix of over a dozen nationalities. While the school will hire inexperienced teachers in special circumstances, prospective hires should expect to be turned away if they don’t have a degree in education (or their subject areas at the secondary level) and a few years of experience. Nearly 70% of the teaching staff has master’s degrees.” – Wells International School (Thailand)
“Most teachers are from USA (there around 180 in total). A few are from the UK and Thailand.” – Ruamrudee International School Bangkok
“All teaching staff are fully qualified. Most are British, with some Australians, South Africans and Filipina. turnover is high. Last year 40% left. Most leave due to the lowish salary rather than because they are unhappy with the school.” – Rasami (Thai-British) International School
Housing
“Ruamrudee does have a housing allowance – B20,000, but it is part of the actual salary, so it’s taxed at 30%. So, effectively, the allowance is B14,000 – enough for a small local house/apartment.” – Ruamrudee International School Bangkok
“There is a housing allowance which is sufficient to rent a small studio. There is no extra for married teachers.” – Rasami (Thai-British) International School
“Around 40000 Baht a month for singles and 60000 Baht for teaching couples.” – NIST International School
“Small housing allowance.” – KIS International School (Bangkok)
(These are just 4 of the 65 different comments topics that on each school profile page on our website.)
If you work at an international school in Bangkok, share what you know. Consider becoming a Mayor for unlimited premium membership!
Traveling Around: Berlin, Germany (The life of an international school teacher is good!)
Traveling Around: Berlin, Germany
Can you relate?
• Tasting your first currywurst and the smell of it following you everywhere
• Getting the feeling that art is everywhere around you
• Being enchanted by design of the old metro (U-Bahn) smelling like hardware store
• Wanting to go up the big tower, but never getting around to doing so. When the weather was perfect to go up, you find yourself too tired or too far away to go.
• Hoping that it was going to be more spring-like, but then finding out it wasn’t that spring-like just yet. Seems like spring is coming later and later nowadays…
• Seeing quite impressive building murals around the city. Who does these art installations anyway? So cool!
• Finding so many alternative people, restaurants, etc. all around the city. People had even spray painted “Vegan revolution” on the walls.
• Being shocked to be bombarded with hail on multiple days. It looked like it was snowing with all this hail everywhere!
• Running into a restaurant called “White Trash Fast Food” and then hearing that it is actually a posh, good-tasting restaurant.
• Forgetting that Berlin actually has many canal rivers running around the city, ala Amsterdam.
• Loving the lovely walks through the beautiful city parks, on nice, pretty warm sunny days.
• Realizing the size of the city (9 times bigger than Paris) by not being able to walk around the city center and seeing everything in 5 days.
• Staying at a hotel for three nights in what was probably the noisiest room. The hotel also had a HUGE number of little children running around, a bit chaotic.
• Taking advantage of the cheap public transport from the city airport to the city center. Other cities can learn from Berlin and take a note of this! No one wants their way from the airport to the city center to be too expensive or too long of a journey.
• Being open-mouthed in awe to find an enormous section of canned hotdogs in one of the aisles. Who needs that many kinds of canned hotdogs?
• Staying at a very nice hotel for only one night, too expensive to stay more nights. The view from the breakfast room was awesome!
• Buying super expensive bottled water at the Tegel airport. Airport shouldn’t have the option to sell bottled water at such a high price. It was around four EUROS!
Currently we have 7 international schools listed in Berlin, Germany on International School Community:
• Berlin Brandenburg International School (11 comments)
• Berlin British School (31 comments)
• Berlin International School (12 comments)
• Galileo Gymnasium (Germany) (11 comments)
• John F. Kennedy School Berlin (11 comments)
• Nelson Mandela School
• Phorms Berlin Mitte
If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences. Tell us where you are traveling in the world, what you are seeing and how you are coping with any culture shock. Once your Traveling Around experience is posted on our blog, International School Community will give you 6 free months of premium membership!