Recently Updated School Profiles #22: British Int’l School Shanghai – Pudong, Greenfield Community School (Dubai) & Carlucci American Int’l School of Lisbon

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Members of International School Community have written some new and informative comments on the following schools:

21 Apr    Greenfield Community School (Dubai) (15 new comments)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates:

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One of the new comments in the School Information section: “86 nationalities are enrolled at the school. It has been recognized for the support it gives students with EAL…”

19 Apr    British International School Shanghai – Pudong (12 new comments)
Shanghai, China:

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One of the new comments in the School Information section: “Teachers are housed near the school for the first year. They can choose to stay after this year or move with an accommodation allowance…”

16 Apr    Carlucci American International School of Lisbon (9 new comments)
Lisbon, Portugal:

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One of the new comments in the Travel Information section: “A lot of locals know English here, but there are definitely store workers and owners that don’t know hardly one word! It is good to know Portuguese here…”

Check out the rest of the last 40 international school profile pages that have been recently updated on International School Community here.

Traveling Around: Tel Aviv, Israel (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

Traveling Around: Tel Aviv, Israel

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Can you relate?

• Getting stopped by the passport control workers for questioning for two hours because of some of the stamps you have in your passport.
• Asking for help with the train from the airport to the center of the city because of the huge culture shock of not knowing how to read the local script or understand any of the announcements going on over the speaker system.
• Arriving at your hotel so late (and missing your dinner) and going to the nearest restaurant possible which just so happens to be Mexican.
• Going straight to the beach the first morning your have (a nice change of scenery from your home country) and having a nice stroll on the sand.
• Realizing that if you get a cache of the map of the city on google maps that you can use the GPS even without having internet access.
• Finding a local who in the end gives you excellent advice to go to a place that has the best falafel in the city; and it actually being very good!
• Enjoying visiting a country/city during a non-high season time that is actually a very nice time to go; enjoying the city without hardly any tourists.
• Being entranced by the local stray cat population and taking many pictures of them!
• Learning more about the local political situation by listening to a number of local and personal perspectives.
• Seeing a group of people (in this instance Hasidic Jews) in a whole new light after watching and observing them up close, rather than from far away.
• Appreciating that the airport security isn’t that bad when compared to the security measures that you must go through at the Tel Aviv airport.
• Getting used to the sight of many uniformed soldiers (very quickly actually) walking around the city.
• Walking around at night trying to find a specific restaurant, then getting to the place and enjoying the guest speaker that they were having that night (she was talking in Hebrew, but the waiter told me all about her).
• Taking advantage of the beaches a second time (even though it was too cold to swim in them) to check out the nice turquoise color, it was beautiful.
• Having to leave a day early because the airline that I was flying with cancelled their flight with less than 48 hours notice!
• Going though another tough security control leaving the country and having the agent open up my suitcase to then take almost everything out of it to check the things inside. Not fun to repack everything!

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Currently we have 4 international schools listed in Israel on International School Community:

Anglican International School Jerusalem (3 Comments)
• Jerusalem American International School (8 Comments)
• Eastern Mediterranean International School (0 Comments)
• Walworth Barbour American International School (27 Comments)

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 6 free months of premium membership!

Blogs for international school teachers: “Banyan Global Learning” (Provider of educational services to K-12 schools in Asia)

Our 36th blog that we would like to highlight is called “Banyan Global Learning”  Check out the blog entries of this organization that currently works with a variety of schools in Asia (e.g. Taiwan).

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A few entries that we would like to highlight:

5 Tips for Teachers Abroad

“I would have parents who helped their children with their homework and who were eager to communicate with me – but in a good way! To boot, Taiwan is a country where education and, by extension, teachers are well-respected and highly valued!  I expected this whole thing to be a cakewalk.

I also expected that compared to East Harlem the kids would be angels, whereas what I got, instead, were kids.  And instead of a cakewalk I got an experience that was challenging and rewarding in ways I never expected…”

I think this is a common misconception about working with ‘privileged’ international school students versus working with the kids of generational poverty families that you may have worked with in your home country (many of us I’m sure have had a similar experience teaching in urban settings).

Sure the poor kids you taught in your home country had many needs.  They also might have had many behavior problems because of the poverty they were living in.  Teaching at international schools with mostly rich kids can also be a challenge.  They also have many needs, but just different ones.  And because of the sometimes challenging home lives of these children, there can also be many behavior problems at school. 

Luckily, we have a comment topic in the School Information section of all school profile pages that is about student behavior.  It is called – “In general, describe the demeanor of the students.”  We currently have 128 separate comments (about a number of international schools) in that comment topic on our website.

12 Reasons to Teach Abroad in China and Taiwan

2 – Save money while you travel. Japan, check. Korea, check. Bali, why not? From your base in Asia you can travel to places that would otherwise be economically challenging to reach. And, with the lower cost of living in China and Taiwan, a BGL salary will allow you to bank some cash while you see the world…”

It does play a big factor on your travel plans; the location where you are currently living.  Though it is important to note that it doesn’t mean that all flights will be cheap!  Living in Shanghai, China you are for sure in Asia.  However, you are still a 5 hour flight to Bangkok, 3 hour flight to Japan, etc.  These flights aren’t the cheapest either.  But if you compare the prices and flight times to living in the United States, then for sure the flights will most likely be cheaper with quicker flight times.  Going to Bali for Christmas vacation can be just what the doctor ordered!

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Want to work for an international school in Taiwan?  Currently, we have 12 international schools listed in this city/country on International School Community. Here are a few that have had comments and information submitted on their profiles:

• Ivy Collegiate Academy (19 Comments)
• Morrison Christian Academy (3 campuses) (13 Comments)
• NanKe International Experimental H.S. (14 Comments)
• Pacific American School (30 Comments)
• Taipei American School (11 Comments)
• Taipei European School (11 Comments)

If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.