Blogs of international school teachers: “All you need to know about teaching overseas.”

Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad?

Our 23rd blog that we would like to highlight is called “All you need to know about teaching overseas.”  Check out the wealth of information in the blog entries of this international school teacher who has worked at an international school in Thailand.

A few entries that we would like to highlight:

5 Things I Love About Living in Thailand

“What do you love about the place where you live? Here are 5 things about living in Thailand that I love. I couldn’t possibly choose which of these would make it as my number one favourite thing, but these are definitely the top 5!

I love having a pool
I went down to the pool in my apartment building today after work and swam for a while. When I got back to my apartment, it struck me that having my own pool (okay, I do share it with the other people in my building but I am usually in it by myself) is one of the things I love about living here in Thailand…”

It is important to sit back and think about why you took this job in the first place.  Surely there are things to celebrate about your current placement.  This blogger celebrates the housing perks that one might have like a pool, the lovely local cuisine, the wonderful shopping experience of bargaining, the coolness of your encounters with the local people,  etc.

What Your Procrastination is Costing You!

“I’m currently looking at the TES Jobs website in another window, and I’ve discovered that there are 229 international schools advertising jobs there this week.  I’ve looked at several adverts and many of these schools are advertising more than one teaching vacancy.  What are you waiting for? Check out the TES Jobs website today…”

To get a job at an international school, many times you have to be on the ball and very proactive. Checking out all the vacancy websites is just one of the many things a prospective international school teacher needs to do.  Sometimes it can get obsessive, checking those websites every day…sometimes 3-4 times a day!  The TES website is mostly great in finding jobs at British international schools.

One concern for teachers moving overseas is…

“Teachers who are looking to move overseas may be concerned about pension contributions. There are a number of solutions, and the solution will depend on your personal situation.

One thing that you can consider is an overseas teacher pension. They are available through a number of companies and most international schools will have a contact with one or two…”

Finding an international school with a pension plan is not as easy as you may think. In fact, many international schools don’t offer this benefit or if they do, it is quite complicated to join and/or keep that money when you leave. Ideally, many international school teachers would be thinking about their futures via a pension plan, the reality is sometimes your pension plan (that just basically happens automatically when you are teaching in your home country) is put on hold while you are teaching abroad.   

If you are also interested in starting your career in the international school community, feel free to check out the 1290+ international schools that are listed on International School Community here. Also, don’t forget to check out our latest submitted comments and information about these schools.  We have over 6000+ submitted comments and information as of this blog entry!

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

Video Highlight: International school of Boston

There are so many international schools in the United States.  Which ones are good places for international school teachers to work at?  How does the international teaching community view the international schools there?

International school of Boston

What an interesting bilingual school to work at!  Seems to be a truly international population there as well.

There have been 2 comments and information submitted on this international school on our website.  Want to know more about what life is like as a teacher at this international school?  Take a look a their profile page on our website – International school of Boston  If you currently work at this school or have worked at there in the past, sign up to be a member of International School Community today and share what you know.

Additionally, you can check out the school’s website here and their employment page here.

Currently on www.internationalschoolcommunity.com we have 39 international schools listed in the United States with 2 of them being in the city of Boston.  The number of comments and information that have been submitted for each school is listed to the right the link to each school.  Here are a just a few of them:

• International School of Monterey (12 Comments)
• Atlanta International School (4 Comments)
• British School of Washington (3 Comments)
• The Dwight School (NYC) (3 Comments)
• St. Timothy’s School (4 Comments)
• Riverstone International School (13 Comments)
• German-American International School (2 Comments)

If you know about what it is like working at one of these international schools in the United States, log-on today and submit your own comments and information.  If you submit more than 30 comments and information, then you can get 1 year of premium access to International School Community for free!

Blogs of international school teachers: “Dan and Jillians International Teaching Adventures.”

Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad?

Our 22nd blog that we would like to highlight is called “Dan and Jillian’s International Teaching Adventures”  Check out the blog entries of this international school teaching couple who are currently working at Al Batinah International School (9 Comments).

A few entries that we would like to highlight:

Semper Try

“Suddenly it sounds all too apropos—with such a small teaching staff, everyone needs to fill in to make the school day run smoothly. Certainly our principal sold the job this way and these last few days before school begins have been an exercise in filling in every last gap in the timetable with people ready and willing to take on new things. The second grade teacher (who’s from Pawtucket, Rhode Island!) will also teach grade 6-7 math and the P.E. teacher will dabble a bit in middle school science. Flexibility becomes our greatest virtue…”

Working at a small international school with a small group of teachers would definitely be an interesting experience.  It is much appreciated when administration tries their best at the interview to give you a head’s up about what life as a teacher is really like at their school.  At a small international school you indeed really would have to help “fill in the gaps” to help get teachers to teach all the classes on offer at the school!  Using the School Profile Search feature on the homepage of International School Community’s website, we found that there are currently 513 international schools (out of 1273) that have a student population of 300 or less…that’s is almost half of our schools listed!

Location, Location, Location

“Since we’d been at the school everyday since we arrived, Jillian and I decided that yesterday would be a break—though this didn’t stop her from spending several hours planning her reading curriculum, but at least she was doing it on the couch. I, on the other hand, did nothing of the kind. After putting up nominal resistance, I succumbed to the temptation to begin reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, part three of Stieg Larsson’s awesomely escapist crime trilogy. Just what I need to be doing right now.

In the afternoon we headed out for a drive and our first real look at Sohar. We’d driven around a few times previous, but it was always within a short distance of our house. Yesterday we headed down towards the fish market and the old Sohar Fort and turned south and just started driving. Sohar is incredibly spread out, so even after driving along the coast for a good 45 minutes, we had only just reached the Sohar Gate, the entrance to town…”

It is so important to get yourself out and about the first few weeks of school, especially when working at an international school.  Going out and appreciating your host city and taking in all that it has to offer is a great idea!

New Frontiers

“Less than an hour later during lunch, our principal walked into the teachers’ lounge and informed Jillian and I, plus another teaching couple, that to obtain our much-needed resident card, we’d need to leave the country and re-enter on a new working visa. Ummm, huh? Oh, and it would be best if that happened today. Thanks.

So after the closing bell we were headed for Dubai, or more exactly, the border station between Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Waiting in line in Oman only to be told we needed to exit the country and come back in. Yeah, we got that. Then standing in the hot sun, waiting for our UAE visitor’s visas. Of the thirty days we were allotted, we used approximately three minutes. U-turn, then back across into Oman and literally sprinting into the building ahead of a group coming off a tour bus to beat them to the window. And finally, an official stamp certifying our working status.
I’ll never forget my first trip to the United Arab Emirates. No matter how hard I try…”It is unfortunate, but this situation is not so uncommon for many international school teachers.  It is really hard getting the whole residency and visa paperwork to work out as you would have hoped it would work out.  We all know though that it doesn’t always work out perfectly.  I guess as international school teachers we needed to be flexible and aware that we might have to leave the country at some point and re-enter to get your new working visa validated.

If you are also interested in starting your career in the international school community, feel free to check out the 1273+ international schools that are listed on International School Community here. Also, don’t forget to check out our latest submitted comments and information about these schools.

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

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