School profile highlights #6: Luanda Int’l School, Amer. School of Tokyo and Int’l School of Iceland

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

Luanda International School (6 new comments):

New Comment: ” Housing is included in the benefits as well as the utilities (not including phone though).”

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American School of Tokyo (8 new comments):

New Comment: “Candidates should note that most foreign-hire teachers live near the main campus in Chofu, a suburban environment one hour west of downtown Tokyo by train.”

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International School of Iceland (3 new comments):

New Comment: “In 2008 the Dual Language Immersion Program was launched. Students in grades 1-2 were given the option of being either in the bilingual (Icelandic-English) stream or the English stream.”

Great resource: Want to work at an international school in Japan?

Directory Listings of International Schools for Japan

Wow! There are many international schools in Japan. Actually, a high number of visits to International School Community each month are from Japan. So, it is no surprise that there are many expats in Japan wanting information about the international schools there.

Also, on their website they have an overview of the Japan educational system which is quite intriguing to look at.

Highlights from this page:

Japan has 23,633 elementary schools, 11,134 junior high schools, 5,450 senior high schools, 995 schools for the handicapped, 702 universities, 525 junior colleges, and 14,174 kindergartens (May 2003 figures). School attendance rate for the nine years of compulsory education is 99.98%.

The average class size in suburban schools is between 35-40 students, though the national average had dropped to 28.4 pupils per class in 1995. 70% of teachers teach all subjects as specialist teachers are rare in elementary schools.

A large percentage of parents (65.1%) tend to select the school based on hearsay.

Special education institutions exist: 70 schools for the deaf (rougakko); 107 for the blind (mougakko); 790 for those with disabilities (yougogakko). This number is considered to be inadequate.

So, who wants to work in Japan??

Check out the international schools listed in Japan on International School Community.

Traveling Around: California, United States

Can you relate? (to reverse culture shock)

(from an international teacher living in China)

Pointing to things in the restaurant menu that you’d like to order (like you do in China most of the times, even if you do know Mandarin!) and having your family and friends laugh at you because it is more customary to just say the item on the menu that you want.
Watching car after car slow down to let pedestrians cross the street as if they have the right of way.
Not hearing the honking of car horns everywhere when driving down the street.
Hearing the sound of a lawn mower
Driving to all the stores we want to go ourselves, not using public transportation or taxis.

(from an international teacher living in South Korea)

Actually knowing the difference between Korean and other Asian language when I see it on signs while in Los Angeles! (I never had a clue before!)
Seeing no one walking on the streets……….everyone is in a car or bus.
Getting a break from AFN (the Armed Forces Network) on the TV
No extreme climate in California
Noticing the “larger size” of Americans…..

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!

International School Community News v2011.03 – 9 July, 2011

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v2011.03 – 9 July, 2011:
The summer has now officially arrived for basically all international school educators. Some will continue their summer vacation until the end of August, but many international schools start up again at the end of July/early August. If you are moving to a new school this year, many new teachers must start work around that same time frame or even earlier! Take this time of relaxation (on a beach in Thailand or Mexico for example!) to fill out some information about the schools you know about on International School Community. So far, our current members represent more than 45 different international schools!

Site Stats:
Current members: 86
School profiles: 831
Surveys: 4
Blog entries: 68
Posted comments: 461

Member spotlight:

Katie Jervis: “Originally, I was only going to go for a year in an attempt to save enough money to pay for teachers college…”
*If you’d like to be one of our next member spotlights send us a message here. Highlighted members will receive a coupon code for 6 free months of premium access!

New members:
Tasha Fletcher
Chris Ma
Floralisa Badescu
Helen Temple
Nexus International School Putrajaya

New Survey Topic:

Vote here!

Website updates:

Many updates are planned for later this July! Stay tuned for updated school and member profile pages and the blog format.

Highlighted Link
http://peacequilt.wordpress.com/ is a blog. This project began as an idea back in September 2008, the idea being to unite schools all around the world, in some way, potentially as a celebration of the London Olympics, 2012. The people involved asked themselves to think of an idea of uniting schools all over the World. Many international schools have become involved already. A teacher who is inspired can inspire students and other teachers!

FAQ:
What do you mean by “kinds of student” in the school search function?
For many international schools the kinds of student there can be very important to know for certain teachers who prefer a certain type of students population. “Mostly int’l” means that the majority of the student population is from other countries in the world, even if the majority of the population is from one specific country that is not the host country. “Half int’l/half local” signifies that around 50% of the student population is from the host country. “Mostly local” means that the majority of the student population is from the host country.

Incentive program for free premium membership:
Now when you submit comments on the school profile pages, you can earn a coupon code to receive up to 1 year free of premium membership access! Putting-in 15-29 comments gets you 6 months free. Submitting over 30 or more comments will get you 1 YEAR FREE! Please remember that the comments you submit on the school profile pages are anonymous, but we can keep track of which members write how many comments in our system. Once we see you have submitted your comments, we will send you an email with a special coupon code to extend your current premium membership.

Recent blog entries:

· International schools that were founded in 1996 (China, South Korea, Moldova, etc.)
“Busan Foreign School opened its doors to the Busan community and its surrounding areas in October of 1996. With only two students originally, it has….”
· Which international schools do International School Community’s current members represent?
“At International School Community, networking and gathering information is very easy. Get answers about schools that you are…”
· Do you want to teach in one of the most expensive cities in the world?
“I was just talking with an international school teacher friend of mine who is part of a teaching couple with 3 children. They are looking for…”
· TEN COMMANDMENTS OF RELOCATING OVERSEAS: #1 – Learn as much as possible about…
“1. Learn as much as possible about the host country in order to have realistic expectations. How much can you learn about a host country before…”
· To touch your produce or to not touch your produce: that is the question!
“I don’t know about you, but I prefer to touch my fruit before I buy it….”

(Click here for the last 40 schools to be updated with new comments)

New survey: Which curriculum do you have the most experience in?

8 July, 2011 internationalschoolcommunity Edit Leave a comment

Survey number 4 has arrived! Topic: Which curriculum do you have the most experience in?

Have you ever been at a job fair and had a school say “sorry were looking for…” teachers with more experience in a certain curriculum? I know I have. Sometimes I wish I had experience in every curriculum so that I could be a more desirable candidate. Because I have experience in one curriculum, does that mean I should teach in that curriculum the rest of my life? I hope that teachers get an opportunity to experience other curricula (if a school will hire you without experience in their curriculum), as it will broaden your frame of mind about your teaching and teaching in general.

So, which is it? Go to the homepage of International School Community and submit your vote today!

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