Six lessons have I learned about Zambia

I recently moved to Lusaka, Zambia. This was my first time moving to the African continent. Everyone informed me that Zambia is a very safe, straightforward country to move to. Africa lite, if you will. English is widely spoken and the people are friendly.

Language

Lusaka, like many other cosmopolitan cities in Africa, is linguistically diverse due to historical, cultural, and geographical factors. Zambia, as a whole, is home to over 70 ethnic groups, each with its distinct language or dialect. As the capital, Lusaka is a central hub and attracts people from various regions and ethnic backgrounds for economic, educational, and administrative opportunities. Thus English tends to be widely spoken as the language of trade and business and is the official language. However, Nyanja and Bemba are the two most widely spoken indigenous languages in Lusaka, but not necessarily outside of the capital.

Weather

Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa with a diverse geography, however, the majority of Zambia is characterized by high plateaus and elevated areas. The Central African Plateau covers much of the country, with altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 1,400 meters (3,280 to 4,593 feet) above sea level. This influences the climate with slightly higher temperatures and lower humidity than coastal areas in Africa.

Technically Zambia has a wet and dry season. Wet Season is usually November to April and is characterized by higher temperatures and increased rainfall. It’s the time when the landscape becomes lush and green.

The Dry Season is usually from May to October. This season has lower rainfall, and temperatures can vary, with warm to hot days and cooler nights, especially in the winter months of June and July. My arrival in August was cold and I had to rush to buy a coat. However, by October we were experiencing temperatures upwards of 40° and I was thankful for the AC.

Adapt to the Pace

Life in Lusaka has a different pace compared to other countries. We had to learn to embrace the relaxed lifestyle and be patient with administrative processes. People often turn up to events or meetings at a time that suits them rather than a set time. Maintenance workers might turn up a day late and without the right tools needed. The job will get done eventually, and possibly need redoing a week later. But there’s no need to get upset about it. The cashier might be chatting with another customer for a few minutes before s/he has time to serve you but don’t forget the pleasantries of saying hello and asking how s/he is before getting the sale.

You’ll come across as rude if you do.

Crime

Zambia tends to be safer than many of her neighbours. Petty theft and bag snatching are the biggest issues. Don’t walk around the streets at night, avoid certain areas and be aware of your surroundings.

Don’t leave laptops or other valuables in your car as thieves will break your window and steal them.

Safaris and Wildlife

Enjoy a safari in Zambia for a unique opportunity to witness diverse wildlife. The country is characterized by extensive savannas, supporting diverse wildlife. National parks, such as South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, and Kafue, showcase Zambia’s rich biodiversity and safaris and lodges are popular but expensive.

Be prepared to encounter giraffes, zebra, elephants, lions, hippos, and an array of bird species in their natural habitats and enjoy amazing sunsets at the end of the day.

Zambia is renowned for its walking safaris, offering an intimate and immersive experience with nature. Accompanied by knowledgeable guides, you can appreciate the smaller details of the ecosystem and surroundings.

6. Weekend Markets

Car shows, weekend markets and Christmas markets are a fun way to enjoy a weekend and are on almost every other weekend. Browse stalls of traditional crafts, clothes, paintings, furniture, plants, fruit, and vegetables, enjoy a gin or craft beer, listen to live music and order some braai ( an African term for barbecue or grill) but a braai is more than just a barbecue it’s also a social occasion and a sense of community.

This article was submitted by a guest author and ISC member who currently works at the International School of Lusaka in Zambia.

Must Haves for Your International Teacher CV (2026)

Creating and updating your CV is difficult enough, without having to worry about also grabbing the attention of the Head of School or the HR department who’s reading it. Knowing that you have only a few seconds to make an impression, I’ve outlined 10 tips on how to improve and what to include in your international standard résumé:

1. Your Contact Info

This should include your current address, hometown, cellphone number, and email address, as well as any other pertinent information (LinkedIn profile, Twitter, Professional website, etc).

2. Your Website (optional)

Speaking of professional websites, investing the time to create an online portfolio, using a free host such as Google Sites or Wix, can help you showcase your professional achievements. It’s a good place to store photos of your classrooms over the years, student work & projects, and even your PD certificates. Please be sure it’s kept up to date.

3. Your LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a useful tool in your job search, helping you expand your professional network, informing them you’re looking for a new position, and learning about job openings by following recruitment organizations and individual schools. It’s also helpful with your professional development, by sharing your expertise and others’ articles, doing research on topics of interest, discovering new conferences & workshops to attend, and exploring the latest trends in education.

4. Your CV Headings

They should be clean and simple. You want to facilitate the scanning and locating of pertinent information at a glance. Also, the order in which you list your headings is important, making sure to keep the most relevant information first.

5. Your Education

For this reason, I’d recommend placing your education at the top of your CV before your work experience. It saves someone searching through your CV to see if you can qualify for a work visa. There are several factors that they are looking for: if you’re a qualified teacher, have a degree in what you want to teach, the highest degree you’ve attained to place you on a salary scale, and how recently you’ve earned your various degrees.

6. Your CV Bullet points (STAR)

These are challenging to compose to stand out from the crowd. You want to avoid writing about tasks that are expected (for example, saying that as a teacher, you planned lessons, created assessments, etc). Using the STAR method is the best way to describe each role, essentially diving into the Situation, Task, Action, and Results for each of your positions. The advantages are: you’re underlining your worth to future schools, you’re highlighting your skill set and expertise, you’re creating a narrative of accomplishments at each of your schools, and most importantly, you’re showing how you directly impact student learning in your classroom.

7. Your Professional Development

You want to demonstrate your dedication to your career as a life-long learner by showcasing the professional training you’ve received over the years. In some cases, you may have even presented at conferences or given in-house workshops to colleagues. It’s important to separate when you were a presenter and when you were a participant, keep your list updated & recent, and prioritize workshops & training based on relevance to the job you want.

8. Your Co-Curricular Activities

It’s also important to mention the activities and clubs you’ve led and could lead in the future. Perhaps you’ve coached a team, ran the MUN club, or maybe even created something new and exciting? All this is vital information for any future school looking at your candidacy since they will want to know what you can offer after school. A bonus would be if it’s outside of your subject area – what a great way to model being well-rounded to a future school and your students.

9. Your Interests

Some think listing their interests and hobbies is irrelevant on a professional CV, but keep in mind that as an international educator, you’re joining a school community, and who you are outside the classroom is indeed relevant. Your hobbies could spark questions during the interview process and could lead to interest in your candidacy, should they be the perfect fit for the job opening.

10. Your References

References will often either be your direct supervisors or the Head of School, depending on who knows you best. However, the higher their position in your school, the more weight their reference carries. For this reason, colleagues should be a last resort, if you can’t use your head of school, principal, or head of department. You should also try to have at least one reference for each of your last 3-4 schools; skipping a school could raise a red flag.

This article was submitted by Jacqueline P. Mallais, International Teacher Consultant for JPMint Consulting. Thanks to her 20+ years of international teaching and school leadership experience, she can vouch that these 10 tips will help you improve your CV. If you’re looking for expert help with your CV, she would be happy to work with you. Her services as an international teacher consultant include creating a new CV and cover letter for you, meeting with you in a video call to go over the next steps in your job search, sending you leads to vetted schools, preparing you for upcoming interviews, offering advice on schools and positions, as well as reviewing your offered contract, providing you with follow-up questions for HR and the Head of School.

You can reach her through her website at www.JPMintConsulting.com where you can see what teacher & school admin clients have to say about the services she offers. She is here to help you in your job search!

Andrew Hallam: How Are Int’l School Teachers Stacking Up?

Money and sex. Culturally, we don’t talk about either. Some would say that’s OK. Keep our bedrooms closed and our finances locked. But wouldn’t you like to see how you stack up…financially speaking, that is?

As an international teacher, you aren’t likely contributing to a defined benefit pension. If you’re American, you aren’t contributing to Social Security, either. Whether the older person within you eventually sinks or swims depends on what you’re doing now.

How much are you investing? Do you have revenue-generating real estate? How much money do you have, so far?

My friend Dr. Jeff Devens and I created an anonymous survey for international teachers. Please take two minutes to access the survey here.

So far, the results are eye-opening, and we’re planning to share them with you once we’ve broadened the database.

We’ll soon know, for example, what percentage of teachers have student loan debt. We’ll have the breakdown by age.

We’ll know how much the typical 30-year-old teacher is saving and how much money they have for retirement. We’ll have figures for teachers within every age bracket.

After speaking at more than 90 international schools, I’ve learned that individual results will differ wildly. You might expect that, depending on how much the teachers earn. But there’s much more to it.

For example, I have friends I’ll call Bob and Margaret. They taught for 25 years at one of the highest-paid international schools in the world. When they “aged out” they were forced to retire.

Bob and Margaret earned great salaries. While working, they didn’t have to pay for housing. They received enough “home leave” allowance to fly home twice a year.

Today, they collect Social Security payments. But it’s a fraction of what they would have earned if they had stayed in the United States. They have a small investment portfolio. But they don’t earn much from that.

Bob and Margaret are almost broke.

Other friends of mine worked at a school that didn’t pay as well. Like Bob and Margaret, they raised two children and helped them pay for college. Like Bob and Margaret, they traveled and enjoyed dining out. They also laughed and smiled with the same ease as Bob and Margaret.

But similarities end there. This second couple, also in their late 60s, has almost two million dollars.

No matter what school you work at, I’ve learned that there’s a huge chasm between how much money your colleagues have. Some are doing well. Others are living underwater.

You might not notice their lifestyle differences. It can be really subtle. For example, in my book, Balance, I mentioned that my wife and I enjoyed weekly massages for 12 years.

We don’t regret that expense. But those massages cost our retirement portfolio about $750,000. Small costs, if they are invested instead of spent, can add up to huge amounts.

Now what if somebody had a weekly massage and twice-daily coffees at Starbucks? That might not sound like such a big deal. And it isn’t. But over a working career, such small decisions would cost them more than $1 million…if that money were invested, instead. That’s why two teachers can have vastly different wealth, even if they spent a career at the same school.

No, you don’t have to live like a pauper. And yes, you could enjoy massages, weekly restaurant meals and Starbucks every day. But when we do, we should cut back on other things.

Once again, our anonymous survey is live, and can be accessed here.

You’ll soon be able to see how you stack up.

But more importantly, this data will provide a framework for discussion.

We can help each other, cheer each other on, and support our quests for financial wellness.

Thank you, in advance, for completing the survey.

We look forward to sharing the results.

Andrew Hallam is the international bestseller of Millionaire Teacher, Millionaire Expat and Balance.

11 MORE Member-Submitted Comments Related to Single International School Teachers

With the hiring season upon us, there is a divide among us international school teachers. Will the international school you are interviewing with prefer to hire a teaching couple or a single teacher?

I guess it could seem like the international school is being a bit discriminatory when they state their preference (sometimes in the job description vacancy itself). Still, there might be several factors that come into play in their decision to be explicit in what they are looking for. (Here is a link to our first blog article about this topic, by the way.)

Sometimes hiring a single teacher can be more expensive than hiring a teaching couple. We all know schools love saving money! Money aside though, the administration at international schools also knows the lifestyle that prospective teachers are signing up for. The setup could be good for both singles and teaching couples, but the city and country where the school is located could also lend itself better to a single person OR a teaching couple.

It is hard to guess which type of teacher would be better for which setup, but the administration can see patterns developing amongst their staff. For example, are the single teachers or the teaching couples staying longer (or shorter) at the school? Are single teachers finding it difficult to save money there? Are single teachers able to easily meet up with other expats or locals in the city for a date?

The fact is, though, that single teachers get hired all the time during each recruitment season. If you are a quality teacher with a good resume and references (plus luck and timing), the school will consider hiring you. However, it might be good to know which international schools have a good record of hiring single teachers.

Additionally, if a school gives an offer of employment to a single teacher, what are the exact details about the benefits the school is offering you specifically? What is the lifestyle like for single teachers who live in different cities around the world?

So many factors and things to consider!

Luckily, ISC was designed to help international school-teaching couples and single teachers find the information they seek. Using the Comment Search feature (premium membership needed), we found 373 comments that had the keyword “Single teacher” in them. Here are 11 of them:

Singapore
“Housing allowance has increased and now includes allowances for single teachers, married teachers, and single-hired teachers with families.” – Chatsworth International School (69 total comments)

Zambia
“AISL still tries to hire early in the process to get the best teachers in front of students. According to fit, priority goes to teaching couples but there is a variety of couples, single teachers, local & international hires employed each year usually through Search Associates.” – American International School of Lusaka (106 total comments)

Spain
“There is no housing allowance. An average flat in the city will go from 700€ to 1000€, 1-2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. For single teachers who only rely on their salary can be tricky to make it to the end of the month.” – Benjamin Franklin International School (125 total comments)

Morocco
“There are no age restrictions. The school hires single teachers, single teachers with dependents, and married teachers with dependents. They offer free tuition for 2 children. They look for teachers with prior international experience, but there are exceptions.” – American School of Marrakesh (52 total comments)

South Korea
“The School tries to hire across a broad spectrum – teachers here span the decades and have varied experience around the world. Many are teaching couples with young families or grown-up children. There are also many young single teachers here and they have a strong network. All dependent children have a free school place.” – North London Collegiate School (Jeju) (49 total comments)

Oman
“It is not true anymore that they avoid single teachers. There are many on campus. Oman in general can be hard for single people. They are trying to hire people with IB experience. Women cannot sponsor their husband’s visa, so the trailing spouses get a long-term visitor visa (I believe).” – Al Batinah International School (112 total comments)

Vietnam
“The school hires single teachers and teaching couples with or without dependents (spouse, children) from different parts of the world (America, Europe, Asia, Africa).” – International School Saigon Pearl (217 total comments)

Zambia
“Overseas hire faculty are provided with housing relative to their household size on a purpose-built compound with many amenities. A single teacher is allocated a two-bedroom apartment, a teaching couple is allocated a three-bedroom apartment, and a family a four-bed villa. Electricity and water are covered by the school. All teachers live on a purpose-built, modern compound in proximity to the school.” – American School of Doha (65 total comments)

Indonesia
“We prefer to hire teachers with relevant IB experience. As a small school, it is not easy to “learn the ropes” from others – there is one class per grade level in primary, and one teacher p/subject in secondary. We hire single teachers, teaching couples, and teachers with families – there is no preference. However, it should be noted Bandung is not a city known for its nightlife or social scene.” – Bandung Independent School (134 total comments)

Azerbaijan
“School hires families and single teachers. They go through Search Associates. They interview via Skype. Our first interview was with HOD and Principal, second interview – with the Director. Experience with IB program is a benefit as well as teaching in other international schools.” – International School of Azerbaijan (80 total comments)

Germany
“The school tends to have only teachers coming from English-speaking countries so there is one big dominant culture. They tend to employ single teachers too…” – Metropolitan School Frankfurt (103 total comments)

If you know what the single-teacher situation is like at your international school, submit your comments here!

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Six lessons have I learned about Zambia

Must Haves for Your International Teacher CV (2026)

Andrew Hallam: How Are Int’l School Teachers Stacking Up?

11 MORE Member-Submitted Comments Related to Single International School Teachers

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