International School Community Blog

Each month International School Community will highlight one of our members.  This month we interviewed Clare Rothwell:

Tell us about your background.  Where are you from?
I am from South Africa.  I started my teaching career in Taiwan as a way to pay off my student loan.

How did you get started in the international teaching community?
I applied for work in Germany, but I wasn’t offered any jobs there.  My mom was working in Moscow, so I decided to try there instead.  I was offered a job at the British International School, Moscow.

Which international schools have you worked at?  Please share some aspects of the schools that made them unique and fun places in which to work.
I worked BIS, Moscow for 3.5 years.  I guess my students made BIS fun.  They were very nice kids.  I had a lot of lovely Hungarian students!  One them, Gërgö, started at the school when he was 15.  In spite of not being able to say a full sentence in English, he smiled all the time.

Now at I work at Shanghai Rego International School.  At Rego, I teach in the primary school.  I enjoy the way students of different cultural backgrounds play together and include each other in games in spite of communication challenges.
I also enjoy the fun things that we do here to make learning more interesting for children.  For example, whole year levels dress-up and do other activities related to different topics throughout the year.

Describe your latest cultural encounter in your current placement, one that put a smile on your face.
Traveling with colleagues in Sichuan, we met up with a local student who offered to be our tour guide.  When the locals realised that they had a way to find out about us, they peppered him with questions about us everywhere we went.  At one point, a small crowd gathered around him as he related how he’d met us and where we were all from.

What are some important things that you look for when you are searching for a new position at an international school?
I look for an interesting location and a job where I can learn new skills.

In exactly 5 words, how would you describe the international school teaching experience?
Full of variety, rewarding, challenging.