Traveling Around

Traveling Around: Sicily (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

June 6, 2022

Traveling Around: Sicily

Can you relate?

• entering a local deli shop by chance and being in awe of all the delicious food!

• getting an Airbnb right in a small harbor where the locals are doing their daily fishing.

• planning this trip with some international school teacher friends that you met at a conference many years ago.

• learning about the history of the island when you run into some ancient ruins.

• resisting the urge to buy things from the local market when you see that your partner is purchasing a number of things.

• Imagining what life would be like living in Sicily as you walk down cute and quaint narrow streets.

• running into huge packs of high school aged children all over the city and not understanding why they aren’t in school!

• succumbing to the urge and getting at least one delicious gelato a day.

• taking a detour two times during the trip and stopping at some remote, local beaches to just lay down and relax (some of us taking a dip as well).

• walking around the beautiful nature and being curious about all of the local wildflowers.

• going all the way up to Mount Etna and being amazed at the fact you are standing so close to an erupting volcano!

• ringing a doorbell of a closed store that sells honey only for the bell to be answered by the owner who then lets you in (the honey was delicious!)!

• loving the city life as you people-watch in downtown Catania.

• stopping the car to get out and buy four peaches from a local produce seller selling produce out of their truck.

• driving around and being scared because of the way the locals drive. It was like the driving rules there were merely suggestions.

• visiting a touristy town but realizing how amazing it was, especially the views of the sea.

• eating at a different restaurant every night and totally enjoying every meal and experience.

• running into a local wedding that was just ending and watching firsthand all of the traditions of their culture.

Currently, we have 39 international schools listed in Italy on International School Community. 21 of them have had comments submitted on them. Here are a few of those schools:

The Bilingual School of Monza – 29 Comments
International School Florence – 34 Comments
American Overseas School of Rome – 40 Comments
Bilingual European School of Milan – 79 Comments
St. Stephens School Rome – 29 Comments
Westminster International School– 29 Comments

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us here 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 you 6 free months of premium membership!

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Traveling Around

Traveling Around: Småland, Sweden (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

March 6, 2022

Traveling Around: Småland, Sweden

Can you relate?

• getting a private tour of a crazy Swedish man’s small moose park. The moose were so big and cute!

• staying at two different Swedish hotels (here’s one in Kalmar) that offered not only breakfast but also dinner as included in the price of the room.

• taking the trains to get around from city to city, and splurging by buying the First Class ticket for some more comfort.

• going to a local restaurant and being the only guests in it. It is hard to do, but you can be surprised by some tasty food!

• finding a unique Italian restaurant run by actual Italians (in a Swedish city of around 50000 people) and being treated to such a wonderfully authentic Italian meal.

• stepping into a small butcher’s shop and buying unique locally-made products like jams and crackers.

• driving around to find a castle that is also a hotel and realizing we should’ve stayed there instead!

• traveling to a water tower that also doubled as an echo chamber. I wouldn’t have believed it until we got there. It was super amazing!

• driving by a huge outlet area and agreeing to stop and check it out. We bought some discounted clothes!

• driving off the beaten path a number of times on very dirt, bumpy roads. Super exciting and fun!

• taking in the view of the beautiful nature. Even though it was winter and very cold, the sunny days still made the views so wonderful.

• getting a bit of a snowstorm one night and waking up to everything covered in snow.

• making sure to buy some local bread at a fancy Swedish bakery to bring back home with us.

• stopping by the local mall for some shopping. We bought a pot of a Swedish knockoff of le Creuset.

• having the easiest pick up of a rental car….EVER!

• wondering why we went traveling for a week in small-town Sweden only to realize that it was super relaxed and cozy…just want needed.

• taking the free pass from the hotel to the local “spa/pool” and then seeing that it was overrun by small children!

• stopping by the IKEA museum and learning about the amazing history of this iconic store.

Currently, we have 14 international schools listed in Sweden on International School Community. 7 of them have had comments submitted on them. Here are a few of those schools:

Bladins International School of Malmo – 33 Comments
International School of Almhult – 141 Comments
International School of Helsingborg – 28 Comments
International School of the Gothenburg Region – 6 Comments
Stockholm International School – 11 Comments

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us here 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 you 6 free months of premium membership!

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Highlighted Articles

How to prepare your teaching CV for a job fair

November 18, 2020

An international education job fair is an excellent opportunity to meet and interview with a range of different schools, all in one convenient location. Events like the Explore CRS Shanghai job fair, taking place 8 – 10 January 2021, allow you to explore the career opportunities available to you, as well as build connections with new and interesting schools.

But just as during the normal job application process, it’s your CV that will determine whether a school wants to see you for an interview or take discussions further.

The recruitment consultants at Explore CRS sift through hundreds of CVs a year, in search of talented candidates to introduce to schools. They know exactly what information school hiring managers are looking for and what candidates can do to prepare their CVs ahead of an international education job fair. Here are their top tips:

Make an impression, fast

Recruiters and hiring managers are busy and spend as little as 3 to 5 seconds reading a CV. You, therefore, need to ensure that the layout of your CV is clear and that your employment story is coherently presented. Someone scanning the information needs to be able to quickly understand what you offer as a potential new employee.

Lay your CV out in clear sections: personal information, education, teaching experience, referees and other interests. Organise your work experience chronologically, starting with the most recent at the top. Don’t forget to include employment dates (month and year) and locations, as well as when and where you graduated from college or university.

Don’t go overboard

We appreciate that it’s hard to condense a long and varied teaching career down into a few paragraphs. It’s important, however, that you don’t include too much information in your CV. Try to keep it to a maximum of 3 to 4 pages. You need to present only the absolute highlights of your career and experience. Remember that adding more information also acts to dilute what is there, so keeping it brief will only strengthen your CV.

Emphasise your curricula experience

Many of the schools that Explore CRS work with are interested in teachers with specific curricula experience so be sure to emphasise all the curricula and national education systems you’re familiar with.

Although first preference will often be given to candidates whose experience matches a school’s criteria, many hiring managers do appreciate the similarities between curricula so it’s always helpful if you can clearly state those you’ve been involved with.

Explain the gaps

If there are gaps in your employment history, you should ensure you explain what you were doing during these times. There are a number of legitimate reasons for taking career breaks and very often these periods are spent doing things that actually enhance your CV. However, unexplained gaps in employment history can sometimes ring alarm bells amongst recruiters and hiring managers, so it helps enormously if you clarify why you took time out.

Write out your acronyms

In the international education sector, there are so many different institutions and academic bodies that it’s important to write out the name in full first and then use the acronym after. This is especially important if it’s not a well-known or globally used acronym. You need to ensure recruiting schools are able to understand your CV and quickly assess who you’ve worked for previously!

Include relevant professional development

Obviously, it’s great for recruiters and hiring managers to see that you’re dedicated to your ongoing professional development. They don’t, however, need to read every single PD workshop you’ve ever attended so make sure only to list the most relevant and recent you’ve taken part in.

Don’t forget, however, to include the most impressive examples of professional development, such as qualifications gained or participation in professional organisations, mentoring or research.

Spellcheck!

It’s amazing how many CVs come through to the Explore CRS consultants with grammatical or spelling mistakes. These errors completely undermine your attempts to come across as professional and diligent. Make sure you check your CV through at least twice and if you’re still unsure whether it’s error-free, have someone else check it too.

Use your CV at the event

Many job fairs (including those offered by Explore CRS) will include pre-scheduled interviews, so you will need to ensure your CV is ready to give to your consultant before you attend the event.

When the time comes for the event, it’s a good idea to print out 10 to 15 copies of your CV in colour and on high-quality paper to hand out to schools in person. You never know what face-to-face connections you’ll make, and a CV is an important tool in attracting the interest of a potential new employer.

One last useful tip for ensuring hiring managers remember you on the day is to include a professional headshot with your CV. While this is in no way mandatory, it’s a great way to make a lasting impression with school staff who will potentially meet hundreds of other candidates on the same day.

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This article was submitted to us by Explore CRS.

As well as helping applicants find teaching opportunities throughout the year, the Explore CRS team is also hosting a job fair in Shanghai, China, on 8 – 10 January 2021.

Attendees will have the opportunity to interview and network with a variety of international and bilingual schools, based both in China and beyond. After last year’s fair, over two-thirds of attending candidates were offered positions. An added benefit of attending the fair is the opportunity to take part in professional development workshops, after which all attendees can receive certification.

Learn more about the fair and sign up to attend via the Explore CRS website.

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Traveling Around

Traveling Around: Melbourne, Australia (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

December 26, 2019

Traveling Around: Melbourne, Australia

Can you relate?

• learning a bunch a new words that are just abbreviations of words you already know in English.

• eating out at restaurants and finding that there are all cuisines on offer in the city, so diverse!

• taking a day trip to Phillip Island to find those fairy penguins, but also enjoy the lovely summer day full of sunshine.

• having an encounter with a mob of 15 wild kangaroos by yourself with no one else around.

• being amazed by all the different kinds of animals in the wild that many countries don’t have.

• being shocked by how much the temperature can change from day to day, sometimes with a 20+C difference!

• thinking that the prices for food at restaurants look expensive, but after converting the price into my host country current, realizing it is kind cheap here.

• wanting to catch up with a local (a person I worked with at one of my past international schools) but finding out it wasn’t going to work out do to that person being too busy during the holiday season.

• meeting up with a friend who just moved there and finding out all the details about the pros and cons of living and working there.

• renting a car and finding it not that stressful to drive on the other side of the road.

• going to a restaurant of your partner’s home country cuisine and talking to the servers and owner who were also from that country.

• checking out places that you didn’t visit the first time that you were in Melbourne (Luna Park, the bathing houses, Flinders Station, etc.)

• walking into the National Library and being amazed by the architecture of the place.

• not buying one souvenir, but taking lots of pictures of all the unique buildings, both old and new.

• being disappointed when arriving at a favorited restaurant to realize it was closed for the holiday season, then checking ahead of time if the next restaurants were open for future meals.

• seeing a near crash between car and tram, ‘trams can’t swerve’ said the sign!

• loving that the trams in the CBD are free to use for everyone, every day!

Currently, we have 31 international schools listed in Oceania on International School Community. 8 of them have had comments submitted on them. Here are a few of those schools:

Kwajalein Senior High School – 24 Comments
Woodford International School – 12 Comments
International School Nadi – 9 Comments
Majuro Cooperative School – 8 Comments
Port Moresby International School – 8 Comments

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us here 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 you 6 free months of premium membership!

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Highlighted Articles

Universities with the Most International Teachers

October 30, 2018

Students are often taught that when they study at schools abroad they are opening their mind to new opportunities and lessons. In fact, there are plenty of universities that benefit from a diverse culture when they accept students from all over the world.

It isn’t just students that make up a diverse culture, though. Having a diverse panel of teachers from all over the world also plays a huge role in helping students learn from different points of view.

If you are interested in going to a diverse university, where should you go? What are the most culturally varied universities in the world?

It’s important to remember that a large part of looking at the universities with the most international teachers are often the most advertised through international programs for students. With more international students, though, you are likely to find more international teachers to match.

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

The first university we will look at today is the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne or, in English, the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. As is told in the name, this university is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This means that students and teachers are a cultural center in this French-speaking section of Switzerland. After all, they are studying and working in the heart of Europe with France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Liechtenstein all bordering the country making them close and ready for exploration.

As far as the university itself, it specializes in natural sciences and engineering. Interestingly enough, this is one of very few universities that run a nuclear reactor, a fusion reactor, a Gene/Q Supercomputer, as well as P3 biohazard facilities all for research and teaching purposes.

The university also runs a number of exchange programs. As a result, they are home to a diverse student body hailing from 112 different nationalities.

University of Hong Kong

If you are looking for a particularly diverse university, the University of Hong Kong should definitely be on your list.

This university has the goal of becoming “Asia’s Most Global University”. In practice, this means that by 2019, they plan for 50% of their undergraduates to study internationally. By 2022, every undergraduate student will have the same opportunity making this a university rife with the possibility for each student to expand their horizons. Even at this point, diversity is a high priority with 40% of the University of Hong Kong being international students.

For professors, this is a great chance to build your career as this is a research driven university. In fact, 111 of the professors at this universities have been ranked within the top 1% in the world by Essential Science Indicators.

For students, the University of Hong Kong will help you graduate with a highly valuable degree. Throughout the last 11 years, they have boasted a 99.4% graduate employment rate.

National University of Singapore

If you decide the University of Hong Kong isn’t for you but you still want to work or study within Asia, you should consider the National University of Singapore. The National University of Singapore is actually considered one of the best universities in Asia, so students and professors alike can expect a lot of value out of their time here.

For students who are looking to travel, the National University of Singapore has plenty of overseas colleges that students can attend during overseas programs. These include chances to travel and study in Beijing, Israel, Munich, Shanghai, New York, Stockholm, Silicon Valley, and Lausanne. The National Universities of Singapore also works closely with two of the best American universities – Yale University and Duke University.

As a student, you would also have the chance to work towards double degree or joint degree with exchange programs with other leading universities.

University of Geneva

The University of Geneva is not only known as one of the most diverse universities in the world, it is also known as Switzerland’s second largest university.

While studying or working at the University of Geneva, there are more than 280 different degree programs and over 250 continuing education programs. This, paired with the fact that they have an average of 16,000 international students from more than 140 different countries, makes the University of Geneva a place rife with opportunities for both students and teachers.

This article was submitted to us by ISC member and guest author, David Smith.

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