Entries we would like to highlight:<\/p>\n International\u00a0Teaching\u00a0Fair\u00a02\/2010<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cInternational Teaching Fairs are the traditional way to connect prospective schools with teachers. \u00a0I believe technology will be changing this practice more each year as it is less costly to interview via Skype than to send a hiring team around the globe. \u00a0Skype misses that element of personal connection which can be critical in creating a good fit between staff and school, although some principals with extensive international teacher hiring experience may not see that as a priority. \u00a0Online portfolios allow the applicant to upload files, photos, even videos and the administrator can choose what they would like to review. \u00a0If different documents are needed, a quick email to request and a few moments to transfer, is all that is required. \u00a0In my case, my use of rubrics was of interest and I was able to share specific lessons, rubrics I created and student work samples in several content areas. \u00a0The ability to upload immediately demonstrated my ability to respond to requests quickly as well as my organization and technology skills. The job offer that I accepted was the one where the process was all online, except for the one concluding phone call. \u00a0At the time of the fair, though, I had only sent this school my CV and resume.<\/p>\n Making the decision to go to California for the international teaching fair was, like most events in my life, attempted one step at a time. \u00a0I had the invitation. \u00a0I had the airline miles. \u00a0What I didn\u2019t have was money for the hotel, food and other things needed while there. \u00a0Also, my professional clothes were in storage in Oregon. \u00a0I bought a couple blazers online and luck was with me as they coordinated with my slacks and blouses and fit well, too. \u00a0Investing in makeup and an awesome hair cut\/color (thanks Michelle at All Things Beautiful Salon) was the most expensive part but incredibly important. \u00a0The last part was the hotel and associated costs, but thankfully, my tax return came through and I had the funds to make the trip.<\/p>\n I stayed at the less expensive hotel next to where the fair was being held. \u00a0What I had researched strongly suggested staying in the hotel where all the action was, but I was very glad to not be. \u00a0There were times that I needed to get away. \u00a0Staying in the same hotel is in the best interest of the folks hiring, but not as much for the applicant. \u00a0I was able to sit at the bar, reading and enjoying a dinner without having to wonder who else was around. \u00a0I could take off my teacher hat for awhile and just relax.<\/p>\n I woke up later than I anticipated, but really was taking my time, I think, to feel in control. \u00a0I didn\u2019t want to be one of the first to arrive and the days schedule was long. \u00a0By the time I walked across the parking lot to the conference rooms I was nervous again. \u00a0There was so many people! \u00a0Going into the candidates \u201clounge\u201d where the rooms walls were covered in sheets of paper listing the school, country and positions available, I noticed that most people had an intensity that I wanted to resist. \u00a0The tables were covered in laptops and I started to regret not bringing Brett\u2019s, but I travel light. \u00a0I did end up using the hotels business center at a cost of $5 for fifteen minutes and calling Kelina to go online for me quite a bit.<\/p>\n Many people had printed special coordinating note cards, cv\u2019s and other stationary needs. \u00a0That is not my style. \u00a0Many of the candidates also requested interviews with many, many \u00a0schools. \u00a0I only had a few countries that I would go. \u00a0Once again, I find myself in the position of being different than the majority. \u00a0Immediately, I started networking, introducing myself and asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s your story?\u201d\u00a0 I think that was my favorite part. \u00a0Talking with many teachers from many states and many with international experience, too. \u00a0We all got to be very friendly, supporting each others efforts and contributing to a positive atmosphere.<\/p>\n Interviews were all super short, most commonly about 15 minutes. \u00a0Some schools, especially the new ones, were prepared to interview dozens of teachers. \u00a0Other schools were obviously looking for only certain qualities and were limited their number of interviews. \u00a0 All day Friday I participated in the process to secure interviews for the next two days. \u00a0Saturday was spent interviewing and chatting. \u00a0Saturday night was the \u201cdinner\u201d which was enjoyable, but not really helpful for me. \u00a0By this time, there had been some job offers and also many rejections.<\/p>\n A great part of the fair was the presentations from schools. All day, there were several small rooms where schools brought out their power points and marketing pitches. \u00a0Some were a hard sell, others not, but I loved them! \u00a0It was like the travel channel. \u00a0I learned about many countries and really confirmed by decision to focus on the UAE.<\/p>\n By Sunday, I knew that I was going to be one of the ones who left without a job offer. \u00a0I was okay with that and had faith that things would work out well. \u00a0Many of the candidates were very stressed by this time. \u00a0Sunday afternoon, I was ready to go but my flight wasn\u2019t until the next morning. \u00a0Checking my email in the hotel business center I opened an email from the school in Abu Dhabi asking if I was still available.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019re\u00a0What?!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTelling folks that I have accepted a kindergarten teaching position in Abu Dhabi and will be living in Dubai has been fun. \u00a0Their reactions, both in facial expressions as well as in words, has ranged from, \u201cWow\u201d, \u201cNo!\u201d\u201d, \u201cThat\u2019s great\u201d and \u201cWhy?\u201d to my personal favorite, \u201cAre you out of your fricken mind?\u201d<\/p>\n Usually, the first question has been why<\/strong>, a completely reasonable question to which I have several answers. \u00a0The quick answer is, because I can<\/strong>. \u00a0Another answer has been a short explanation on the three category system that Brett and I used while making the decision. \u00a0The categories were \u00a01. quality of life \u00a02. school for Brett \u00a03. ability to save money with a possible one, two or three stars in each. \u00a0Staying in my position in Hawaii resulted in a score of 5, other options were discussed, but then the offer for the Abu Dhabi scored a 8.<\/p>\n The reason that I even started thinking about \u00a0it was because one evening, before the holidays, I was aimlessly googling phrases like \u201chow to make money as a teacher\u201d and \u201cextra work for teachers\u201d. \u00a0(In Hawaii, when the teacher furloughs started and my pay was decreased 9%, I started tutoring after school three days a week to make up the difference in my budget, but every month is still a struggle.) \u00a0International Teaching came up in my internet search and I thought it was a great idea. \u00a0A few days later, at a holiday potluck for staff at my school, I met a couple who were previous teachers. \u00a0They were visiting since they had returned from several years overseas. \u00a0Getting some direction as to how to proceed in my research, what recruiters to trust, what to watch out for, and sharing their satisfaction with their choice to teach overseas gave me good background information to proceed.<\/p>\n I applied to many, many schools online. \u00a0From Thailand to Taiwan, Singapore to Malaysia, Indonesia to Hong Kong \u2013 but the country that was my first choice was, from the very first, UAE. \u00a0I applied at a great school in Abu Dhabi, but didn\u2019t hear back before I went to an international teaching fair in San Francisco. \u00a0At the fair, I had several interviews but not an offer. \u00a0(More about the fair in another post) When I returned, I received an email from the CEO of the Abu Dhabi school asking for more information. \u00a0I sent my online portfolio as well as links to my two websites for class use, and was very happy to accept the offer that soon came.<\/p>\n When I told Brett about the offer, the fact that we had only 6 hours to decide since this person was at different international teaching fair in Dubai didn\u2019t faze him at all. \u00a0He called, emailed and texted his friends, both in Hawaii and in Oregon, and arrived at his decision in less than two hours.\u201d<\/p>\n *If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community<\/a> contact us here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? Our 13th blog that we would like to highlight is called \u201cYou are the author of your own life story \u2013 Create your life!\u201c\u00a0 Check out the blog entries of this international school teacher who is currently working at an international school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[422,423,29,242,32,58,33,386,65,60,424,425,426,427],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs-of-international-teachers","tag-abu-dha","tag-dubai","tag-international-school","tag-international-school-teaching","tag-international-schools","tag-international-teachers","tag-international-teaching","tag-interview","tag-recruitment-fair","tag-teaching-abroad","tag-teaching-in-the-middle-east","tag-teaching-in-uae","tag-uae","tag-united-arab-em"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-2l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1359,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-of-international-school-teachers-dan-and-jillians-international-teaching-adventures\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":0},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cDan and Jillians International Teaching Adventures.\u201d","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? Our 22nd blog that we would like to highlight is called\u00a0\u201cDan and Jillian's International Teaching Adventures\u201d\u00a0 Check out the blog entries of this international school teaching couple who are currently working at Al Batinah International School (9\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs of International Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs of International Teachers","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/blogs-of-international-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/08\/screen-shot-2012-08-12-at-7-46-21-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1322,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-of-international-school-teachers-art-teach-travel\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":1},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cArt Teach Travel.\u201d","author":"ISCommunity","date":"July 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? Our 21st blog that we would like to highlight is called\u00a0\u201cArt Teach Travel\u201d\u00a0 Check out the blog entries of this school teacher who has lived and worked in the United States for many years teaching art.\u00a0 She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs of International Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs of International Teachers","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/blogs-of-international-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/screen-shot-2012-07-25-at-2-18-28-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3080,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blog-httpbanyangloballearning-wordpress-com201212185-tips-teaching-abroad\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":2},"title":"Blogs for international school teachers: \u201cBanyan Global Learning\u201d (Provider of educational services to K-12 schools in Asia)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"April 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 36th blog that we would like to highlight is called\u00a0\u201cBanyan Global Learning\u201d\u00a0 Check out the blog entries of this organization that currently works with a variety of schools in Asia (e.g. Taiwan). A few entries that we would like to highlight: 5\u00a0Tips for Teachers Abroad \u201cI would have parents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs of International Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs of International Teachers","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/blogs-of-international-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 10.04.11 AM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Screen-Shot-2014-04-12-at-10.04.11-AM-300x56.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1413,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-of-international-school-teachers-all-you-need-to-know-about-teaching-overseas\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":3},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cAll you need to know about teaching overseas.\u201d","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? Our 23rd blog that we would like to highlight is called\u00a0\u201cAll you need to know about teaching overseas.\u201d\u00a0 Check out the wealth of information in the blog entries of this international school teacher who has worked at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs of International Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs of International Teachers","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/blogs-of-international-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/screen-shot-2012-09-30-at-5-48-30-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2481,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-international-school-teachers-international-school-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":4},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cChris Chow Fun\u201d (An international school teacher at the Western Academy of Beijing)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"December 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? Our 34th blog that we would like to highlight is called\u00a0\u201cChris Chow Fun - A Foodie Hipster's Journey to the Far East\u201d\u00a0 Check out the blog entries of this international school educator who currently works at Western\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs of International Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs of International Teachers","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/blogs-of-international-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/untitled.png?fit=775%2C226&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/untitled.png?fit=775%2C226&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/untitled.png?fit=775%2C226&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/untitled.png?fit=775%2C226&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2627,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blog-highlight-the-present-perfect\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":5},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cThe Present Perfect\u201d (An international school teacher at the American International School of Budapest)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"August 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? 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<\/a><\/p>\n