Living and Teaching aboard - any advice for a novice?

[drewbradley]

Hello all.

I'm currently looking for teaching jobs in Asia or south America to start in September and was hoping someone might have some advice for me about moving and living in another country? Have 2 years experience so I hope finding a job won't be too difficult.

Currently looking at Vietnam and Japan as I've heard a lot of good things about both and they seem to be about as different as you can get from England (not that I dislike England, just want to experience something different).

I know this is a vague thread but that should give you some idea how little idea I have about moving such a long distance from home and into such a different education system.

Any advice / stories / tips on where or where not to teach, cultural things bare in mind etc are greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Chef Dave]

I have 17 years of international experience, 9 as a child and 8 as a teacher. I saw service at private international American schools in Saudi Arabia and Beirut, Lebanon. As a child I also attended American schools in Ghana, Thailand, and El Salvador.

If you're interested in going abroad, you need to begin making plans to attend an international job fair.

The biggest organzier of job fairs for international schools is the ISS, International Schools Service.

http://www.iss.edu/

They usually have job fairs in January or February, March or April, and June.

It's probably too late for you to register to attend the first job fair. Your best bet would be the March/April fair.

Unlike stateside schools that hire in the summer, the recruiting season for the international schools typically runs from January through June.

The ISS publishes an annual directory of schools. I would recommend purchasing this directory. The directory includes basic information about schools from around the world i.e. class size, total school enrollment, names and contact information etc.

If you attend an ISS fair, you should go to the fair already knowing who you're interested in working for. If you've done your homework, you will have already contacted schools via e-mail or international airmail to tell them of your interest, to share your resume, and to tell them that you will be at the coming ISS job fair.

The ISS job fair is basically like a big shark fest. It's always held in a hotel ballroom. Registered participants are given interview cards with dates and times. When the fair begins and the ballroom doors are opened, many teacher candidates literally charge into the ballroom in an effort to be first in line for their school of choice.

You should be advised that if you've got your cap set for Europe, good luck. Everyone wants to go to Europe and the lines of teacher candidates wanting to schedule interviews can be incredibly long.

The best thing you can do is to go to the job fair with a list of schools you're interested in. Once the fair begins, you'll have a certain amount of time to schedule an interview. Look around the ballroom to find the schools you're interested in. Find the school on your list with the shortest line. Get in line to schedule an interview. Use your time productively and don't waste your time standing in a line with 75 candidates.

You should also look for schools with short lines. Just because they're not on your list doesn't mean that they're not worth considering.

If you are reasonably up on world events, you will have an idea about which countries you should stay away from due to unrest and concerns about national stability.

The last job fair I attended was back in '97. I stayed away from Bogota, Columbia (drug cartel), Lima, Peru, (Shining Path guerrilas and a government that was so unstable that tourists were being mugged in broad daylight), and the Sudan (instability).

I saw nobody standing in line for Alexandria, Egypt or Beirut, Lebanon. The U.S. State Department had just removed Beirut from their list of restricted countries due to civil unrest. Beirut was also just starting an economic recovery following the end of their 17 year long civil war.

I scheduled an interview with the headmistress. I also got an interview for ALexandria, Egypt and Istanbul, Turkey, and Taipei, Taiwan.

I wound up going to Beirut which wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. The housing that had been described as "comparable to an American apartment" was only comparable if we were talking about a tenement slum. It had no air-conditioning. The ceiling fan literally fell off the ceiling after I turned it on. The sewage backed up in the bathroom.

I wound up leaving at the end of the school year after the Israeli Air Force bombed the city. I spent an entire night under a heavy desk in my faculty apartment while civil defence sirens howled and the night sky was filled with tracer fire from Syrian and Lebanese anti aircraft guns.

It was an interesting experience ...

[upnorthteacher]

That's a lot of great information, Chef Dave! Do you have any recommendations for countries to work in? My husband and I would like to teach abroad in a few years, but he really doesn't want to go to a volatile region.
Thanks

[Chef Dave]

That's a lot of great information, Chef Dave! Do you have any recommendations for countries to work in? My husband and I would like to teach abroad in a few years, but he really doesn't want to go to a volatile region.
Thanks

Thailand is nice - check out the International School of Bangkok. The ISB has changed a lot since I was a kid. I was an ISB student during the Vietnam war. At that time, our military base in Bangkok was the largest American overseas military base in existence. When the war ended and the military pulled out the ISB fell on hard times. I have heard that a lot of the students who attend the ISB are now Japanese. They attend school to develop English fluency but after school go to their "real school" for advanced academic tutoring in Japanese.
Singapore American School has a good reputation and Singapore is an extremely stable country.

Costa Rica is the most stable country in South America. Check out the San Jose International American School.

Istanbul, Turkey: Istanbul International School Turkey has a lot of history. As you may know, Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul also used to be known as Constantinople - which was the center of the Byzantine Empire.

Bali International School, Bali, Indonesia - This is a charming little school. I've never been there but had a friend who was the headmaster. I understand that teachers live in bungalows ON THE BEACH! How neat is that? :)

Please note that most teacher benefits include paid or subsidized housing. ISB, International School of Bangkok, has an entire compound set aside for American teachers. It's out in the boondocks but they have cars that can be signed out for trips into the city.

Seoul Foreign School, Korea - This was founded as a missionary school for the children of missonaires and still has a very strong religious element. When I interviewed for a job at this school, I was totally thrown by the question, "Describe your relationship with Jesus." (This had never come up in a job interview before ...)

We also have several American schools in Japan. Japan is well worth checking out but you should be aware that Japan also has an extremely high cost of living.

P.S. If you're a teaching couple, you may have an advantage finding a job. Schools like teaching couples because couples are more stable than singles. It can be very stressful living overseas and couples are more likely to stay than singles. Since the schools also provide housing, it's more cost effective for a school to pay for one apartment for two people instead of two apartments for two singles.

[Chef Dave]

P.S. In addition to providing housing, most schools provide annual roundtrip airfare (coach class) between the host country and the United States. As with teachers in the United States, benefits typically include health insurance and retirement.

Be aware that although you will have to file an income tax return on or before 4/15 - you are only liable to pay taxes on income earned in the United States. After you have been overseas for a year, your overseas income will be tax exempt although you will still be responsible for filing the Federal income tax. You may pick up tax forms at the U.S. Consulate.

Most host countries have an income tax. Some countries have a higher tax rate than the U.S. and others have a lower rate. Europe, in general, has a higher tax rate.

Some countries have no income tax at all. Saudi Arabia is one such country.

If you're interested in working in Saudi Arabia, apply for a job with the Saudi Aramco Oil Company. Aramco is one of the highest paying international schools in the world. I made $70,000 tax free during my 6 years there, '92-98. Housing was subsidized, about $300 for a furnished one bedroom apartment. As a married couple, you'd more than likely get a 2 or 3 bedroom duplex with an attached one car garage and a private fenced backyard.

The Saudis are pretty restrictive but the money is great. My salary included a $7500 annual vacation allowance that I used to travel around the world. During my time with Aramco, I literally visited dozens of countries including Greece, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Thailand, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Egypt.

The 401K plan with Aramco is unbelieveable. I was in Saudi Arabia for 7 years and when I left I had four times the amount that I would have otherwise have saved had I stayed in the public schools of Texas.

Be aware that Saudi Arabia has two international American school systems: Saudi Aramco and SAIS, the Saudi Arabia International Schools.

Aramco schools are for the English speaking dependents of the oil company employees. SAIS schools are basically for everyone else.

Non-Aramco employees referred to Aramco as "Disneyland" because we had more amenities than other communities. At the time I was there, there were four corporate communities: Dhahran, Ras Tanrua, Abqaq, and Udiliyah. (You don't want Udiliyah because it's out in the middle of the desert and is a pain to get to).

Dhahran is the largest community and is corporate headquarters. Ras Tanura is very scenic as it's built on the Persian Gulf - which in Saudi Arabia is known as the "Arabian" Gulf.

Typical community amenities include: private stables, baseball field, cafeteria, bowling alley, library, recreation center with a swimming pool and fitness room, golf course, supermarket, gas station, post office, barber shop, auto repair shop, and travel agency.

Most Aramco employees employ full or part time "house boys" who work for about 15 riyals ($4.00) hour. The houseboys do light cleaning - dusting, vacuuming, laundry etc.

If you think you can deal with conservative Muslim values, you can make a lot of money working for Aramco.

One of the many things I liked about working for Aramco is that Saudi Arabia is centrally located. If you have a 3 day weekend, you can go to Jordan, Bahrain, or the United Arab Emirates ... but if you have a week off as with Spring Break, you can go to Europe, north Africa (Egypt) or southeast Asia.

Were it not for the fact that bachelor housing is the pits, I would probably still be in Saudi Arabia ... well on my way to becoming a teacher millionaire.

[Chef Dave]

Here is another resource I just thought of, The International Educator, TIE.

Tie is a quarterly publication for teachers living abroad. They now have an on-line site.

http://www.tieonline.com/

The neat thing about TIE is that they have a really nice classified jobs section. If you decide to go to an ISS fair, check with TIE to see which schools are advertising for positions. If you're interested in any of these schools, send them your resumes with a nice cover letter. Mention which ISS job fair you'll be attending.