Job Discussion Forums

[1st Sgt Welsh]

I'm actually in the process of getting certified teaching status and a lot of what SinaloaPaisa has been saying concurs with what I've learned/heard.

The first-tier prestigious international schools, especially in desirable locations, can afford to be picky, as their conditions are often excellent, but, they invariably work you very hard for it. Lots of admin, meetings and extra-curricular activities. Like I said, they often take very good care of you, and competition for positions can be fierce, but it's not all gravy. Furthermore, as has been said, you need experience to crack that nut.

Besides, from everything I've heard, there is nothing wrong with a decent, second-tier international school, at least to start with. Like SinaloaPaisa, I also know someone who went straight from certification to teaching in Kuwait, (only see her occasional Facebook posts, but she appears to be renewing, so she mustn't hate it). Another guy I know, an Aussie, went to China to teach in a second-tier school straight after graduating, gained experience, and is now living and working in Oslo.

Anyway, I'm not discounting the benefits of getting a few year's experience at home and this is something that I am seriously considering doing. This is despite the fact that I have no real desire to work in Australia and I'd just do it to have it done with and gain the experience so I can go international. However, there appears to be more than one way to skin a cat and I'd certainly be open to a decent second-tier international school, especially if it's in a country I'd like to live in.

[SinaloaPaisa]

[LarssonCrew]

I'm also not sure what the obsession with 'experience from your home country' on these boards seem to be.

Let me honestly ask you if an international school in say Laos or an Indonesian Island would prefer someone who

a)has taught in the UK/USA to a majority of English first speakers
b)Good materials, curriculum assistance, white boards in every classroom, student's who know the rules/regulations [don't talk etc.] where there is some discipline
c)Have good housing and a whole host of food options
d)Don't require paperwork to work there except maybe a social security number
e)All staff from a similar/same country with similar interests

OR

a)A guy who has taught in an international school where every pupil is a second language English learner
b)Where they have taught students who have been through Asian schools i.e rote learning
c)Who are familiar with Asian/local cultures
d)Who speak a separate language which is useful locally
e)Who is used to power outages
f)Who is aware of all the paperwork required to obtain a visa
g)Who can handle local customs and the heat
h)Who is laid back about not having materials
i)Who can create things out of nothing because there isn't a whole host of curriculum assistance.
j)Who can accept that in Asia alot of things are done last minute or just cannot be done

Tell me which teacher you will, as a principal of a school, have to spend more time integrating into your IS culture?

[SinaloaPaisa]

There is no obsession with it in the real world.

It's just most IS think people go the typical route ie education degree. They would prefer non newbs so they just say get 2 years in your home country.

An actual principal isnt gonna care where your experience came from for the most part. And I'd wager as you said he will actually put more stock into the teacher who has taught abroad.

Adjusting to life abroad is not easy for everyone. Many teachers from the states can't hack it and end up quitting. Which cases schools a lot of headaches.

[LarssonCrew]

I can imagine going from a nice small village middle school in the UK to a crazy, hot, non organised school in the middle of a bustling Asian city would be a massive change of pace for most people.

If you've shown you can do it then that's got to count for something surely?

[Spelunker]

EDITED-Duplicate post

[Spelunker]

I knew an English girl who was teaching in the same rural chinese city as I was teaching in. Me, only, degree, tefl, and still the same....but more experienced now. Her, career teacher, go getter, went back home to do PGCE in the UK. She walked out of one class at the college we were at, and was always griping about teaching. Now, is it just me, or, if you are going to teach students at some tough inner city school in England or international school abroad after obtaining said PGCE, and you can't even handle a class of chinese students (out of the two classes, I would choose the latter!) ,before you have even begun to study it, perhaps, just perhaps teaching or at least TEFL is not for you, I don't know, she may well have go on to make a very good teacher of writing or another subject in the UK and/or abroad, but if you can't handle 14-16 classes a week at a chinese college without an axe to grind, then it sticks out like a blind cobblers thumb doesn't it? PS. Did not go to Uni until I was 25, and worked all manner of jobs before then....and I could still make the students like me in China, unlike many other qualified to the hilt teachers from the UK,who gave up, packed up, and went back to boring life in the UK, or teaching in other 3rd world (compared to china) destinations because they did not want to return home.....the PGCE mob can talk a good talk, but they should do it back home, in the UK, and leave TEFL to those of us who want to and can do it.

[nomad soul]

[SinaloaPaisa]

[LarssonCrew]

At the end of the day this is still Asia.

Things are still done on 'who you know'.

Guess what? You earned your teaching license and have been working in Vietnam/China/Cambodia whatever for a year to introduce yourself to Asia and you've had the pleasure of drinking every single weekend with the principal of the British/American/Canadian/Insert International School name here. You'll likely get the job over someone he doesn't know.

[Spelunker]

[twowheel]