Job Discussion Forums

rioux · Joined: 26 Apr 2012 Posts: 880

Anyone have a clue about any of them?

Thanks

Shroob · Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339

Never worked at one of them but hope to in the future once I have better qualifications and more experience.

From what I have gleamed from the internet and word of mouth:

The Good
Wages - Pay more than the average ESL job
Your children may get a place - A big plus for teachers with families
Professionally run - At least that's the impression I get.
Looks better on a C.V. - Compare international school to a language mill

The Bad
Hours - Generally longer hours
More demanding - being a 'white monkey' won't cut mustard (not that that's a bad thing for everyone).

twilothunder · Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 442

bestteacher2012 · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 160

Miajiayou · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 283 Location: Nanjing

twilothunder · Joined: 09 Dec 2011 Posts: 442

Marking can be done during free periods. You gather most of your subject materials and do your lesson plans during your first year. They only get tweaked to stay contemporary after that. The workload may be 2-3 hours per evening in the first year but it is nowhere near that afterwards.

My point though was more that you are unlikely to get timetabled to teach after 4pm at an international school, sorry if that was not clear from my post.

Mr. Leafy · Joined: 24 Apr 2012 Posts: 246 Location: North of the Wall

s a full-time teacher at international schools you will also have a fair amount of meetings, you are likely to be expected to lead an after school club once a week, there will be mandatory professional development and committee work, you will probably have to attend sports day, schools plays and such things, and several times a year you will lose a week of evenings to parent-teacher meetings. Oh, and there is the lunch and recess duty.

There is a reason they pay well.

But, as has been pointed out, ESl and internat school are so so different it's hardly worth discussing them on the same site.

There are several sites devoted to internat schools, the best ones cost money. Sorry, it's been too long so I can't recommend one now.

kungfuman · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:01 am Post subject:

I work at an international school now.

12 classes a week. Mostly with the same group of students.

I had to cover classes for a teacher who didn't show up. Grade 5 and grade 1.

Students in the of these classes were pretty bright. Most from out of China. Taiwan, HK, Malaysia, UK, USA, Canada.

So far it's no different than other places except the Chinese staffers are in general very nice. Some are chatty.

So only downers I have met are some foreign teachers who think their poopy don't smell like poopy. I make sure to stay away from them.

I'm teaching high school. Can't say it is good but I have a strong disposition. And they pay me. What more do I need?

ecubyrd · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 172

Planning/marking/etc..can all be done during free periods (which you should have an ample amount of) if one knows how to manage time whatsoever. I don't take work home simply because I don't need to.

As Mr. Leafy mentioned, you will have extra curriculars. These things happen during the course of a regular working day at my school.

Someone said longer hours as a negative. Longer than what? If we are talking a Chinese uni conversational teacher gig, then yes you will put in more hours during the week. You will also be compensated quite a bit more while enjoying roughly the same vacation time.

I think maybe the OP was looking for something different than general conditions (ie, what are the good, middle of the road, and bad schools). I can't offer much if that was the intent.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I work in an "international DEPARTMENT" of a private Chinese school. My regular teaching duties include 4 forty-minute periods per day + one supervision duty after lunch (and before their first afternoon class) and 2 fifteen-minute reading periods. Mondays start a little later than other days because the kids are arriving to school in droves. Tu-Fri my first class commences at 7:45. Besides Monday, my last forty-minute class ends at 11:05 AM. However, with grading and supervision and future lesson preparation and other job duties associated with my other job title, I generally leave around 3 PM. I tend to get to school around 7:15 AM.

So this is almost an 8 hour day for me. Other teachers don't have it like this as they don't have an extra job title. I believe most contracts expect the teachers to be at the school teaching and getting their teaching related work done for about 6 hours per day.

I know the school usually starts salaries at 10,000 per month (before tax) and a housing/utility allowance of 2000 per month. And of course, all the regulars such as air fare refunds, extensive holiday time off, medical, free meals on campus, etc. I've been at the school for several years now, so my salary has crept up to a substantially higher amount.

But, it's not all peaches and cream. This is definitely a Chinese-run establishment with fuddy-duddy Chinese ways that can be frustrating and often maddening. Most kids are from wealthier families so can be quite spoiled and more than a handful to deal with. In my experience, the school has always been honest and fair with me concerning my on-time pay and reimbursements. They follow the contract to a T. But it IS run like a business more than a school, so that's where the frustration often comes in.

I'm guessing a true international school where you have students from all over the world attending would be a much different environment (and a much higher salary and perhaps more responsibilities for a teacher). A majority of our students are from mainland Chinese.

kungfuman · Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:13 am Post subject:

Conversation with my high school students yesterday: " Is this a school or a business?"

Wrong, FIRST it is a business, THEN number 2 it is a school. Your parents are our customers and we must ALWAYS keep the customers happy. (That is why some of you slackers passed when you should have failed last year.)

traydragen · Joined: 20 Aug 2012 Posts: 4

kungfuman · Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:33 am Post subject:

ecubyrd · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 172

Denim-Maniac · Joined: 31 Jan 2012 Posts: 1238

This is going to sound like a real newbie question ... But what exactly is an international school????

I had always assumed it was a school in which home country certified teachers taught subjects, in much the same way as they do at home, but in foreign countries. The majority of the students would be children of ex-pats. As a result, the work they do isn't normally related to ESL/EFL work at all, and their responsibilities differ because of this.

My idea is based on an ex-colleague of mine who left the TEFL job we shared to go and teach history in HK, putting up with parents evenings, marking, inspections and basically all the same things he did in the US.

From reading posts, my definition would appear to be wrong??