Job Discussion Forums

cnovena · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:24 pm Post subject: newbie who is teacher certified

Hi to one and all,
I am brand new to this. I currently hold an English Florida teaching certificate for grades 6-12. Is it adviseable to obtain one of these other certificates to teach overseas? Secondly, have any of you brought a dependent to an overseas teaching situation?

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Where do you want to teach, and in what context? If you've already got a couple of years of experience, you could look into international schools--and if you go this route, a TEFL certificate would be useless.

For English teaching, it's always a good idea. Some countries don't require them, so let us know where you are thinking of going.

And by "English", do you mean English lit. or ESL?

d

tttompatz

cnovena · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:59 am Post subject:

Thanks for your advice. I've been teaching English grammar, literature, and writing for 10 years in Catholic schools.

What I am really interested in, is teaching in international schools where English is the primary language. I know I don't want to teach in the Middle East, but am open to anywhere else.

The most important component for being open to this experience at all is being able to bring my 13 year old daughter with me as she will be entering high school in 2011, when I hope to make this dream a reality.

Would you recommend filing an application with ISS or another international school service?

Thanks again.

tttompatz · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:18 pm Post subject:

at 13 your daughter may very well have her own ideas about heading abroad. It won't happen if she is not on-board with the idea. There is nothing worse than a resentful teenager when you are tens of thousands of kilometers away from your home country and having to deal with the culture shock on top of everything else.

IF she is good to go with the idea (as in WANTS to do it) then the who to apply through/with/to would largely depend on what part of the planet you want to work in.

cnovena · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 1:48 pm Post subject:

Hi, again,
My 13 year old is very much on board with the idea of going abroad. My thoughts about the where are: Caribbean, Europe, or Japan. I know of a couple of people who have taught in Korea and I have heard solid things about it, but I am not sure I'd want to teach there. I have much to learn about this process and want to make sure that I make a good decision for the both of us.
THanks for your help....[/b]

keitepai · Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 143 Location: Istanbul

Hi there,

I have jumped in late to this thread....
I think you should apply to one of the recruitment services, then they can tell you if your qualification is sufficient to teach at international schools. By 'certification' you must mean an English degree (teaching?) and certification? If this is the case there is no reason to do a TEFL qualification unless you intend specialising in this area.

I have children with me overseas, they love it! Sometimes they hate it as we all do but overall it's a great experience. An international school would be best for your 13 year old anyway as starting a new school in a foreign language at that age would be very difficult.

If you do not hold an EU passport then most of Europe is out, I don't know your passport details. Turkey or Northern Cyprus are the exceptions that are not in the EU yet. I have read here Japan is not good for jobs right now - what about Malaysia/Thailand?

Good luck Smile

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

You're definitely qualified for international schools in Japan.

As for your daughter joining up in 2011, bear in mind a few things.

1. Academic year for Japanese schools begins in April. For international schools, it's usually more along the lines of that country, which means August or September.

2. Do you and your daughter expect her to take the courses for credit that will transfer back to the homeland? Find out if they will, otherwise she'll be "on board" with the idea over here, and then realize she will have to repeat the grade back home.

3. How is her Japanese ability (reading/writing/speaking)? She'll likely get some courses in the language suited to her needs (not always true, though, depending on the school), but she'll also have to sit in on geography, science, math, etc. courses taught only in Japanese with Japanese textbooks.

4. She will also probably have to take part in the extracurricular activities, which means sports or band or other stuff. That can mean a serious commitment in supplies (e.g., uniform) and time! Some clubs practice 2-4 hours a day 5-7 days a week, plus go to tournaments.

FrenchLieutenant'sWoman · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 53 Location: France(ish)

I concur you're more than qualified for international schools. My advice would be to look for IBO world/partner schools and see if you can get a reduction in fees for your daughter if you teach there.

I think in Europe you'd mostly be limited to American schools abroad as they're the only ones with a good excuse to get around the visa regs and import their teachers!

From experience of not going through an agency I would recommend using one!

Chancellor

cnovena · Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:04 pm Post subject: Agency

Hi, thank you so much for the advice. I surmise that it would best in my circumstances to apply to an international school agency. Does anyone have an recommendations as to the most effective one? I've looked into and tooled around the websites of: Search Associates, COIS, and ISS. Am I missing any others, and what are your recommendations?

TeresaLopez · Joined: 18 Apr 2010 Posts: 601 Location: Mexico City

If Mexico is on the list you could easily, very easily, get a job at one of the elite international schools here. They actually pay more, in terms of buying power, than a teacher in the Catholic schools makes (unless things have changed since I taught in a Catholic school 15 years ago). You can enjoy perks you probably wouldn't in the US - household help, traveling on weekends, etc. If you are interested in a recruitment agency that places teachers in Mexico, send me a PM. I am in no way affiliated with the company, and there is no fee to teachers, I just don't know if it is allowed on the board.

Chancellor · Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:39 pm Post subject: Re: Agency

Chancellor · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 6:44 pm Post subject:

somewhere_else · Joined: 14 May 2010 Posts: 15

The reason I suggested TIE online is because I had a good experience finding my job at an international school through the site. From the information I found at TIE, I got a pretty good idea of what kinds of pay and benefit packages different schools offered and what jobs were available. I was also able to post my resume online, and a few schools emailed me to let me know they were interested in my application.

Ideally, these job ads would be free to view, but considering the fact that international school recruiting agencies such as Search and ISS can charge over $200 to register for their services before even adding in the cost of actually attending a job fair (flights, hotels, meals, etc) the $40 seemed like a reasonable investment.

Personally, I think the way that international schools recruit through job fairs and recruiting agencies is a bit outdated. Hopefully, as schools become more comfortable using technology such as Skype to conduct interviews things will change!

I wish the OP lots of luck in your search for a job!