Job Discussion Forums

[Tennessee]

About me: I have a BA in English (2001), a recently completed California Credential (Secondary English), and I will submit my Masters Thesis in Education within 2 months. i worked in Los Angeles at a language school for 3 years, as a Resource Specialist on an internship credential for 1 year at a High School, 1 year at a Chinese College in Guangzhou, and 3 years at a GZ language school.

I will be back in China this summer. I would like to apply as an SNET, not necessarily for this coming year, but i would like to begin the process. I am wondering about the no criminal conviction. How do I get that? Do I need one from China? Also, since California is paperless, I cannot get an actual copy of my credential. How do I work around that?
Since I am in Los Angeles now, I would like to prepare as much of this paperwork as possible.

I am considering international schools in China or HK as well. Is ISS the best way to go? Can anyone give some good advice and point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[moonbear]

Hi....

I applied for an SNET position (Still waiting to hear if I passed the interview) and I also have a California credential. I went to the website where you can lookup my credential and just printed it out from there. They were fine with that. At the interview, a woman told me that instead of getting all the background checks from all the places I've lived (US, China, Malaysia), I could go to this place in Hong Kong and do some sort of oath stating that I don't have a criminal background. Then they would give me a document that I could use in place of all the background checks. It's not a problem. I still haven't gone and done it yet, but she said they wouldn't need it right away. In fact, I think they will let me know if I am accepted into the scheme and then I can get the rest of the missing paperwork they need, such as that clearance document.

Before you jump into the ISS game, you might want to consider getting one or two years of experience teaching at a secondary school in the States or at an international school. It would probably have to be a lower tier international school because the really good ones want you to have experience, often IB experience. You have to take it step by step and right now it seems to me your next step would be some teaching experience at the secondary level (if that's what your credential is in). There are tons of lower-tier schools.... they have their problems, but you have to do your time. Unless you are part of a teaching couple, ISS is not a good idea until after you have that experience.

I worked at a school called Livingston American School in Shanghai. It is very much a lower tier school, but it was a good place to get my first year of international experience. There were problems, but overall it was a great experience. Now I'm working at another lower tier school in Malaysia and I really hate it, so I'm hoping to get into the NET scheme for next year. I have my two years of experience that most schools seem to want, and I sent out a ton of applications this year, and I haven't gotten anything. I've heard it's just a really bad year and the international schools have been inundated with applications. I should have done ISS or Search Associates, but I wasn't ready to fork over all the money just yet. Maybe I will next year.

Anyway, hope some of this information helped..... where are you going in China, by the way?

[Tennessee]

It does help. I have the one year of fulltime experience at a public secondary school. i forgot to add the last 2.5 years of secondary substitute teaching. I have a good shot at a lower tier school in Guangzhou that seems good. I will begin to send in my paperwork to HK for next year and see what happens. If the credential works from that page, the certificate of clearance should work too. Then, I just have to worry about the CNCC for china.

Thanks and good luck to you.