I am moving this blog over to my cyberbali.com domain. Being on my own domain allows me a little more freedom than I have here at WordPress. For instance, I can advertise and sell my eBooks on my blog rather than just mentioning them in a post.
So The International Teacher can be found by clicking on this link.
The International Teacher: A Guide to Teaching Overseas
Life overseas. Schools with first class facilities. Dedicated and polite students. A salary and lifestyle that allows you to put some money in the bank every month. An opportunity to expand your professional and personal horizons. New experiences waiting for you every day.
Does this sound like something that you want? If it is, read on.
So, how do you have a terrific time while making a great living? International teaching is your portal to a life of adventure, professional development and financial security. Jobs for teachers overseas continue to increase as new international schools open around the world. However, as opportunities increase, obtaining a job as an international teacher is more competitive than ever. Teachers need to be prepared for the competition, which is why I wrote this eBook.
The International Teacher: A Guide to Teaching Overseas, ha 430 pages of up-to-date reviews of 155 international schools along with key articles on topics of fundamental importance to teachers searching for positions in international schools. In Section One of The International Teacher you will find articles on:
Section Two contains articles on International Education Organizations including:
Section Three contains reviews of 155 international schools from five continents. Each school review contains:
Why should you buy this book?
This eBook is in downloadable PDF format with hyperlinks that allow you to instantly access the most recent information on 155 schools. The articles in Section One cover the most important aspects of finding an international job and allows you to be competitive in a highly competitive market. My years in international education have given me an insider’s knowledge of the international teaching market. As a retired teacher commented on a pre-publication of this book:
I wish that you had written this during my teaching years. The ease with which I was able to access information on so many schools, including ones that I have never heard of, would have made my job searches much more enjoyable and wide-ranging than they were.
For some examples of what you will find in The International Teacher go to my blog, The International Teacher. You will find reviews of schools as well as articles on teaching overseas. This eBook grew out of The International Teacher blog and covers more schools in greater detail with the most current information available. Plus, as a benefit for all purchasers of this book, you will receive next year’s update (due out in October 2010) for free.
About the Author
I have a Ph.D. in anthropology, and I’ve been teaching now for 33 years. My positions have ranged from preschool to university. I’ve been overseas now for 20 years. In that time, I’ve taught just about every subject that schools offer. My first position overseas was teaching Second Grade to a group of expat students in a small mining community in Indonesia. Since then I’ve taught computers, math, anthropology, physical education, art, library, social studies, science, health, and more. I’ve been a computer coordinator at four schools, an elementary/middle school principal at two schools, and I’ve served on countless accreditation and curriculum committees as well. As a teacher and administrator, I’ve been on both sides of the job search – interviewer as well as interviewee.
You can purchase this book and download it today by clicking on this link. The price is only $10.00 and remember that you get all future updates for free by purchasing the first edition now.
The International School of Trieste was founded in 1964. It is a non-profit day school for students from Pre-Nursery through Grade 10. IST is accredited by the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges.
IST has over 300 students that represent 25 nationalities. Many of the students come from the local community, and many of the international students come from families associated with local scientific institutions. Class sizes run from an average of 20 in Early Childhood to 24 in Elementary School to 20 in the Middle School and 10 in the High School.
Mission
The mission of the school is to provide a balanced education and help students develop their potentials and become lifelong learners and responsible citizens.
Facilities
The school has a two-story building that also includes a sports facility. Other facilities include: a library, a science lab, state of the art computer lab, a cafeteria, and a gym, along with outdoors play areas.
Curriculum
The school is organized with four academic sections: Early Childhood, Elementary School, Middle School and High School. IST plans on adding addition high school grades in the near future. All sections with the exception of Early Childhood study Italian as a vital component of the program. The school curriculum has Core Subjects and Additional Subjects, similar to many international schools.
Extra-curricular Activities
IST has a range of extra-curricular activities including sports like tennis and soccer, music, drama, yoga, Italian, and community development. The school has a sports exchange with another international school in Rome.
Technology
IST has computer classes for all age students although the computer is used more as a “problem-solving machine” in the upper grades.
Professional Development
No information is available on the school website.
Employment
The majority of teachers at IST are from North America, and Britain. Seven nationalities are represented on the school teaching staff. The school seeks teachers who are certified, have university degrees, and are experienced. No information is available on salaries, benefits or the process of applying for a position at the school. If you are interested in working here, you might send them an email and ask them to improve their employment page.
About Trieste
Trieste is a beautiful city located in northeastern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. It has a population of just over 200,000 and was once part of Austria. This is one of those cities known as border towns because it sits along the Slovenian border. The mixed population is made up of Italians, Slovenians, Serbs, Croatians, Germans and Hungarians. Trieste is a port city and much of its economy depends on its strategic geographical location. Trieste has a pleasant climate with cold but dry winters, rainy springs and autumns, and hot dry summers.
Some of the highlights of the city are: the Miramare Castle built in the mid ninteenth century, the Castle of San Giusto, the Arch of Riccardo that dates back to the Roman period, the Basilica Forense, the Roman theatre and more. James Joyce did much of his writing here. The city actually has a long list of famous writers who took up residence there while writing.
American International School Lusaka
School Website Review: I like the homepage. They have a cool mosaic. The school offers a lot of information, especially on the school curriculum and extracurricular activities. While the school does have some information on teacher salaries and benefits, I would like to see a little more information about the benefits as well as the salary schedule.
American International School Lusaka is an independent, co-educational day school for students from 2-18 years old. AIS was established in 1986. The school is an IB World School that is authorized to use all three IB programmes. The school year runs from August to June. AIS is accredited by the Council of International Schools and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
Lusaka
AIS has approximately 500 students: 28% of students are American, 24% of students are African, 42% of students are from Europe and the remaining students are from the Middle East and Australasia. Class sizes vary according to grade level but generally average out at a maximum of 19 students per class.
Mission
AISL is working on becoming a leading IB World School and enabling its students to become successful lifelong learners who are appreciative of other cultures and are prepared to continue their education in leading schools.
Facilities
AISL is located close to the main residential area of Lusaka on 40 acres. It has a purpose built facility that includes: 8 classrooms blocks, an Early Learning Center, a library, 3 computer labs, a Performing Arts Center, 2 swimming pools, an outdoor amphitheatre, 3 sports fields, 2 tennis courts, a cafeteria, a multi-purpose covered court for sports and teacher housing.
Curriculum
AISL is an IB World School that is authorized to use all three IB programs. You can find more information about the IB in Chapter 2. The school has their curriculum online. Take a look at it. In addition to the IB Diploma, senior students can get the American High School Diploma. AISL has a Special Needs Department for students with mild learning disabilities.
Extra-curricular Activities
AISL offers a wide range of programs including: sports, horse riding, karate, ballet, drama, computer games, chess, Student Council, the Model United Nations and more.
Technology
AISL has a wired and wireless campus with all students and teachers being able to access the internet and the school network. All classrooms have computers in addition to the 3 computer labs on campus. The school uses iMacs and Mack Books. In addition to technology being integrated throughout the curriculum, students receive skills-based lessons on the use of computer applications.
Professional Development
No information is available on the school website, although considering that this in an IB World School there will definitely be professional development on the IB.
Employment
AISL is looking for teachers who are committed, collaborative, qualified, experienced, flexible, have a sense of humor and are imaginative. The school uses both locally hired teachers and overseas hired teachers. IB experience and international teaching experience is a benefit.
Overseas teachers are offered an initial two-year contract. The school uses a salary schedule based on education and experience. Salaries range from USD 30,000 to USD 50,000. The average salary is about USD 38,0000. Benefits include: housing, annual home leave, housing and utilities, free tuition for up to 2 children, and medical insurance.
Candidates should send a letter of inquiry to the Director with a resume attached. AISL recruits at the Search, ISS and CIS fairs.
About Zambia and Lusaka
Zambia has a population of about 10 million. The country has 73 language groups, but English is the official language. Zambia is land-locked so forget about easy access to beaches. The currency is the Kwacha.
Zambia has three seasons: the cool season between May and August, the hot season between September and November, and the wet season from December through April. Nights can be cool enough to wear a jacket.
Lusaka is the capital of Zambia and has a population of about 2 million. The city is located at 1280 meters above sea level. There are three main residential areas in the city although about 80% of the population lives in shantytowns. The city has a number of internationally-oriented restaurants, and is home to many bars for both locals and expats. The city also has a number of museums such as the Lusaka National Museum, a golf club, the University of Zambia and other attractions.
Posted in expat life, international education, international teaching, school websites | Tags: Africa, Lusaka
This post is another republication from a year ago. With the recruitment fairs still going on, this seems to be the appropriate time to post this again.
Today, I want to discuss the importance of finding the right “fit” with your new school. The person that is interviewing you will be looking to see if you “fit” his/her school, so you should be doing the same thing in your research for a position long before you get to the interview stage. In fact, one of the key reasons to research schools should be to find the ones that fit with you and save yourself a lot of unnecessary interviews.
One of the great things about the internet age is that you can do all your research online. Back when I first started teaching overseas, this wasn’t an option, and I sat through several interviews that showed that there was definitely not a fit for me or for the school. Today you can avoid that if you do your research.
Almost all international schools have websites – some of them are just incredible sources of information, while others are fairly minimal. One of the earliest signs about the school you’re researching is the website – is it updated, is it complete, does it feature student work?
Now that you’ve found the website, look around for information on the location of the school. These are some of the things that you should be asking yourself: Is the school in a city or a rural area? Do you like traffic? Solitude? How hard is it to get in and out of for vacations and leave? What kinds of entertainment or cultural activities are available? What is the culture of the country/city like? What about the climate? Too hot or too cold for you? Does a lot of rain depress you? Do you need to be able to shop a lot?
Here are a few examples of what a fit isn’t. While I was teaching in Pakistan, we had several teachers come to the school who immediately had problems adapting to local cultural customs in terms of dress and behavior and beliefs. They were miserable and they made everyone around them miserable by constantly whining and complaining. One teacher was unhappy enough that she decided after four months that she couldn’t complete the two year contract, and we had to get permission from the Board to let her leave after a year. In this case she wasted her time and money and the school’s time and money. Another example is the teacher who arrived in a remote school on the island of New Guinea. She spent the first few days barricaded in her house because the mining town where the school was located depressed her. The lesson here? Make sure that you are going to be comfortable with the physical and cultural characteristics of the school that you are considering.
OK, now that you know where you might be going, it’s time to take a look at the mission and goals of the school. Can you support them wholeheartedly? If you can’t, you’re better off looking somewhere else. Institutions are slow to change and if your idea is to move to a new school and try to mold it to your idea of what a superior school should be, you may be in for a lot of disappointment and frustration.
Teaching is changing (or should be) as our ideas about what constitutes knowledge and what the nature of the world is changes, i.e., The World if Flat. What’s your take on this? If you’re a teacher who is excited by 21st Century Literacy, Web 2.0, and integrating technology in to your teaching practices and mindset, then you need to make sure that your school is on the same track. Take a look at the IT curriculum and resources. Do they have a strategic plan? What do they say about where the school is or is planning to go?
Here’s another example. I’m reading David Warlick’s 2¢ Worth blog. He’s commenting on a keynote by Stephen Heppell at the Ontario Library Association, and Heppell had asked students what a technology literate teacher should be able to do and they listed these things:
* upload to YouTube
* edit a Wikipedia article
* choose a safe online payments site
* subscribe to a podcast and un subscribe
* turn on and off predictive text
* manage a groups Flickr photos (and spell Flickr!)
* look after a community in Facebook.
Do I think those abilities are important? Yes, definitely, and I’m excited by all the new directions of teaching and learning that some schools are exploring and implementing like the International School of Bangkok, Shanghai American School, and others.
Out of these seven actions mentioned above, four of them are impossible at our school because of the company’s filters. Being restricted by finances and policies from the direction that I want to move in, I decided to retire a year earlier than I had planned. Is this an example of not having a fit? Yes and no. Yes, because the school has been able to offer limited support for what I need to improve our technology program and meet my personal and professional development goals; so my philosophy and goals are only partially in sync with the schools. No, because when I came here, my goals were less encompassing and the school was going to be able to support them. That is, the school and I were going in the same direction. There was a fit. Five years later, the school is just coming around to where I think it should be, but I made my decision to leave last year when the frustrations were making me miserable which was most likely making my colleagues miserable. This is actually an example of a sign of when it’s time to move on.
So far I haven’t mentioned money or benefits. Are they important? Definitely! But, I’ve seen people take jobs mainly because of money, or stay in jobs longer than they should have because of money, and it’s always been a mistake. That said, one of the great things about international teaching is making some money and being able to save it. Some schools don’t like to put their salary schedule online; I’ve never been able to understand why although at my previous school, it was decided not to list our salaries even though they were quite good, and I felt that they would help recruit people. When I started international teaching I took a job for less money than I was making in the States. I did it because of the experience of living in a jungle. I’ve never regretted it. Check to see what currency you will be receiving your salary in. Being given local currency can significantly reduce your spending power when taking a vacation.
Don’t ignore those benefits and just focus on money. Here are some key benefits: What is the retirement pay like? Do they provide housing? What kind is it? Do you have to share? Is there a relocation allowance? What is the sick leave allowance like? You can cash it in in some schools. What about home leave? Is it at the end of the first or second year? Do you get additional travel money for one of your vacations? What about insurance? I’ve had some bad insurance benefits and some great ones. What about tuition for your children? Most schools provide it free, make sure yours does. What about professional development? Do you control it or does the PD committee? Some schools offer cars for free or low cost. Some offer interest free loans to buy one. Does the school offer leave to attend a recruitment fair?
OK. You’ve gone through all this. Hopefully, you have a fit. Relax and get ready for the interview.
 | Honey sharma on The American School of Du… |
 | ravindra on The American School of Du… |
 | Naheed Mukhtar on The International Teacher … |
 | preeeth on The American School of Du… |
 | mijjumbi david on The International School of Ku… |
