Starting today, I will begin moving the content of this blog to The International Teacher blog on my cyberbali.com domain. I expect the total migration to take a month. Please follow this link and bookmark The International Teacher. Thanks for visiting.

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, has 430 pages of  up-to-date reviews of 197 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:

1. Finding the Fit
2. Writing a Cover Letter
3. Job Fairs
4. Interviews
5. Professional Development

Section Two contains articles on International Education Organizations including:

1. The University of Northern Iowa Placement Service for Educators
2. Search Associates
3. International Schools Services
4. East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools
5. International Baccalaureate Organization
6. Quality Schools International
7. Oasis International Schools

Section Three contains reviews of 197 international schools from five continents. Each school review contains:

1. Coverage of the school mission, facilities, curriculum, extra curricular activities, technology, professional development, employment details, and sociocultural information about the school’s location.
2. Updated links to the school website, employment information, email addresses, and more.

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 197 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 Damascus Community School has closed. This is the announcement on the school website.

DCS Parents and Students,

The DCS has been directed by the Syrian Government to close the school effective November 6 and DCS will comply.  School leadership, concerned diplomatic missions, and the DCS community will work constructively with the government of the Syrian Arab Republic to make alternative educational arrangements for our students.

With the early departure of the international teachers, classes have been canceled. Student records may be obtained and business office transactions will be possible through Thursday, November 6. At 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6th, access to the DCS campus will no longer be available. DCS contact information will be provided on this site once the contacts have been established.

The DCS faculty and staff wish to thank the entire DCS community for their overwhelming support and help during the past, very stressful, week.

Back to some TED videos today.

Photo from Ted website

Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology, is well known for his work in Cognitive Science, Information Science and Educational Technology. This talk is about his work with the Hole-in-the-wall experiment.

The Hole-in-the-wall experiment started in 1999. Mitra and his colleagues traveled around India placing a computer and a touch pad in a hole in a wall. The computer either had high-speed internet access or stacks of CDs that could be inserted into the computer. Mitra left the computer alone and just let things happen.

The areas that picked for the experiment were either remote physically, i.e. rural areas, or remote socially and economically, i.e. slums. One of the things that that the experiment want to discover was the effect that educational technology has on children.

Mitra argues that educational technology has more impact on students that are performing at the bottom of the scale than for students who are at the top of the scale. That is, the top students show only small gains whereas the students at the bottom of the scale show much greater gains. Mitra said he was looking for an idea of what an alternative primary education might look like.

What happened was that children came up to what many of them saw as a television and began to play with it. The kids taught each other how to use the computer and how to surf. As most of the content on the internet is in English, the children began learning English so that they could use the computer. This language learning was a communal activity and extended beyond the immediate venue of the hole-in-the-wall to the use of English in other situations as well.

So what are some implications of the hole-in-the-wall experiment?
•    Education does not have to be a teacher-centered activity.
•    Children can and will teach and learn from each other.
•    If children are allowed  to express their innate curiosity, they can organize themselves into learning groups.

What do you think about the implications of this research?