Where is the Best Place to Teach Overseas

Each country has a culture and charm of its own. When choosing where the best place to teach overseas is for you, you may want to consider what effect living in a particular country will have on your lifestyle.

Domestic Help
Teachers with children will find that living in a country which has a lower cost of living than at home will discover that the lower cost of living carries across into the cost of child care too, particularly in home child care.

When you teach abroad you can choose to live and work in a country where you will be able to afford a nanny. Many international teachers with children employ nannies, especially in South East Asia where the cost of living is very low, and as a consequence, local salaries are low too.

International School Recruiting Fair Tips

If you're just starting out as an international teacher - here are some tips to help you at you first international school recruiting fair...

You need to be picky about where you go and teach overseas, but you don't really need to be picky regarding which international schools you interview with because practice makes perfect.

If you can get interviews with schools that you're not sure you're interested in, do so, then go along for the interview practice. One result of this is that you could find out a school you really didn't think was your cup of tea turns out to be perfect for you!

Another result of using this interview strategy is if one of these schools that aren't on your hit list the only school that offers you a contract (and I'm sure this won't be the case) then working for a slightly undesirable school for a year or two will at least get your foot in the door of international teaching and make it easier to geta great job next time around.

One last thing... in preparation for the international teaching job fair I attended in Bangkok this month, I took a friend out to lunch and quizzed her about interview questions. I was going for the same kind of job that she currently does in my school. I found that it really helped me get my head around what I wanted to say at the interviews. And a good idea of what recruiters were looking to hear from me!

International School Recruiting Fair Tips

Teaching Overseas - Opportunities to Travel

Reporting from Laos...

In my experience of teaching in northern hemisphere schools, the Christmas break can be very short and come at the end of a really long term...

When you are teaching overseas at an international school you'll often find that you get an extended Christmas break, even if you live in a non-Christian country. This is because the school community (that is, the paying clients) demand it.

I'm feeling very relaxed and I'm only halfway through my three-week winter (Christmas) break. I'm currently in Laos, where I've spent some time learning to weave.

Christmas breaks long enough to go home and visit your family may be a priority for you and if it is then you need to add a question about it to your interview list prior to the job fairs. If you end up looking at a school that is predominantly made up of a non-Christian local client base, you may not receive a long Christmas break, and may even end up having to work on December 25th!

"The best international schools around the world"

Recently a UK newspaper published a story called "The best international schools around the world" which included a list of schools abroad that were recommended by 'word of mouth'.

While this may not be a list that many international teachers would agree with, it's a starting point to see what schools are available for parents, and makes interesting for teachers who are looking to teach overseas.

Check out the article on the Guardian website:

The best international schools around the world

Recognising Culture Shock When Teaching Overseas

Recognising culture shock for what it is and acknowledging which stage you’re in is the first step to lessening the grip it has on you.

For example, if you suddenly feel like you hate your new teaching job because of how hard it is to make the purchasing department understand what it is you’re trying to order, recognising that this as an effect of culture shock can help you adjust your behaviour and let it go before it cripples you.

When you first get to your new home you’ll feel happy to be there and everything you see or experience will be wonderful and new. This is the ‘honeymoon’ stage of culture shock and it feels great! It can last from several days to several months. This is the time where you’ll be sending loads of emails to your friend using words and phrases like ‘awesome’, ‘best decision I’ve ever made’, ‘don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago’.

Recognise this stage of culture shock and enjoy it.

Next comes the period of frustration, full of situations like the first example above. When you sink into this part of the cycle you’ll begin to dislike everything about your new home. It’ll be too hard, too smelly, too hot, too loud, and everything else ‘too’!

This is also when homesickness could strike you with a vengeance. You may find yourself developing a hostile attitude towards every one not of your own nationality and culture. Your old home will suddenly seem like the best place in the world and you may regret ever leaving it.


Strategies to cope with the stress of culture shock

1. Learn some of the local language before you leave home. You’ve signed a contract that means you’re going to be living in your host country for 1-2 years, learning the language will help you get around and make friends. Some great ways to learn the local language while you’re still at home…

2. Take time to get used to the new time zone, the different weather and smells, sounds etc.

3. Begin building friendships as soon as you arrive and meet the other new teachers. You’ll form a bond with these teachers in the first year especially because they’ll be coping with culture shock as well. This will be your support group.

4. Stay in touch with people you’ve left at home. In my most recent move I found the best medicine for the frustration phase was an email from my old colleagues telling me how unsatisfied they were at my previous school.

5. Cut yourself some slack. When you recognise the symptoms of culture shock, give yourself a break, watch a favourite movie, look at pictures from home, have a meal at your favourite restaurant. Revel in the great things you’re experiencing in your new home so that you can put your frustration in perspective.

Recognising culture shock when you're teaching overseas

Securing a teaching job overseas will be the best decision you'll ever make!

Teaching at an international school is an opportunity to put your qualifications to great use.

You’ll be able to support yourself, often having more left over at the end of the month than you would at home, and travel extensively to exotic destinations you’ve only ever dreamed about.

And guess what?

Internationals school principals have been discussing an expected shortage of international teachers!

That’s right, with the sudden explosion in the number of schools opening for business in the last couple of years there’s been an equal explosion in the number of positions recruiters need to fill…

...but as yet there hasn’t been the required increase in teachers applying.

Teacher Shortage = Opportunities for YOU

Teaching Vacancies Overseas