Teaching Overseas Can Make Accessing News and Events From Home Difficult...

NO MORE!!

When you're teaching overseas you do not need to be cut off from news and events at home. Provided your favourite sources have websites you can get access. But there's a new technology that you should be looking for that will have the news delivered to you whenever the website is updated.

This is an RSS feed. You subscribe to a website (and it's usually free) and then when the content is changed you are sent the new information automatically.

While I knew what RSS was, I hadn't figured out how to actually use it to my benefit... so I went looking...

Here's what I found! It's called 'RSS Feeds in Plain English' and boy, does it deliver. Watch this video and you'll know exactly what you need to do to get news and events sent to you. It's a two step process that they walk you through, so it's easy!

Using Leverage To Get Your First Teaching Job Overseas

The job market for Overseas Teaching Jobs is a competitive one. Leverage the experience you already have by putting together a targeted resume that reflects your strengths.

International school recruiters are looking for teachers that have experience with multilingual or multicultural classes, but have you pointed this out on your resume? Make it clear that you have worked with students from different cultures and you'll be one step closer to landing your first teaching job abroad. This can be done as easily as describing the student cohort in broad terms when you list the schools at which you've previously worked.

Many schools abroad are smaller than domestic schools, and so many recruiters are looking for teachers that have a range of diverse experiences to offer to the school. If you have taught other subjects than the position you are applying for, then put this in your resume, with subtlety. Be careful that you aren't taking away from the fact that you are a specialist in the field for which you're applying!

International schools usually run extensive extra-curricular programs, especially schools that offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programmes. Faculty members are expected to contribute to the extra-curricular program, which means you can leverage your life experiences to secure your first job abroad. The IB emphasises creativity, service and action, which boils down, at the most basic level, to sports, arts and community service. If you have experience organising outdoor activities, coaching sports, teaching craft or hobbies, then you need to include this in your resume.

One key thing to remember when you're applying for a teaching job overseas is that recruiters are looking at the 'whole' person to see how they'll fit into the faculty, the culture, and what they'll contribute to the school community. Everything that you can bring to the school should be included in your application pack, so that the recruiter has an opportunity to 'meet' the person, not just the teacher.

Finally, if you don't have experience teaching multicultural or multilingual students, you can get experience by enrolling for and completing a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). This is a sure-fire way to prove your willingness to learn more about the issues international students face, and your willingness to adapt. To improve your chances of landing a teaching job abroad, you can get a TEFL certificate online.

Teaching Jobs Overseas - How to use leverage to get yours!

The Funny Side of Culture Shock When You're Teaching Overseas

Finally you will start to see the funny side of it all and most of the things that made you angry during the frustration stage will either cause you to laugh or you’ll be able to shrug your shoulders and pass it off as being a feature of your new home. When you’re in this stage of the cycle you’ll begin to remember your old home without your rose-coloured glasses again.

You may wonder how I can write with so much confidence about culture shock, and it’s because I’ve experienced it all. I’ve moved country 7 times in the last 11 years and each time I’ve been hit with culture shock. Sometimes only a mild dose, but it’s always there.

Culture shock has never put me off seeking teaching jobs abroad. I recognise it and work with it. In this article I’ve given you 5 methods of alleviating the stress of culture shock. Remember that all international teachers feel culture shock to some degree. You won’t be alone, so don’t let it stop you from enjoying the fantastic experiences you’ll have teaching abroad.

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

Dealing with Culture Shock When You're Teaching Overseas

Culture shock is the term used to describe how people feel when they are exposed to an unfamiliar culture or way of life, and the feeling of disorientation and separateness they experience. It’s a condition that every teacher working overseas feels in varying degrees, whether they’re new to teaching abroad or old hands at it.

Luckily culture shock follows a fairly predictable cycle and there are a number of ways you can prepare for it and lessen the impact of it once you’ve made the move overseas.

Unfortunately, when describing culture shock, it comes across as a negative thing to be avoided at all costs, and I’ve just told you it’s inevitable for anyone wanting to teach abroad. It’s important for you to remember that teaching overseas is an opportunity to explore other cultures and enjoy a better teaching environment. Yes, you will experience culture shock, but you can manage this and it’s not all bad!

Factors that can contribute to culture shock are :
* People speaking a different language, dialect or with an unfamiliar accent.

* Dealing with a different currnecy, money that is a different colour, feel and value. Keeping track of exchange rates can become a tiresome chore when living abroad, so once you’ve received your first paycheck, don’t bother. Earn local, spend local!

* People behaving in unfamiliar ways, even local customs can vary from one end of a country to another.

* Spicy and/or unfamiliar food. You may need to substitute ‘like’ ingredients in your favourite recipes too.

* People staring at you, if you are in a country where your skin colour or facial features stand out as being different, this will happen.

On top of this you’ll be the new teacher in school, so the procedures and policies will be different to what you’re used to at home.