I would like to say that I REALLY appreciate this site and it has been absolutely invaluable to us. THANK YOU!!!

As far as improvements go, the search engine could be better, as it has often not brought up posts on a subject that I later found through searching manually. Also, I like the idea of subdividing. Perhaps there could be one forum page that opens immediately and you see all new and updated posts. Then there could be categories that could be easily browsed.

It might be complicated, but could there be an option on the bottom of a new post where you flag it as a specific subject? There could be drop down menus for countries and other info. For example, if I were posting about a package in China in relation to workload and how it relates to my daily life, I could flag it as China, packages, and general school info.

If this were done you could have one large forum that you first see as one when you enter. Then you could check boxes that say 'Show me posts about: packages, Asia, administrators, etc.'. It would be more effective as far as searching and less general but not-too-specific browsing goes.

Try Eastern Europe. I lived in Poland and Ukraine, and while they are fairly racist towards Asians (especially in Poland, not so much in Ukraine), they didn't seem to have a problem with African people. You may run in to some people who have never seen a black person, and they will likely stare, but they also stare at white people in sneakers or women who wear overalls. They likely won't say anything rude, and definitely wouldn't point or laugh. Most people in that part of the world go about their own business and won't take time out of their lives to bother you. That same quality can make it hard to make friends, but you'll meet people at school, and eventually the locals will warm up to you and be the some of the best friends you've ever had.

I worked at an "international" school that was 98% local. It was AWFUL! They had half their classes in local language, as it was the law that all students of that nationality be educated to their own country's standards - something you may want to double check before you go anywhere. It's understandable, but really not an ideal setting. It was really more of a bi-lingual school. There were math, science, and primary teachers from various English-speaking countries, but the children spent so much time with the host country teachers, they could just skate by in the English classes. I was even asked to change a grade from the previous term that I hadn't even given, but was from the previous teacher. None of the children were allowed to fail because their parents would withdraw them and the school had such a limited pool of students that it couldn't afford to lose one.

A problem that is more common than you might think is that in slightly poorer countries, there aren't enough rich locals to afford to send their kids to these schools. So unfortunately, you end up with the politicals, which was mentioned earlier, and worse, the gangsters. The majority of the children at our school had questionable fathers, to say the least. It made it even scarier to send a child home with a bad grade. Our British director was threatened by a child's bodyguard for giving a kid detention.

Not to mention the language barrier between you and the parents. I could never tell them what was going on with their kid. And it was bad enough with the children, many of whom hardly spoke English and all of whom routinely spoke their native language throughout class. And I have an ELL endorsement, but that didn't too much, since the kids didn't care, the school was terrified of their parents, and you weren't allowed to punish or give bad grades. The male teachers did have it a little easier, as men are more respected in that culture. Some things to think about...

About wanting your kids to have an interesting experience, when immigrant children come to the US, they have special ESL classes where they learn everything they need to know and often receive special attention. There are laws that prevent them from being failed because of language barriers. Plus they are surrounded by the language at school and anywhere else they go. When you go to an international school, they don't always offer language classes for their own language, and if most of the classes are in English, there isn't as much immersion going on, hence not as much learning of the new language. So your child is only exposed when out and about, or when left out on the playground, since many local children like to speak in their own language during play.

If you're going to do it, get you children language lessons ASAP. They learn fast, depending on age, and it will go a long way toward helping them assimilate.

Has anyone worked here recently? I know it has a good reputation, but I'm looking for a first hand account. Things like contact hours, extracurricular load, state of the admin., etc. Any numbers on the package would be helpful. The website just says it's "competitive".

Thanks!