Small world. I signed a 2-year contract with WISS (Western International School of Shanghai). Contact me at tilistyakd@yahoo.com.

[quote="hogyorgy"]I am in similar shoes, and also Hungarian. Currently teach in Beijing with a non-teaching wife and child. Where are you now?[/quote]

Can anyone update information about WISS? It seems like a nice starting school to me with a not-so-bad package. I know living in Shanghai can be expensive but it all depends on how one lives.

Thanks for all this info, bluesealkz!

Is there anything else you have about living in Astana? I've spent a lot of time searching for info but it's always better to have someone "local" give you the inside knowledge.

Thanks for the quick reply! I read about the cold weather and according to Wikipedia Astana is the 2nd coldest capital city in the world! 6 months of freezing doesn't sound very appealing but if the heating is good it is not impossible. Other than "foreigner tax" and cold weather what else can you say about living in Astana? How is banking? How are the locals? Are there serious issues due to lack of English? How is the local expat group? Are there outdoor activities when the weather is warmer? How is life for a family (5-10 year old kids)?

I read all the threads relating to Kazakhstan but most are about Almaty, not Astana. Some people wrote that Astana is much colder than Almaty but I found no reviews of Miras IS or living in Astana.

Any takers?

I just had an interview with them as well. Like "Fstop" said, it's a not-for-profit school and they're getting full MYP next year and DP afterwards. The school facilities and the locations seems absolutely amazing and I am very impressed by the professionalism of the Head and the Secondary Principal. The school "runs on" a philosophy which should (in my opinion) be the heart of ANY educational organization, but certainly of any IB school.

It's a new school which means there's gonna be a lot of work but the teaching load can't be that heavy with a small school like this.

The pay they offer is decent for a school of this size and in Thailand and the benefits of living in Phuket and being start of a new school could be enormous.

My feeling was that they are very heavily student and family centered, which are both huge pluses for me.


[quote="Fstop"]Bumping this. I interviewed with them and they claimed to be non-profit. Very new school but the package is good for Thailand, plus you get to live in Phuket. It's IB - MYP and PYP and they're going for DP as soon as the students can enter the program. Anyone have any more recent updates?[/quote]

[quote="PsyGuy"]The EU schools are going to love you, but youd starve in most places on one salary. I think youll do very well, you have lots of IB experience, your subject is in demand and your qualified for it. Your the type of candidate that schools will "create" a position for your spouse, probably on a local package, but your the exception not the rule. Id be shooting for a one of the tier 1 schools in Asia. Seriously, your the type of candidate that other candidates are going to hate, because your going to have every school with a math vacancy wanting to interview you, and your going to have your choice of several very good offers. Thats going to be the hardest part for you is deciding on a school before having all your interviews and potential other offers on the table.

[color=red]I sure hope you're right about this. I've contacted several schools (pretty much all that had a decent offer and a Math opening) and got 2 rejections, 8-10 automated responses, and 1 "you're shortlisted, see you at the fair". I don't feel I'm as sought after as you say.[/color]

When you go to signup rank order your schools. Then wait inline first for your top pick school and schedule that interview as early as possible. Then schedule your second pick interview after and so on. This way when you get an offer you wont have to worry about the "what if" one of your higher ranked schools gives you an offer before even meeting them.

[color=red] That's the plan.[/color]

Ok so what id really do is contact your top schools and ask about an interview the day before signup starts. Seriously your that kind of candidate. You could have an offer at your top pick schools before the fair starts. Everyone else will hate you, but your not at a fair to make friends. You can then spend the rest of the weekend celebrating and a mini vacaction.[/quote]

[color=red]I only hope this at the moment. I'll write back once the fair is over.[/color]

[quote="PsyGuy"]Your supposed to get 24 hours to decide but in reality that doesnt happen. Candidates either sign immediately or can take a couple hours. A school has to continue interviewing until you accept, and they cant just skip a full day of interviews waiting for you to decide.[/quote]

Are you serious about the "couple of hours"? If I happen to interview with a school I haven't researched in depth it would take at least a long night to check all angles and that wouldn't involve contacting possible teachers at that school for reviews.

(Yes, this will be my first time at a job fair.)

The pluses:
I have experience in US HS system (3 yrs), DP (7 yrs), MYP (5 yrs). I once been HOD for 2 yrs and now I'm DP Coordinator. My field is Mathematics and I have worked in NYC, Philippines, and in China. This current school year is my 10th year in teaching Mathematics.

The minuses:
I have a non-teaching spouse and 2 children. Neither of us are American or native-English country passport holders. I have EU passport and my wife and 2 kids have Filipino passport.

What do you think my chances are for getting an offer at the upcoming Bangkok fair? It's quite nerve-wrecking, to say the least.

Would any of those you wrote would change because I am an EU citizen (Hungarian)? My wife and kids are not EU passport holders so that might complicate things too.

I guess I'll find out at the job fair if I have a shot at some schools in Germany.

Thanks for that info, seashell, I was wondering the same thing about Germany. The 200-300 euros/month tax you mentioned is that tax on the free tuition (that is considered a benefit and taxed as such)? Is that per child?

I'm also with a family of 4 living on a single paycheck and I crossed Germany off of my list because of the 40% tax and the taxed tuition fees. Am I wrong doing this?

[quote="sangster2"]Any information on this school would be appreciated.[/quote]

Nobody has anything on this? From what I see on the Search site they have 40 students in total (grade 9-12) and 93% of this are locals (Chinese) and 7% of the are North-American, which means 3 students and one more nationality (because there are 3 nationalities stated).

The number of faculty members is 12.

On their website the director proudly wrote that the school is an "IB World School" but I always thought that it meant the school has all 3 programs (PYP, MYP, and DP) but this school can't have all three since they only have students in Grade 9-12.

Does anyone have anything other than what's obvious from their website (which is not much)?

I hope it's OK to copy a few lines here from the ISR:

"First off, what they don't tell you in the job interview is that you are stuck at this school for 3 years minimum. There is a very confusing tax clause that is not explained clearly where if you try and leave after 2 years, you must stay in the country for 2x6 month periods where you cannot leave Malaysia. If you do, you pay a tax penalty of $5000 USD. Also, it is a VERY expensive school to setup at. You are expected to pay 2.5 months housing deposit up front along with many other additional deposits that you may or may not see again. You need a car to survive here and they are very expensive as well. There is very little public transport to and from school."

Can anyone comment on this? Is there really a law that states that you cannot leave the country unless you pay that 5,000USD penalty? If this were true it would be true for all schools in Malaysia and not only ISKL.

Anyone has any info on this?

Schools are popping up in China all over the place and ISR probably has a hard time keeping track of them. Now on Search this Léman International School popped up. Has anyone heard of this? I'd be grateful for some reviews.