Thank you, everyone, for your input. I really do appreciate it.

I have been thinking long term and am willing to do my 2 years of experience here if this is a route we decide to take down the road. As far as having extra duties with either PE (like health classes) or Library (technology stuff), those would be fine with me. Especially technology stuff, as I spent my 4 years of college as a TA for the technology in education class and managing the El Ed computer lab and loving *almost* every minute of it.

Housingwise, I totally understand the family size issue. But I also don't subscribe to the idea that every child must have their own room. Actually, I think it's absurd. So if given the chance of moving abroad to a small, but liveable space or staying here (where we have them sharing rooms anyway), I'll take the small space and the experience that comes with it.

With my rose colored glasses off (and thanks to a lot of great info from all of you), I've realized that in order for our family to have any kind of chance of teaching abroad, we have a lot of planning ahead/work to do. My husband is currently a HS science teacher in his 8th year and we have 4 kids.

IF my husband and I decide that international teaching were our ultimate goal in a few years, I would consider getting certified as either a PE teacher or a Library Media Specialist (yes, I know - kind of opposite ends of the spectrum, but I would not be happy in a traditional classroom setting and those two jobs are the only teacher jobs I could really see myself enjoying).

I know that the 4 kids would still be an obstacle, but after much deliberation, we can't agree on which one to get rid of, so they'll have to stick around. ;)

So kids aside, in your experience, which of those jobs combined with a science teacher would make us more marketable in the IT world?

I have a friend whose husband was hired for next year (with her having the possibility to sub/get ECE certified) and they have 4 kids ranging in age from 9 down to 2.

Aside from having an inside recommendation (one of his former principals is working over there), what really helped them get hired was her willingness to possibly get licensed for ECE because they are apparently really wanting in this area at the moment.

No, PSY, it's disingenuous of YOU to extrapolate your loathing of the ME to the whole of the international teaching community.

None of those people said their experience spoke for everyone, just that they did, in fact, WANT to live in the ME, after you so very adamantly declared that nobody wanted to live there. You can't go telling everybody that their experiences aren't real simply because you haven't had the same ones and then turn around in the next breath and lecture about the dangers of extrapolation of one's opinions.

Thank you, ddb! I really appreciate it!

Does anyone here have any experience with or know anything about this school?

Congrats to you! I'm glad it was a good experience for you!

CONGRATS!!! That's super exciting! :D

@gbr - It was kind of a round-about and unconventional thing for my friend's husband. They first became interested through a former principal/friend of his who had spent several years over there and was talking to them about it. But when they emailed someone about info, they were told that they were only looking to hire smaller families (my friend also has 4 children, about the same ages as mine). Then their baby got very very sick due to some immune issues he has from being a premie and Saudi wasn't even on their radar.

Then back in March, the old friend/principal told them that he and his wife were heading back over to Saudi so she could start a new preschool and he would be teaching. My friends off-handedly said something about putting in a good word for them, and then didn't think about it any more.

In Octoberish, the principal friend contacted them and said he'd talked to the director, who was willing to get clearance for their family to go over if he was a good fit and things just rolled along from there. I'm pretty sure all of his interviews/meetings with them were Skyped and they felt very good about everything from the get-go. Two years ago, moving oversees wasn't something they'd ever even considered. I don't know exactly what position he was hired for, but I believe he teaches either 4th or 5th right now.

As far as my family and Saudi Aramco, my husband does not have a master's degree, which I believe is one of the requirements, but maybe I'm wrong. He's also not interested in moving to the KSA right now, so it would be a hard sell for him, although the opportunities it could provide our family would be AMAZING.

Good luck to you and your wife, gbr! I hope you get a position you're hoping for!

That is a good point, senator. He wasn't enthusiastic about the idea (but wasn't against it) until the prospect of teaching in the Philippines came up. That is something he would absolutely love to be able to do. He loves teaching and has told me that he doesn't really care where. It's just the legwork of applying and changing places that doesn't excite him. He doesn't really get "excited" about much of anything, but is flexible and can find happiness in many situations.

As for me, I planned on doing what I do now, which is to raise my children, who range from 9 to 2 years. I might teach a couple of free Zumba classes if I found a place to do it, knowing that it would be unlikely for me to be able get a work visa to do, but still something I love so I might as well share.

Don't be worried that I'm having delusions of success though, I've accepted the fact that this will, in all likelihood, not be happening.

Thank you, everyone, for your responses.

I guess I didn't clarify - my husband is not Filipino in the least - 6 ft tall, pasty white guy. He just lived there before.

But I did figure we, as his family, would make it fatal. He'll still apply (he's just waiting on some letters of rec right now, so hopefully by the end of the week), but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed.

First I just have to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who is here sharing their knowledge and experiences about teaching internationally. These forums really hold a wealth of information.

Now on to my question with a bit of background. After talking with a friend (whose husband just received and accepted an offer from Saudi Aramco today!) over the past month or so, I got this crazy idea that my husband could teach overseas. I want to be able to provide chances for my children to really experience other cultures. My husband (you know, the teacher) was kind of wishy washy about the idea until I found postings for 2 science teaching positions at International School Manila. At the time, I didn't realize ISM was one of the "tier 1" schools, and just figured, hey, he could apply there! My husband lived in the Manila area for a couple of years and would love to be able to go back, so all of the sudden he is on board with the idea.

So here are his pros:
*8 years experience teaching high school sciences - earth systems, biology, geology, and physics specifically (but he is licensed to teach any of the sciences)
*speaks Tagalog pretty fluently (though I know he would be teaching in English - this is more of a plus for me, I guess)
*ESL endorsed
*Common Core Instructor for the state
*Department Head (not currently, but was at a previous school)
*He's a fantastic teacher who really does care about his students and is willing to put in the extra time necessary to make sure that those who want to succeed can

Cons (that I've discovered are cons by reading these forums):
*I don't teach. I mean, I could be a reading specialist or teach Zumba classes, but nothing that would make a school want to pay me to move to their country
*4 kids
*No IB experience (though he already teaches with a somewhat inquiry-based approach and actually has the IB Physics training binder in his possession at the moment)
*Can't attend a fair (a bit late in the game here...)

So my question is, do we even stand a chance? He's only looking at ISM and is not interested in other schools at this point (maybe if I worked on him over the next year I could get him past that).