The EAL teacher in my school doesn't receive the full benefits (flights home etc.) that other foreign teachers do who work in our IB programmes.

Asked a US teacher who I worked with in Jakarta last year who appeared extremely well up on laws in relation to expats over there, here's part of his reply:

Yes there is a treaty, however there are stipulations. First there are residential vs. non-residential, which means if a teacher has a KITAS he/she is a resident albeit temporary. Second, to say all Yayasans are non-profit is misleading because while most Yayasans are non-profit, the law stipulates that Yayasans are allowed to peruse a certain amount of commercial profit. Furthermore, I have never heard of a contract in Indonesia that quoted a gross salary for expats. It is usually net. In keeping with this, income tax is not withheld from the agreed upon salary, but is paid by the school. So if this guy wants more money maybe he should negotiate more or work at another school. But, at the end of it all, US Tax Code states that US citizens should not have to pay taxes in a country that they do not have citizenship. When, I file every year, there is a separate petition that I can complete and the US Government will reimburse me for any taxes paid.

Hope this is of some help.

Should one consider the comment itself as 'negative' just because the opinion expressed within it is a negative one?

As now seen on many user driven web sites, posts are judged as per their usefulness/helpfulness rather than their level of positivity/negativity.

The OP appears extremely upbeat about her new post, to an extremely well respected school. Some members, including myself, have merely wanted to point out personal experiences of living in the city of the said school. If a post sang the praises of JKT, would it be necessarily be 'helpful'?

Did you find this reply helpful? *****

But wasn't last year difficult too?

I remember being in the position of searching this time last March thinking exactly the same thing; then something came along...

As the previous poster has confirmed, if you want to experience authenticity you will be disappointed in JKT, unless you are looking for an authentic expat lifestyle, complete with the all the trapping.

When I live in a foreign country, and I've lived in four now, I like to get a feel for the country via the locals on the street. I usually manage to do this by hanging around the coffee shops enjoying a sheesha or drinking a local bottle of spirit with a great menu of local food, again with the local average Joe. That's why I live abroad, for something different. I search for some degree of authenticity, which doesn't include going to foreign food restaurants, western grocery stores or foreign theme pubs.

My problem with JKT was that I did not find that local meeting place, be it bar or coffee shop. The 'warung' or curry restaurant was the nearest I got to something local, authentic, not imported to cater for western or foreign tastes. Unfortunately these are not a place to 'hangout'. If not walking around the mall, local Muslims sat on the curb around motorbikes selling instance coffee out of plastic cups, drinking and smoking cigarettes. That was the shock, no equivalent to the Burmese 'teahouse', English 'Pub' or Egyptian 'ahwa/coffe shop'.

I am not knocking the expat lifestyle that many enjoy in JKT. "You can get anything in Kemang and servants (maids, drivers) are so cheap here" is a phrase I heard from many a content expat as he or she tried to convince me that life there was good. I'm sure for them it was. Again, each to his own.

I will finish on a positive note, the coffee in Indonesia is amazing, both in terms of choice and quality (JJ Royal Toraja ended up being my absolute favourite) and I did pick up a penchant for batik shirts, left with far too many!

So matts1w if you visit BKK from JKT I'm expecting you to bring me some oleh oleh! ;)

Tell your current school if they ask about the recorded lesson that it's for PD/reflection/evidence of learning etc.

I've had to do a demo lesson before. Didn't enjoy it. From my experience the better schools will respect your professionalism by NOT asking you. Each to his own.

I refused one school who I really wasn't interested in by replying, "If I was applying for the position of brain surgeon, would you insist I gave a demo operation or trust my qualifications and relevant experience?"

Yes there is beer in shops (mini marts) but it's not easily found in small independent shops owned by the Muslim majority. What I missed was not being able to order/drink beer in local style restaurants, again for religious reasons. It became a choice between expensive bar/restaurants, foreign food restaurants or the local 'Mr. Pancake', which strangely enough sold small bottles of Heineken!

JIS is a well respected school, visited it once for a TOK workshop. I understand your reasoning, good luck :)

Think carefully about moving to JKT. It can really polarise opinion. I absolutely hated it. Others can tolerate it, some love it.

Consider what you like doing when not working and ask those with experience there whether you will be able to do it. You may be surprised.

Arh you are referring to language of instruction, I misunderstood. Well at least you found your answer, helpful for others too I think :)

Schools included on the IBO web site have information listed of the exams taken by the school in the previous exam session, would that help you?

Narrowing your list of schools would also be another method to cut down your research.

Close to the domestic/budget airline airport of Don Muang in the north of the city. No underground/Skytrain into town.

My main reason: it's international, the curriculum as well as the ethos.

The IB world school I work in employs teachers from many different countries. There is no dominating ethos aligned to a particular country, I like that.

I feel like I am working in an international school rather than a/an "add country" school in an overseas setting.

16 is the smallest, 20 the largest. Although 5 classes, it's only 3 preps.

I teach MYP & DP. I have 5 different classes, and see them all 9 times over a 2 week period. Our day consists of 7 x 50 minutes lessons.

From what I've seen, programme coordinators have fewer teaching contact hours, with the rest of their time allocated to coordination.

The number of working hours may appear reasonable in theory but I've heard the complaint that the coordinating paperwork, duties and meeting time requirements take up a vast amount of a working week; then there's the teaching duties too...