My Head Master calls Bethesda a meeting of the "dateless and the desperate." I suspect it had a lot of 3rd Tier Chinese schools and a bunch of GCC/ME schools. But that's fine because I know I am neither good enough or independently wealthy enough to work at a lot of the posh European schools.

I wanted to go to London in January but it was just too far and too much money given that I am in Asia now. It would have been 8-10 hours of flying each way and better than 150 USD per night for accommodations. I went to the Hong Kong fair a couple years ago and found it super competitive for very small range of school. I liked the range of Bangkok II in the past. This year, it just isn't looking that good.

Did you find anything in Cambridge?

I am going to Bangkok and Dubai. There are just a couple jobs that I actually want but I am sure other positions will open up or just be posted at the fair.

There is indeed no Bethesda Fair this year. That's a shame. I was actually thinking of going to that one just as a way of boosting my self-esteem.

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Yes, 25% is high. My school has had trouble too. I am just about to finish my first and last two year contract. Of the batch of new employees that arrived with me in 2013, nearly 50% of them broke contract and left after the end of the first year. A further 25% did not renew for a third year. It's a shame. I actually like the school I work at but the location is miserable and the non-teaching spouse hates it. But the school also doesn't care. They are in the process of replacing expat teachers with less-expensive local hires. They are just going to keep a few white people around for photo-ops and the brochures.

I did go back and re-checked the Search site for Dubai's schools. A load of them added themselves to the list recently, maybe just in the last week. I saw a school in Eritrea and one from Chennai, India -- I would have remembered those. But still, many of them haven't posted many jobs yet. But that's par for the course. A lot of schools don't post jobs until they get to the fairs. About 35 of the 59 schools are in GCC countries.

Bangkok is still sparse but if Dubai is any indication, the list should swell in the next couple weeks. But I am still feeling gloomy. There are less than five jobs that I see out there that I actually want to interview for. I guess it is time to start hitting TIEonline to get some more selection.

Hardly any schools are listed as attending March Bangkok and more than half of the schools in Dubai are in places I consider either unfriendly or unsafe. Does anyone think those two fairs are going to add more schools or jobs soon? They both look really weak. Did I make a huge mistake by skipping London? I went to March Bangkok several years ago and it was quite big. It seems really small this year. Am I alone in that observation.

Bethesda seems to have been cancelled. The schools that attended were all too dodgy and the candidates usually too desperate.

There are a lot of openings at Oberoi IS for August 2015. I lot of teachers have left mostly because life in Mumbai is less than exciting ... or even tolerable at times.

I visited the school in 2013. I plan to apply there. It did not seem crazy. The kids looked OK based on my just walking around. It is certainly not a high-end school but it didn't strike me as a madhouse either.

lightstays wrote:
> Let's be critical thinkers. I think it would be wise to avoid any place
> called "Chinese International School."

How would that represent "critical thinking"?

I spent four good years in Hong Kong but I never worked at CIS. But I remember the school having a solid reputation. Their facilities are nice -- I visited the school twice or thrice -- and found their students pleasant. Most seemed to be Overseas Chinese who have returned to HK. As far as I recall, the gossip and word-on-the-street in HK held that CIS was a top school.

youpassgo wrote:
> "Chinese International School" link below, has zero press on ISR,
> does anyone have any info?
>
> http://www.cis.edu.hk/community/index.aspx

I think Clark would be ideal. I would love to go there. I have been to Clark and Subic and they are a nice change from Manila which I find crowded, congested, not the slightest bit pretty. I would love either of those locations -- I haven't been to Cebu yet.

I have thought about the Euro-campus in Paranaque. It's a small school that doesn't pay that well but it seemed nice.

Pokfulam is nice ... it's very suburban. It's on the quiet side of HK. It's nice, quiet, clean, and up-scale. I spent a couple years at a different school just up the road from ISF. I tried to get in there but they were really selective. Hong Kong is a nice place to live but air is pretty bad (better in Pokfulam to be sure).

[quote="Vernacular"]Comments? Can't find any reviews...[/quote]

The Principal is named Nick Lea. He's a Brit. He seems like a nice guy. I met him once. I toured the school. It seems well taken care of. The students look nice. There is a nice mix of people there. But My experience was limited to a 20 minute walk-around. The campus looked clean and well maintained.