I have been teaching in international schools for the last 6 years and it seems that a lot of schools go to the recruitment fairs to hire, they offer a contract to a teacher who then accepts but sometimes, at the last minute, the teacher does not take the position. The school then has a mad scrabble to try to find a suitable replacement.

Also, sometimes teachers leave schools part way through the year ... maybe they have to go home for family or health reasons.

I would recommend that you just send a cover letter and your cv to any schools that you are interested in (taking into consideration what you read about the schools in the review section of this site).

Contrary to what some people think of http://joyjobs.com, I think they are also a good starting point.

A lot of countries will not allow you to gain a teaching permit if you are not a native English speaker. Often the school has no control over government rules.

I have also seen some posts on this forum regarding the upper age limit for teachers. In countries such as Indonesia, the government will not allow schools to employ teachers who are over 60 years of age. It is possible for the school to get around this problem but the teacher and school can encounter problems with immigration at a later date ..... especially if the teacher or school upsets someone who then notifies the authorities. It can be a big problem for everyone involved.