[quote="centennial95"]Again, I'm looking at schools in Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg for the most part. Have put in my applications and am waiting. I don't know what to expect. I have hear that competition for these schools is not as keen[/quote]

I am not sure who gave you this information, but it hasn't been my experience. Many people want to live in Europe if they can. In Switzerland there are 100's of applicants for one position. Also, you have the issues of visas. If you do not have an EU passport, a school has to prove that nobody from the EU applied who was qualified to teach that position. That is an added complication.

Having worked in both the Gulf and in China, I would say the job in China may turn out to be the better one. It seems you will be teaching local children in both schools and the local Chinese children will be far less work from a classroom management point of view. I think, in the long run, it may be a better experience even though the weather is better in the Gulf region.

I know many people who work in top tier international schools without 'certification' because certification is predominantly an American term. In my national system if you have a recognised teaching degree and then pass an interview with the national government, you are qualified to teach. Teachers were not allowed to go on a do a Masters in Education until they had completed a minimum of three years of teaching.

Good schools are experienced in hiring international teachers and know which nationalities work this way, so I have had no problems being hired in large Asian international schools, American schools, and other top tier international schools. So, it is possible to get a job without certification.

However, I believe it does depend on the national system you come from. If you are an American, schools know certification is required there, and therefore will probably expect you to have it. If that is the case then, yes, it may be more difficult for you to get a job without that certification.

Finally, I think you should make sure you present yourself as professionally as possible when you write. It would help to have no grammar errors. I think it does raise red flags with employers.

Hi - the Western Academy of Beijing has a full time speech pathologist on staff as part of the learning support department. However, I am not sure that many international schools offer this.

If my AP students wrote essays using so many adverbs, adjectives and such hyperbole, I would tell them they sound immature and that it detracts from any valid statements they wish to make.

Some of what the hippo has to say about the Sabis system is valid but it is surrounded by what seems to be anger and racism towards Arabs. I find that offensive - even more offensive than the Sabis system of teaching.

I would not recommend that trained teachers take jobs within the Sabis system because it goes against ALL good teaching methodology taught in education courses, not because of the students in a Sabis school. Some of those students and their parents are among the nicest I've met.

Where in Saudi Arabia are you going? What is the package there like? How do you feel about going to live there?

Haven't been to Shanghai, but there seems to be more posted here about that.

Beijing is a really interesting city with so much to see and do. Some teachers have cars - just as many if not more do not.

As already stated ISB is one campus. This may make life much easier regarding work. Someone I know has to commute between two campuses in Shanghai and it was becoming very difficult due to the traffic. Another person I know left Shanghai recently and cited the traffic gridlock as one of the major factors. Having said that, traffic in Beijing is getting worse too.

ISB is not in the city center, which does help with the pollution a bit. If you lived near the campus you would not have to go into the center unless you wanted to. It is set up for expats in the area of the campus and it has all the stuff you need. ISB staff are very happy with the accommodation they have available to them near their campus.

The weather in Beijing gets much colder than Shanghai but winters have a lot of beautiful sunny blue sky days. Not a lot of snow, but it does get a bit. If you like hot humid summers - then Shanghai is the place for you.

I would agree that many international schools do not cater for students with special needs.

One that does is the Western Academy Beijing. It is very supportive of students in need of learning support and has a good LSP. The school has students with a variety of special needs - including autism and Aspergers.

The US Embassy in Beijing should be able to give you good feedback on this as they have a good knowledge of the school.

I would like to say that my husband and I have attended two Search Fairs as a teaching couple. We were expecting the worst, but we loved them. The Sydney fair was small and really friendly and the Boston fair was more frenetic but people were still friendly. I found listening to the different Heads of schools great and in some cases they were truly inspirational.

Our SA, J Magagna, was businesslike and helpful, although I wouldn't describe him as an overly warm and friendly man. However, I wasn't going to make friends. We wanted jobs. We got great job offers. We also got to make a lot of connections through the different interviews we did. I didn't expect my hand held or someone to do too much for me. I just wanted access to the interviews with great schools. We were proactive before each fair and made it almost a full time job doing research and sending out emails before the fairs. You can't expect someone to do all that for you. You are really paying for the introduction/opportunity to meet. After that, you have to work at it. I didn't really like paying the fees, they hurt a bit, but we weighed up the advantages and disadvantages and we felt that it was worth investing the money in ourselves!

We will register with Search again when the time comes. They give access to some great schools that won't consider you unless you are in a face to face interview with them.