International School Bangkok! "WHAT???" you might think... However, ISB is in a suburb outside of Bangkok and away from all the hustle and bustle of that city. Faculty housing is, along with the school, inside a big pre-planned expat community. Some seem to hate that fact (and therefor choose to live downtown), while others stay because of it. And like one of the previous posters said, all the potential allure of big city life isn't that far away..........

For starters learn how to put together a properly constructed sentence.

They've probably told you all of this (or hopefully will soon) but you probably need to do some sort of "apistle" or "apostel" or something like that with your documents. I had to do a similar thing when coming to Vietnam...something about Vietnam not signing or being in on some treaty or deal or whatever. The upshot was, as the previous poster mentioned, the US consulate/ambassador didn't have any recognized (in Vietnam) authority to authenticate my documents.

When I contacted both my university and state education department regarding my situation, both knew exactly what I needed. Taking care of it was simple and straight forward if a bit time consuming and heavy duty bureaucratic. I basically had to (for example) get my teaching license certified as legit at the state level, then the federal level (one of the authentications came from the office of Condaleeza Rice!), then send it to the Vietnamese embassy in the US for approval--this process had to happen with my uni diploma, teaching cert, and police record (or lack thereof).

Sounds like Dubai might be similar--I entered Vietnam on a "business" visa and then when I was there the school used all the above mentioned documents to get me a work permit.

An interesting (or maybe not) side note to the whole Vietnam (and probably other countries) work permit issue is that while I was told all of this upfront about having to get all the paperwork certified, verified, notarized, and apostilized, etc., not so long ago at my school the teachers (and admin, apparently) were all on business visas, which are good for 6 months and easy to get--teachers obtained them through legitimate means before arriving in Vietnam, but anybody can get one "downtown" for not a whole lot of money. However, there was apparently a crackdown, and teachers here had to go through the "after the fact" torture of having to get all their documents authenticated and obtain work permits: again, straightforward enough, but time consuming--people had to park it in their home country (actually, I think only US citizens, as other country nationals could use their embassy/consulate to get it done: lingering issues from the American War as they call it here) and the extended stay needed to get it all done wasn't necessarily on everybody's agenda for the summer holiday.

So, good luck with it all and as probably happens close to 99% of the time, all the pieces will fall into place and you'll be enjoying your new posting in no time!

Yeah, we're all doing it for different reasons, no? I personally can't imagine life on a compound no matter what the salary. Though if you can stomach it and the cash is important and you're a good teacher, why not? Saudi Aramco is what it is. Some of us are in it for the adventure, some of us are in it for escape, and alas, some of us are in if for the money: but really, if you're a good teacher, what difference does it make? Good luck to all of us who've made a transition this year--and let the luck extend to both personal and professional realms.

If GHK = Gerry Keener you can ignore everything he says. He was head of school in Saigon for far too many years and ran it with total incompetence. I'd actually be surprised if it is Gerry because GHK's posts are far too articulate and he appears to be speaking from a perspective Gerry Keener lacked--that of an educator (or at least one who has a vague notion of what makes a school run. On second thought, though, all those references to charitable work sound suspiciously familiar...throw in a couple references to doing god's work and now we're talkin' Gerry Keener talk)

Obviously ISM attracts and maintains a teaching staff with which the powers that be are satisfied. I know that International School Bangkok starts teachers at a max of 53,000USD and tops out close to 80K and gives free housing and a great retirement--up to 30% a year starting from year one (school pays 15% and staff can do 2-15%). I've heard this is close to double what other international schools in Bangkok pay. Not sure about cost of living in Thailand but I've visited there and if you "go local" eating wise anyhow it seems pretty dang cheap.

OK, thanks for the insights. I was able to read the ISR reviews and they are so wildly different I'm not sure what to think. Seems like a couple admin postings and a "disgruntled employee" posting.... I'm curious about the high turn over rate. I guess that's probably to be expected at a youngish school in a rapidly developing country. Was the former principal really that bad? It's great to hear they're getting a qualified and experienced head of school in place. Thanks again.

Hi out there. I've accepted a position with Saigon South International School in Vietnam. I'm not really getting cold feet, but am wondering why so many teachers left this year. I'm excited about living in Vietnam, but get anxious because of that high turn over. I heard from an email contact at the school that almost the entire middle school left???? Anybody out there know anything? I know of course that there will be all new admin save the ES principal. I'll be in the ms/hs side. Thank you.