I've been in Germany for 5 years now and at two different schools in the country. All TA' s have been local hire, you could never get a visa sponsored on those kind of salaries. Most are students themselves or part-time working moms.

There are a lot of for-profit International Schools here in Germany who will hire younger and less experienced teachers. Keep your eye on TES and TIE online and just start applying. The salaries are low, but livable.

I did it! I am from a state with full reciprocity although it took them a while to figure out I was from Washington State, not Washington D.C. I've also never driven a manual drive in my life. It depends on the state you are from. You could have to take an eye test, first aid course and the theory test. You need to get your license translated ADAC will do it for about 50 Euro I believe. They will take and keep your American license so if you will need it go before you leave get a copy (most people tell them it was lost). German drivers licenses are good FOREVER, no need to renew.

Although my partner and I just bought a car here it is expensive between petrol, insurance and in this area parking. If you can check out Stadtmobil, a carsharing service. I find driving here to be super aggressive and I'm not at all appreciative of no speedlimits on the autobahn--hence bf is the official driver in this family.

In Germany if you children are young enough they could also go to local schools and pick up German. Most German primary schools run from 8:30-12/1 p.m.- great if your wife isn't working. Though every city seems to have one all day school 8-4 p.m. I'm very impressed with the German system and several friends have chosen this option.

Any school worth working for will give you a rundown of the taxes, tuition benefits etc. With a non-working spouse and two kids you would be at one of the lowest tax classes, but being single I can't comment too much on it.

There are people who do it, but you won't be living the high life of SE Asia.

I am a single woman living in Germany and I am at the highest tax bracket of 42%, I don't know anyone who is taxed at 50% of their salary. If you are married and have kids your tax liability is lower. The cost of living in many major German cities is very low. The old adage beer is cheaper than water is true! These taxes include my pension, and health insurance. I just had a few major procedures done and didn't pay a cent. Quality of life is high. You can search my previous posts for more information. There are a lot of shady for-profit schools in Germany. The work/life balance is valued across the country.

I don't have the depth of experience of Rob in S'pore. I left there 4 years ago and only lived there for 2 years on a similar salary. I think rents have actually gone down a little since 2008/2009 (Seriously ridiculous rental prices). Singapore Craigslist gives you a good idea of what you might find in certain areas. Will your new work cover any of the deposits? I think the East Coast with a small family would be awesome. I had some colleagues who had cars, but they were serious long-termers and families of 4 with both partners teaching (hence they also lived a bit further away in larger condos). The transport system is truly excellent though can be crowded at peak hours. I've heard getting taxi's is harder. I wish I had known when I was first looking how great the bus system is as I was initially set on being close to an MRT, when I found out how great the busses were I quickly found a place and busses left from nearby to nearly every part of the island.

I don't work for Bonn IS, but have met many of their teachers in passing. Generally a very happy bunch! Yes the taxes in Germany are high, but so is quality of life. On Bonn IS's website they have the pay scale in the recruitment brochure.

I'm living in Germany at the moment and well...if you even slightly suspect you might return to Germany to teach in the national system you'll want to complete the German licensing process and yes it is a HUGE pain (watched a few friends go through it). I have other friends who are German and licensed through other countries (U.S. and U.K.) and it's very, very difficult to get their licenses recognized in Germany. One tried for over a year and gave up.

Have you seen that "What kind of Asian are you?" video? I think that holds true for Japan, unless you are obviously on the street speaking Mandarin they visually don't see someone as Chinese. And yes the animosity between the countries goes way back, but on my recent trips to Tokyo I am hearing so much Mandarin in the department stores etc. and you know what? They've hired Mandarin speaking sales clerks to better serve them. My best friend who speaks amazing English is now taking Mandarin courses for her job.

The Japanese also have a good understanding that someone who is of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. decent who grew up elsewhere-there are certainly heaps of Japanese-Americans who don't really speak Japanese well working in Tokyo. I knew a Chinese-Canadian woman who was always being asked if she was Japanese and when she explained that she was Chinese Canadian no one ever had an issue with her.

Your friends daughter will also likely be attending international schools and in the expat social circle in Japan speaking English. They don't have anything to worry about. She also won't be the only adopted student in the school.

It can be rather difficult to be hired in Germany. I know I'm in Germany. Steer clear of any school that has GmbH after their school's name--this means they are for-profit. A gemeinnützige GmbH (gGmbH) or e.v. are non-profit.

If you just want to get your foot in the door, of course take any job, but don't expect it to be easy to jump from one school to another. I knew my school wasn't where I wanted to be anymore last year and started applying for new jobs. I just finally got a new position in April.

The Thuringia school is a mixed bag. I've met some people from there who are very happy and some who are not.

Labor laws are very strong and once you are on a permanent contract (after 2 years), you essentially have tenure. I don't think many of the German schools go to the Australian fair because they don't know yet about their hiring needs.

Taxes in Germany are very high, but the cost of living in reasonable. As a single person you will pay 42% of your salary as tax (includes health insurance & pension). If you leave Germany before 5 years you can apply to have the pension refunded to you.

I've been in Early Years for 10 years at international schools, 5 years in the PYP. I've never seen what I would consider a true "test" in the classroom. In making the PYP Happen it's written, "The assessment strategies and tools proposed by the PYP — rubrics, exemplars, anecdotal records, checklists, continuums, portfolios of work — are designed to accommodate a variety of intelligences and ways of knowing."

Left the U.S. when I was 24 for a year to teach English in Japan, that year has turned into nearly 10. Spent time so far in Japan, India, Singapore and now Germany. Am considering staying in Germany for 5 years so I am at least vested in their state pension. My partner now is German too so I guess I might stay for him too;) He has promised to consider opportunities abroad if they should ever arise in his line of work.

I actually think you both may be a bit competitive within Germany. Teachers unions in Germany are very strong and local schools pay very well with less work than an International School, hence most qualified native German speaking teachers choose to work in the local system and many Int'l Schools scrounge for thier German teachers (not the top tier schools).

You also (I'd assume) have a more North American work ethic. I like my host country colleagues, but none of them hesitate in the slightest to be written off sick for a week or more and that often has a knockdown effect on the rest of the school.

I'm on the ground here in Germany.

This is a relatively new thing and I have yet to meet anyone working towards their IB certifications. GMU Fast Train is also offering something similar.

I can't imagine this being beneficial to anyone who is not yet in an IB classroom. So much of the PYP workshops are about applying your classroom practices within the workshop. Taking an entire course load at such a high cost without having had that experience wouldn't be beneficial. The IB is very jargon laden and without that background knowledge it would be frustrating---plus if it didn't work out:(

When I went to my first PYP workshop one of the workshop leaders was working at Canadian Int'l School Singapore. I was very impressed by her strong PYP ethos and she eve had some of her students come and join the workshop. I would say very strong PYP school, certainly many non-Canadians send their children there.

Would agree that a three bedroom is going to cost you in S'pore. Though I found the general cost of living to not be too extreme--I'm single though and you've got three kids!

Although Singapore became far from my favorite place in the world I would recommend it simply for the teaching--my class was a mini U.N. and so were my colleagues. Most of the International Schools are massive so there are a lot of options on that Island and generally a lot of support for a new PYP teacher, on the other hand it is very fast-paced and I appreciated that I had lived and taught internationally before I landed there.

Ugh, I'm in the same place--feel like I'm going nowhere fast and am resolved that I'll be staying in my current position for another year.

Me: 10 years overseas and 4 Int'l Schools (including an assistant teaching position at an Elite School early in my career).

5 years PYP experience

Masters in progress (June 2013)

Applying for Kindergarten and Early Elementary positions in Germany and therein lies my problem. My partner is German and I won't be leaving Germany (trust me it's hard enough to be resolved to this;) Totally frustrated that even after sending personalized resumes to what seems like every PYP school in Germany (except the ones I can tell I don't want to work at) I'm getting nothing. I know some positions will open later because the labor laws here are quite different and you have to give less notice.

Trying to decide if teaching an upper elementary class is something I'd want to do next year to diversify.

I have applied at some schools outside of Deutschland and gotten some positive interest.