First off, let me say I know next to nothing about teaching in international school as I have never done it.

However, I have been to over 35 countries. With that in mind I found every country I visited in South America to be more dangerous than the places I lived/visited in North America, Europe or Asia.

My $0.02.

Edit to say that my experience in South American countries was very similar to KellyGuys. Luckily, I was only robbed once and it was only for some small change. I consider myself lucky. 8)

It is a Thai public school. We plan to use them as a reference as long as we part on mutual terms. At this point we don't know...


1) Yes. We definitely plan on speaking to the school and trying to get released early.

2) It is most definitely not an IS. Not even close. And I was thinking the same thing as to omitting it from my resume.

3) See above.

Well, we would like to go to the job fair in Bangkok come March. Having said that, even if we don't get an invite from Search we would most likely leave our current positions. We really don't want to get stuck between school years. It was poor planning on our part, but it is what it is.

Anywho, thanks for your input. Tis much appreciated.

I know it is never a good thing to break a contract - and in 10 years of teaching I haven't done it - but I will have to break my contract if I want to teach during the 2013-2014 school year.

Why you ask?

Well, I signed a contract to teach in ESL in Thailand and their school year runs from October to October.

Why did I sign the contract?

That's a damn good question. I'm not sure why. I thought I could manage it but I really don't know if I can. The job is easy, but I really, really would like to get back into a regular classroom.

So, do you think anyone would hire me (and my gf as she is in the same position)?

As always, many thanks in advance for any info/advice/snarky remarks!

Unfortunately we do not have the coursework required. :(

We plan on starting grad school in January of 2013 but that is a long ways off...

[quote="DCgirl"]I've had to submit my marriage certificate a few times during the past two years to both the local teaching authority (signed off by the school head) and my HR dept. It's definitely not worth it to fake it. I would go to Cambridge and give it a shot.[/quote]

Good to know. Thanks!

As for Cambridge, well, that isn't going to happen. If were invited to the fair in Bangkok, yes, but not the states.

If we don't get an invite to the Bangkok fair (which seems likely) we may just look for a job at a tier 3 school here in Thailand.

Thanks for all the responses!

[quote]Ok so you dont want to get married, fake it. Google a wedding certificate (south pacific island would be nice and unverifiable) and photoshop your names into it. Buy a couple of cheap gold wedding bands. Go to the fair as a teaching couple and see what offers you get. Schools never check marriage certificates and if they ask just give them a copy of the fake.[/quote]

Interesting...

1. Hmmm...not sure about marriage quite yet.
2. We're in Southern Thailand so if anything we would shoot for the January Bangkok fair. However, we thought we'd wait because the only schools that would probably want us would be the ones who were a bit desperate to fill the positions they haven't yet filled. That's why we thought March.
3. See one. Haha.

I'm sure this question has been asked many times and I'm sure it will be asked many more. So, here goes.

My girlfriend and I were both elementary teachers in the US. I was laid off and she resigned. We're now teaching English in small(ish) Thai school. We like it, but we both want to teach at an international school next year.

Me: 34, BA in Journalism, minor English, certified EC-4 general, certified ESL EC-12. I have one year as a substitute, 2 years full-time (2nd grade and Pre-K), one year part-time (4th grade tutor) and about 9 years teaching ESL (Spain, Korea, Thailand, and the US).

Her: 29, BA in Photography, minor photo-journalism, certified EC-6 general, certified ESL EC-12. She has one year as a substitute and two years full-time (5th and 1st grade)

The plan: Join Search, go to the fair in March and find a job for the 2013-2014 school year.*

Concerns: We both have only two years experience, no Masters (we are going to start an online program in January), no teaching degree, no international school experience, we're not married, and have taught almost exclusively in primary schools (I taught one semester of high school ESL).

So, do you think we'll have a shot at finding a job? If so, do you think we'd have a shot at a tier 2 school or is that out of the question?

*if we get an invite to the fair

Many thanks in advance!