So with their placement program, do you pick a few preferred areas you'd like to go and they choose one, or is it the newbies get the bottom of the barrel placements no matter their preference and can take it or leave it?

PsyGuy wrote:
> Many 1st time teachers get assigned to the stans or the rural china schools
> for their first placements. The premium schools are saved as rewards for
> teachers that renew and continue with QSI.
>
> QSI recruits the same time as other ISs, starting in late November, and the
> fairs in January.


Are any of these premium schools considered tier 1'?

PsyGuy wrote:
> The typical career track is 6 years, and the general rule is you can either
> move up one in tier where you are or move over to a better location at the
> same tier per contract period. 6 years puts most people in either WE or a
> 1st tier school, waiting for an elite tier vacancy.


Was this similar to your career track, if you don't mind me asking

Teachermom wrote:
> I lived in Jordan and loved it there. Lots to do if you're interested in
> history: Crusader castles, Roman ruins, and of course Petra, where Indiana
> Jones was filmed.
>
> If you're an outdoors person, there's Wadi Rum for hiking and the Red Sea
> for diving.

Wow.. looking at Wadi Rum made me have to change my pants, Jordan sounds amazing for someone with a love of history

nikkor wrote:
> Psyguy nailed the school description. Shanghai is a good, but not great,
> place to live. Not a bad place to start.
Seems as good a China market as any other. Grind out a couple years and find something better.

How about some nostalgia for the veterans out there...

Where did you get your start in IT?

What did you enjoy most about your time there?
What was most frustrating?

PsyGuy wrote:
> It will get you into an IS, just a very poor one. ISs in the ME, and the
> less desirable/competitive parts of Asia that will take an ESOL teacher who
> wants to teach history and give them a classroom, because its not a
> history class its an ESOL class that just looks like a history class.

Not an ESOL teacher... I was saying if I didn't enjoy IT teaching, then in the future it wouldn't be that difficult to get a CELTA or other similar accreditation if I wanted to move into ESL teaching, but for now my only focus is IT.
>
> At this point the idea of waiting is just passing up opportunity. The LW
> has such low marketability they should be applying for every history
> position as they come available starting as soon as possible hoping too get
> lucky. 2 years and going to BOS or Uni as just a history is to be more
> less marketable than a teacher candidate with one year. If the plan was
> wait 5 years, diversify your teaching load (teaching history, some civics,
> and economics, and others) while adding AP experience and a graduate degree
> while getting good references, then thats a marketable option. Based on the
> LWs scenario that doesnt sound like its going to happen. They will just add
> years of the same with no growth.

Applying to almost any and all Social Studies positions is my plan.. I've gotten a list of 6 cities (trying to hit 10-12) in China that I'm going to look for jobs in. The biggest thing is just trying to get my foot in the door. Once I can do that, I think I could make most situations work until I had the chance to move to a better school.

Appreciate all the advice and information

Thank you all for the opinions/shared experiences, very helpful!

Looks like Yunnan province is one of the lesser polluted areas in China, plenty of natural beauty to see, but I'm not finding much on nightlife, expat community, etc.

Anyone here with experience teaching in Yunnan Province, or more specifically, the city of Kunming?

chilagringa wrote:
> shadowjack wrote:
> > LUWahoo,
> >
> > unless you are dying - I mean dying - to teach internationally, you will
> > have more support to be at home and teach your two years, with more legal
> > protection for you.
> >
>
>
> What is this mysterious support you mention? I'm a first year public school teacher
> and I teach in classes I'm not qualified or experienced for, with 35 kids each, and I
> basically never see any administrators. No one has ever seen me teach. Luckily I make
> it work, having some experience pre-BEd, but I have no idea how a legitimate first
> year teacher would survive. Even at my third-tier intl school pre-BEd, I felt much
> more supported.

In the U.S.?

PsyGuy wrote:

> Lastly, if the reason you want to do IE is the travel and living overseas,
> being an ESOL teacher will accomplish the same thing a lot faster, cheaper
> and easier, and in the really large pool of third tier schools
> pays/compensates you about the same. If thats what your looking for try
> this:
I want to do IE so that I can grow and teach a subject I love, in a culture different from the one I grew up on. Travel isn't that important to me, being able to save is. ESOL seems like something I could do later on (CELTA cert over the Summer/Winter) if IT wore on me. The ideal schools I'm looking at down the road are Shanghai American and Hong Kong International (I'm sure I'll add more to that list). Can it really hurt to have experience in that region, even if the experience isn't at a school as good as those mentioned above?

lookingforlefty wrote:
> PsyGuy is right on with his advice, but are you sure you want to do this at
> all?
Yes

> You said you want to be a history teacher, I suppose in the US or Canada,
> but you're not already? You're probably not getting a history job in the
> public system because generally there aren't any. I really don't know how
> you'd break in. You could go teach the IB for some bad, desperate school
> and maybe your career will get better, although it probably won't. If you
> have more of those things I mentioned, the better your chances are.
I'm confident in my ability to adapt, and I'm willing to hard to correct the errors and bumps I'll hit as any teacher growing their legs. I'm finishing my degree in Social Studies Secondary Education in the U.S. right now.

PsyGuy wrote:
> @LUWahoo

> Many teachers each year have this plan "I want to go to Europe, or
> Japan" or somewhere highly desirable like an elite tier school, and
> then they get to a fair and spend 6 months sending applications and grow
> frustrated when there is no interest in them at all. Aim high, but stop
> long enough to get some low hanging fruit as a backup, or have a safety
> plan.
I was considering doing the Celta this winter, but I'm not sure how interested in teaching English I am, seems like teaching ESOL would be something I could do later (get certified over the summer/winter) on if IT wore on me.

I'm anxious to get out there. Even if it wasn't a great school, just having the opportunity to teach History abroad would make it worth it. I could grit out 2-3 years if I really had to, and I would think something better would be available. Maybe I'll get lucky and hit gold with the first school and find a nice fit.

Never really know until you go I suppose.