Does anyone know anything about Alcanta International College in Guangzhou, China? There are no reviews on ISR and it is a new school (which always has its pros and cons!).

If you know anything I would appreciate any information on the school and the life in China.

Cheers!

How's the fair coming along?

You will be fine in NYC as long as you don't live in Manhattan or the gentrified areas of Brooklyn, where rents have become astronomical. NYC is quite affordable if you are willing to take the bus or train in. It seems silly to spend the greater portion of your income on rent. You can find more space and often better quality housing with some distance.

You probably won't save as much as you would in the ME or SE Asia where packages can be big and include housing. If you are frugal, you might might manage 10-15 K in savings. It all depends on your lifestyle. If you aren't living the high life day in and out, you can still factor in some travel over Christmas and the summer.

UNIS is a good school- facilities are okay but it has a very international student body (parents are usually diplomats or in int'l business). This means parents are often well educated and quite involved- though extremely busy they do expect a quality education. It's a true international school as opposed to many of the mostly host nation populations of other "international" schools. The school is near the water, a bit off to the east side. The school is focused on PD, which is great for staff and the close ties with IB mean workshops are held there often. They are open to creative teachers and are big on collaboration. Teachers at UNIS tend to be very experienced and they have also hired some alumni. This is not a school for people who want to take it easy. As a superficial aside- the cafeteria food there is amazing, haha!

Good luck BlueJay! I hope all goes well!

Loved Colegio Americano in Quito...great students and a very positive work environment in terms of collegial and administrative support. What heyteach said is true- they will provide training! Ecuador is beautiful though Quito may not be everyone's cup of tea. I personally thought it was a vibrant place, but a lot of this was because I made close Ecuadorian friends outside of work and they knew the ins and outs.

However, I did not love the salary scale in S. America. Only a few schools pay well and if your goal is to save, the low salaries in certain countries will not help those of you who want to save.

I would go back to FCAQ in a heartbeat if they paid more. The job I have now allows me to save around $20-25K a year and that is after travel during school holidays breaks! I don't love the country I'm in but sometimes you can't have it all, can you?

It pays very well but you definitely earn every bit of it! Demanding but well suited to those who are type A.

Choir guy - there is a position for choral music at Taipei American School. It's a middle school position.

wrldtrvlr123's advice is spot on. Schools that are candidates for PYP certification would probably take you. You also have to open when it comes to school locations.

Here's a tip- I've got friends working in Korea and China and they say there a bunch of these positions available at several schools there. A lot of them will take teachers with no PYP background and train them.

Are you going to a fair?

Thanks for the info Briz!

@ National
Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it. Job hunting is so crazy at times! I'm glad to hear things worked out nicely for you and your friends at a later fair.

@ Peregrination
Best of luck to you as well! I'll be doing the same with looking at the updates. It's great that you have contacts at the fair. It is also so helpful when you have a colleague with a lot of fair experience. A couple of friends have been walking me through the procedure.

The ISR forum community rocks- you guys are great!

Who is going to Cambridge? It's not my first fair but it is my first BIG fair. I almost signed up for BKK and am wondering if it was a mistake not to go. Several close friends landed contracts with great Tier 1 schools. I'm thrilled for them (they are singles with no dependents, with DP/MYP experience- though less than 4 years- just as an aside to younger teachers: I hope this encourages you!).

I'm signed up and ready to go to Cambridge but I am starting to stress out as heaps of positions are being snapped up right and left and there are still two more weekends of other fairs before Search Cambridge gets going.

I've got IB DP and MYP qualifications for both my teaching subjects so I'm not especially worried about the experience part. I can coach two sports having played one of them at the international level and I've got lots of experience working with ELL and SPED programs. I am not a math or science teacher though (my friends at BKK were and they told that many teachers with my teaching subjects left BKK empty handed). My last two teaching posts were international. My current school wants to keep me and my position there has yet to be filled but I need a change.

I keep going through the attending schools lists because even though there are schools that remain interesting to me on the list, many of the remaining schools are not IB schools. I know I want to stay on teaching IB so it would be a step backwards for me to go the non-IB route, though I am very open to IGCSE and already have also taught American and Canadian state/provincial curriculum in the past.

Do new schools pop up at the last minute at these fairs?

Also if nothing happens at Cambridge would you sign up for the Spring BKK or London fairs? I really hope it doesn't come to that but I suppose I could always go back to advertising and PR if nothing works out right away at a good school.

To all the vets - tell me there's hope! Have any of you had something turn up at the last minute? Or if things were a little rougher how did you ride it out and eventually get back?

To everyone who landed something at Bangkok- Congratulations! Really thrilled for you guys!

For those of you looking at schools in Korea:

New reviews came up for Taejon. Still not much on Busan- if there is anyone out there that knows anything, I'd love a heads up on the schools there.

@ Bellarex- thanks!

Great to hear things are going well with interviews and offers! Rest up!

Good luck, hope all goes well!

Thank you National, dover2013, admin, and fine dude! Your responses were helpful!