I said as much in a previous post, but if you're going to list Saigon Pearl as a solid tier two, then you might as well throw in ISHCMC and American Academy. All three schools are owned by the same company and managed by the same people. And based on what I've heard from several teachers currently working at those schools, it seems to be turning around and going in a good direction after a massive upheaval. So it may be something to consider.

If you're going to mention Saigon Pearl as a solid tier two school, then you might as well throw in ISHCMC and American Academy. All three schools are run by the same company and managed by the same people.

I think it might be hard to find something really *good* without going to the Bangkok fair, but not impossible. But all the major schools and plenty of the tier two schools (I don't really subscribe to an elaborate, multi-tiered system, but others do, so here you go) were all in attendance, and then most appear in Cambridge as well. So you could always try Cambridge.

QSI hires predominately North Americans teachers, but that being said, we have teachers from the UK, Spain, Sweden, Malaysia, and various other places at my school. If you interview well and you have what they're looking for (and they can get you a visa), then they will hire you.

I wouldn't consider any of the schools in Suzhou to be top tier and, aside from the beautiful gardens available for your perusal (they don't call it the garden city for nothing), there's not much to do there.

AISG was the first school that came to mind. Also take a look at International School of Tianjin. That's considered a pretty solid school, though Tianjin is nothing to write home about.

Well, I know some women that have had pretty good luck in Central/South America, and no, none of those matches and marriages resulted in a green card. And they're still together.

My friend is doing pretty well, dating-wise, in Curacao. I knew one woman who married a Peruvian guy. They're in Korea now. So my suggestion would be that general region.

BookshelfAmy- check out Kunming International Academy. Kunming is on the list of the least polluted cities in China.

Hopefully you'll get a nibble in Toronto.

The fact that you're an outdoors family SHOULD bother you if you end up in Xi'an. Like I said, it's a filthy, dusty city that ranks as the 6th most polluted city in China.

livefree, you could try to aim for China, but some of the schools can't get work visas for teachers with less than two years experience. That being said, I'm certain some of the lower tier, Chinese run schools would hire you and find a way to get your visa. Try Beanstalk, Beijing Bilingual (formerly Kinstar), Guanzhou Country Garden School, and Changchun American.

Actually Changchun American might be your best bet. They're IB and, because no one wants to live in Changchun, they hire newbies. Give them an email.

The pollution issue can't be taken lightly. China is a pretty dusty, dirty country to begin with, but the pollution exacerbates all of that tenfold. That's one of the big reasons that we're leaving after so many years. In the past two weeks, the air quality has been rated as hazardous nearly every day. After a while, you start to wonder what you're breathing in and how it might be affecting your children.

That being said, if you can handle the pollution and the filth, WAB is an amazing school.

Take heart. My former coworker, who is also a single, female elementary teacher, went to Cambridge last year and came away with nothing. A few weeks later, she was contacted by one of the schools she had interviewed. She's working in Italy now and she loves it.

I know that they're an international department of a Chinese high school and that they offer K-12. Xi'an doesn't have a huge international community, so I'd imagine a department, instead of an entirely separate campus, would suffice.

I've got to be honest: the idea of living voluntarily in Xi'an makes me shudder. I was there once to do the expected touristy stuff, and while I'm glad I went, I never need to go back. The area around the Big Goose pagoda is quite nice and clean and new. The rest of Xi'an is filthy, dusty, dirty, and once you cover the tourist stuff, there's not much to do.

Probably I just need to get out of China, but the idea of living that far inland, away from anything and everything of interest, in a dirty, dusty city... not for me.

shadowjack, one school that we interviewed with had one of their teachers at the same fair, looking for an administrative position. The school would have hired us, but that teacher didn't get an offer at the fair and decided to stay in his current position. They must have really loved him!

I know one family that hired their nanny in the US (she was from the Philippines), brought her to Taiwan, then to China, and now they are in Chile. They're an embassy family though, so that likely has a lot to do with it.

One of my co-workers last year didn't find a job until late April. He's in Saipan now. From the looks of it, he's having a blast.

I agree with DCgirl. It is HARD to shake off the job search mentality in the first few weeks after the fair. Before my account was deactivated, I was still looking at the openings that popped up. Not because I planned to break my new contract, but because, hey, why not see what's out there?

Though there is TIE...