To Psyguy.

You're an idiot.

The best paying schools in Central and South America are ECA (Campo) in Caracas, Venezuela and Graded in Sao Paulo. However, these are not cities in which you would want to retire.

You have to consider cost of living and the issue of personal safety when thinking about retiring in this region - and unfortunately neither one allows for an easy transition into that part of your life.

I would say that your best bets would be Panama, Costa Rica (although quite expensive) and perhaps Buenos Aires. Santiago de Chile is a safe and very developed city but I don't know anyone who would want to retire there.

Good luck.

BVIS is a bilingual school in district 7 (newer part of town). In primary the school runs English and Vietnamese curricula at the same time (half day for each). In secondary, the plan is to offer CIE IGCSE and A Level courses. The school is quite new (first year) and teachers seem to like it. The owner is building a school in Hanoi, too.

BIS in general is the most respected school in Saigon. Whether it's because of their programs or IB scores, who knows...they are located literally in the center of Thao Dien (expat ghetto) and so have a steady intake of English speaking westerners, which obviously helps. Although they continue to be primarily Vietnamese and very Asian, they are one of the few 'true' international schools in town with a healthy mix of pretty much everything.

BIS is very British and the head prefers to hire teachers fresh off the boat. They would even prefer to hire inexperienced first year teachers ahead of very experienced IB international school educators. Their IBDP Coordinator complains at having too many eager but inexperienced people in need of training leading the charge. It's a bit of a strange hiring strategy considering that the school is trying to become a world class institution.

Either way, it's considered a good school in Asia by teachers and admin alike.

Head was fired and will be leaving the country shortly (he isn't even allowed on campus again).

Acting head has announced introduction of MAP testing for next year. So, curriculum will have to be more prescribed. The school didn't have a written curriculum anyway.

Teachers at the school wary of more changes on the horizon. Consensus is that COGNITA (the company that took over the school about a year ago) is evil.

Psyguy's comments about MYP are ridiculous.

I worked in Quito for a few years and generally enjoyed the experience. The Cotopaxi is a solid school and you should easily move on to an even better place after your time there.

As far as the city is concerned, it really depends on what sort of activities you enjoy. I don't really care for taking long walks or hiking up volcanoes. I also do not enjoy cold weather. I much rather spend the afternoon at a nice cafe and then the weekend at a beach. Neither one of these are really the types of things you can do easily in and from Quito respectively.

However, the Andes and the opportunities to get out are spectacular if that's your thing. The ride to school continues to be the most breathtaking drive I have probably ever taken within city limits (except maybe for a late afternoon drive in Rio). Bogota and the joys of Colombia are only an hour away and the rest of South America is quite easy to get to as well.

Cheers and good luck.

Thanks for the info.

To Ichiro:

I just managed to get our landlord to do a double glazing job on our windows...let's hope this works!!!

Do you live out by ISB? I feel that Saigon is quite a bit more relaxing than central Bangkok (NIST, Silom, Sukhumvit area in general) to live. Have been to ISB but don't know much about the area.

We have thought of moving to Bangkok (wife absolutely loves Thailand - she was in Rayong for three years before we met) but the thought of a flat in the center of town puts me off a bit.

Any thoughts?

Bogota has many world class restaurants and the local food is quite tasty, too.

Colombian beef is absolutely fantastic - makes the better known Argentine stuff feel and taste like old chewing gum.

I worked in Colombia many years ago and have been back many times since. I absolutely love the country and would like to work their again soon. Bogota is one of my favorite cities as well.

As far as safety is concerned, if you're smart, you should be fine.

Cheers and good luck!

Hello Lulu.

I don't work at TAS and never would. I am at another school.

I know about the school from my network of friends (some of which teach at TAS) and the fact that it is literally next to my home.

I don't know exactly what you would start on but most of the teachers I know here in Saigon (at various different schools) can save at least 50% of their salary if they are a bit careful.

Rent close to the school is pretty expensive. It's located in Thao Dien, which is a pricey (overpriced!) expat suburb. You might want to live closer to the center of the city (Binh Thanh District) where you can find cheaper rentals.

Most of the British schools in this region do not go through Search - and some of them are excellent. You will have to go through the TES or directly through the school websites.

Cheers.

Hello.

I wouldn't recommend the school. They have been around for only a couple of years and are already on their second head. I don't know if they get a lot of interference from the board, but that seems to be the case in several of the schools in town. The pay is also lower than the more established schools in the city and the facilities are quite poor (I live next to the school).

Saigon on the other hand is wonderful. I would highly recommend it. Although it is a huge city, pollution and traffic aren't much of a problem, yet. This will change in the near future but will take some time to reach Bangkok or Jakarta levels.

The single biggest concern I have (even more so than inflation) is the noise pollution. Construction goes on for 24 hours - so, you must be mindful of this when you select your flat/house.

We've been here for two years and have signed on for two more. After many years teaching internationally my wife (also a teacher), daughter and I are very happy.


Good luck.

Mexico City is amazing and much safer than many people let on. You have to be careful and avoid certain areas, which is the case in most of Latin America.

My associate did absolutely nothing. In fact Deelman had his assistant reply to every single question we sent in - which at last count was only 3. Most of his assistant's replies were rushed and on several occasions very rude (i.e. opening with a 'RELAX!' or 'You are not our only candidate'). We never demanded anything. Our last question was simply asking if they had received our latest references. We only asked because our supervisor (who we are quite close to) told us that he sent them in two weeks prior to our email and Search still hadn't updated the info on our dashboard.

I can understand that they are quite busy during recruitment season but one of the reasons why we switched from ISS to Search was the associate factor.

Once again, managed to secure jobs on our own. Search was not a factor in the process at all.

On another note: while we were sending emails out to schools we noticed that they were quite 'relaxed' about updating their info on Search. I wrote to several schools who had positions posted only to learn shortly after that these posts had been filled - at times over a month before I even applied.

Is it the sole responsibility of the school to update the info on Search and their website? Or should Search, in order to better serve their clients, keep better tabs on this?

Cheers.

I agree that Vietnam is a wonderful place. However, there is a big difference between the British international schools in town (ABC and the British International School).