Don't take it personally my friend. Both responses are just stating a simple fact of teaching overseas. Previous experience not DIRECTLY related to what you'll be teaching means nothing in most international schools. You might be the world's best teacher, but if it's all ESL (or whatever) as an unlicensed teacher, you'll be considered new, i.e. "no experience." It's just the way the system works. A principal might know you have teaching skills, but he/she won't hire you. Or probably won't. All the school will look at is experience as a certified teacher, in your area of certification. (There are exceptions to that rule of course, but it'll all still boil down to experience teaching, full time, as a licensed teacher.)

I'll give myself as an example. I've been a history teacher overseas for a while now. I returned to the USA to get certified to teach special education. Two years later I began applying for international jobs again, as a SPED teacher. I applied at 75 schools that had openings. Out of 75 inquiries I got replies from five schools. Three of which only replied to tell me I wasn't qualified. One told me to get back to them in two years. The final one asked if I'd be interested in their social studies opening. My years as a history teacher meant nothing. As far as most of these schools were concerned I was technically a "new" teacher, as I had not taught SPED before. Now, I'm a licensed teacher with years of successful international teaching experience, but wasn't qualified enough to even justify a response from 70 of the schools I sent CV's to. You've got 4.5 years of teaching. But it isn't licensed teaching. So it will count for almost nothing.

You need to have a thick skin to succeed in international teaching. Don't take sh*t personally. I've had interviews where after ten minutes I was simply told, "You're not right. Goodbye." I've had good starts via email correspondence with directors, only to be completely ignored after a few weeks. I've, in my career, sent out at minimum 800 CV's and cover letters. I've maybe gotten replies from a tenth of those I sent them to. (Maybe.) It's a cutthroat job market. Very few people have the time for niceties. As you enter the field as a newbie, and you are, you'll mostly get ignored. Get used to that. And get used to people saying things you might not want/like to hear.

As far as where to teach or how to go about it. Just get your M.Ed. Then decide your next move. You can put in two years teaching in the USA. But you can certainly get a job overseas without any "real" teaching experience. just know it'll be at a pretty bad school. That's just the way it works. There are schools that'll take anyone with a pulse and a teaching license. (Re: tier 3 Chinese schools, and 99% of the schools in the Middle East. Hell, probably 75% of all international schools.)

Everyone has a place they'd "like to go," but if you want the experience you'll go wherever there's a job. Apply for every opening there is in your field. EVERY opening. You'll be ignored by most of the schools anyway. Put in your two years in purgatory, then move up the ladder.

Workloads go up as you move up the ladder BTW. Lower tier schools have far lower expectations on your time than the upper ones do. At the best schools you can expect that they'll own you 50 to 60 hours a week.

I am a humanities/social studies/history (whatever) teacher. It is a tougher IT job market for us. My take has always been that we who teach these subjects might be more inclined to head overseas because, you know, "living in the heart of history." And, as much as I hate to agree with our resident Expert On Everything, there are a lot of us.

There are jobs, but they're at the lower tier for-profit schools where turnover is constant. The better schools keep teachers longer, and when there's an opening hundreds of humanities teachers who have been paying their dues in Cairo or Hong Kong or Kuwait apply.

I paid my dues, beginning with a horrific school in Cairo. Still, after teaching at three different int'l schools, each better than the last, it was tough going. I'd apply for the one opening at a great school and not hear back from them. I finally returned to the USA to get a special ed endorsement.

This spring I applied for a SPED job, was turned down (technically a new teacher... again) but the director said I should apply for the humanities opening. I did. I got the job. I'll teaching at a dream school, in a dream locale.

If you pay your dues, suck it up and slog through the crap gigs, and most importantly BE A GOOD TEACHER, you'll find a good job teaching humanities. It won't happen quickly though. At least that's been my experience.

Not having any experience will pretty much keep you from getting hired at the better schools.

I began my international teaching with a Master of Education degree, certified secondary social studies, and K-6, but no experience. (Student teaching does not count at any international school.)

I was hired to teach secondary social studies at a crap school in Egypt. But that was fine by me, it got me in the door. I moved up the ladder over the years to better schools. I took time off to get my special ed endorsement. In November I began applying for SPED jobs via ISS and TIE. I probably sent out 75 CV's for openings. I heard back from three schools, none of which were interested, they were just nice enough to tell me I wasn't qualified to teach SPED. They wanted 2 years experience in SPED, my other years of teaching social studies internationally meant nothing to them.

You'll be able to get a job teaching overseas with no experience. But it's not going to be at a good school. A master's means little with no experience. A well rounded teaching license means little with no experience. At least with the better schools.

Yes, ISS has a searchable data base.

I taught at the Uruguayan American School in Montevideo. It's a good school. Small, very international, with students from everywhere. The package was only so-so (this was a number of years ago), but the teaching experience was very good.

I had friends who lived in Ghana and sent their children to Lincoln School. From a parental perspective they had nothing but good things to say. They did complain about living in Ghana. It wasn't easy. (This from a family that had been expats all over Africa and the Middle East.)

Missy-

You won't be living on, or near, the beaches of Bali. Green school is about 20-30 minutes from Ubud, which is inland in the more "mountainous" part of Bali. Teachers live in Ubud, which is a small and touristy city/town. (More like a collection of villages around a tourist central area.) Staff no longer live on campus.

Bali has a long rainy season. Pretty much October/November to March/April. There are a few months in there where it rains A LOT.

If you have questions about Green School please email me: teacherguy1(at)gmx.com I'll be happy to try to answer them.

For those of you with ISR accounts, check out the latest review for Korea International School Jeju Campus. I am so used to reading angry and/or sycophantic reviews it took me a few paragraphs to realize this one was pure sarcasm.

Pretty entertaining.

I lived and taught in Beijing for a year. The pollution was horrific. It was so bad weeks would go by without a hint of sunlight. And then, maybe, you'd see the sun dimly for a few hours before smog that looked like fog would envelop the city again. By midway through the year I was hacking up brown gunk from my lungs. Then there's the brutally cold winters and dust storms. And the gridlocked traffic. Yeah, I'd go with Shanghai.

Great. Thanks for the information.

I get that I have to wait. (And according to a guy familiar with DODEA the upcoming sequester means a hiring freeze, and maybe job cutbacks.)

What I'm curious about is how the hiring works. Do I just sit on my hands and wait for a principal to contact me? Is that how it goes? I'm in the system, and if someone is interested they'll get a hold of me?

DODEA has finally decided I'm qualified to teach both social studies and special education. It took two months for the SPED review to get completed. About two days for the social studies.

So what's next?

I know hiring doesn't really begin until June. Do I sit and wait for a principal/director to contact me if there's interest? (Assuming there's any interest, which I hope there will be for special ed.) Is there anything I can do on my end to make myself stand out?

The owner, and one of his recruiter buddies travel around the U.S. extensively doing interviews of potential candidates. I assume they still do this anyway. If you live in or near a major city odds are good Jim will be there at some point in the late winter or spring. (If memory serves.) With me they let me know via email when they'd be in town and asked me to come to their hotel for an interview.

This happened several months after I sent in my application. It was maybe four years ago. I interviewed, but turned down their job offer. The next year when they were on their way through town they contacted me again. I didn't interview that time as I'd taken a job. Just a few months ago I got a call from someone from QSI asking if I'd be interested in a sudden opening.

So... Odds are good they'll get a hold of you if there's interest. Odds are also good they'll be near you at some point. Assuming you live near a big city. Finally, if Jim likes you you'll be on his radar even if you don't accept an offer right away.

I agree with mysharona. I taught at the Uruguayan American School. Because it was the only American school in Montevideo, most diplomats, military types, and expat business people sent their children there. The school was 50% Uruguayan and 50% expat. A good mix of kids. (Most "traditional" wealthy Uruguayans send their children to the British school, so those that went to the American school tended to come from more outward looking families.)

I've found that almost every country has one truly "international" school. I look at the school by-laws and makeup of the school board. If a position on the board is reserved for a US embassy employee designated by the ambassador, odds are good that's the school that's going to have the most expat children.

I've been a "member" for about three years now. I think it's a pretty good resource for job openings. The resume part is worthless. I seriously doubt anyone director looks at it.