Actually two schools, ACI and SEV. There are a bunch of reviews of both schools that appeared recently, and they are a complete joke--quite obviously written by some school administrator, trying to hype the schools.

It does sound like a very interesting place to live and teach, so do any of you have experience at either of these schools?

I'm breaking contract and going back to the states for at least a year, due to family health problems. But one thing that is helping to drive me away from Brazil, at least the backwater where I am, is that I cannot get medications that I require, even when they are prescribed by a physician. I have tried many pharmacies, and they simply don't carry what the doctor prescribed (and this is the cheaper generic version of the medication).

From reading online reviews, it is apparent that many schools do not cover much beyond emergency coverage (breaking a leg and such). I'm fine with paying prescription costs, but I'd like to know which countries have decent health care services, such that common medications are available at pharmacies.

To help the discussion, places I would like to eventually go, after the family health situation is resolved, are Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and possibly Indonesia. Anywhere in western Europe is also attractive, but I'm also not concerned about the health care coverage in those places. Israel is also a possibility.

Madagascar sounds wonderful, for example, but I can be quite certain that I would be out of luck getting my prescriptions there.

Missouri does sound good.

PsyGuy, I think you must have done your transfer to CA many years ago. I am originally from CA, and have looked at transferring my license there ever since I got it. I can't do it without taking loads of extra coursework to effectively get an ESL addition to my license. Then, teachers have to do the equivalent of what I'm doing for about 7 years to clear their license. I've talked to teachers in my hometown about this, they have confirmed it.c

Shadowjack, the WI certification isn't up to my current school, it is up to the WI DPI, and they say that I have to do a PDP. They have a way to do this onlne, but the people who I hired as my committee have to be trained in the Wisconsin PDP procedure.

Since this is different than the other question, I'll start a new thread.

I have a WI secondary physics and math license, but unfortunately, I first got it in 2005, which means that renewing my license means going through a program involving a "professional development program" involving setting goals, recording reflections, and showing solid and measurable progress toward those goals.

Who gets to evaluate that progress? Well, when I taught in Wisconsin, my school district provided a committee for free, and also provided people to help me write the PDP so that it would eventually be approved. Now, I would have to hire people to form a committee, paying them many hundreds of dollars each, and I still might not get my PDP approved.

IIRC, it is still good next year, which is when I will be applying to other schools, but what can I do in the future? Is it possible to transfer a WI license to NY state, which has an option of a permanent license?

Great feedback, and I read the long post all the way through!

Yes, I agree that teachers are a moaning bunch. I really like teaching at the school where I am, but I do hear other teachers there, quite good teachers IMO, say that it isn't a very good school. Sure, there is room for improvement, and I think that improvement is happening, but the status quo is far from terrible.

I do agree that being paid late is a deal-breaker. I would like to know that the school provides help with documentation, and I think my next school also should either provide housing or a substantial housing assistance payment, and in the latter case should provide some help with locating housing.

Beyond that, if they leave me alone to teach, I'm happy.

In reading through the ISR reviews of schools, especially just going through the newest reviews, I have the impression that about 90% of international schools are absolute hell to teach at. What gives?

Sure, there are a few excellent reviews out there of well-known top-tier schools, or reviews that only list a few minor complaints, but a great many reviews seem to end with "do NOT come teach at this school if you know what is good for you".

I have little experience with this--the school I am at is my first school, it had only one review on ISR when I accepted the job, the review was positive and I really like teaching at this school.

OTOH a colleague who also started this year taught at a school in Thailand that has awful reviews, and she seemed to enjoy teaching there.

What is going on here?

That sounds ridiculously onerous. My current school winds up around the 20th of June, getting to Malaysia by July 2nd would be possible, of course, but leaves very little room for vacation, since apparently I would need to get to Malaysia and stay put. There are plenty of other good places to teach in the world, I see no need to deal with such ludicrous restrictions.

That's quite enough to just strike Malaysia off my list of places to teach.

I'll 2nd the deodorant and toothpaste and good razor blades. In Brazil, they don't have deodorant, they only seem to have antiperspirant, which I don't use. I like Tom's of Maine toothpaste, and there is nothing remotely like that in Brazil.

For razors, I had a heads-up from stuff I read online, about the high price of disposable razors in Brazil. I bought a double-edged safety razor and 100 blades, which turns out will be enough for at least 5 years. It works great, and the cost per use is ridiculously low.

I doubt you will forget to bring a backpack, but that is something I forgot to bring, and I had to spend a bundle on one in Brazil. If you think you'll do some camping, you'll of course want to bring that sort of gear.

I'm very glad I bought a Kindle before the trip, I use it every day.

I brought a good set of Wusthaf Trident knives and three basic but well-made pots and pans, which was a good decision.

I teach at a school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and I live about 3 blocks from the beach. Granted it is a pretty crappy beach, but there are good beaches within a few km, easily accessible by bicycle. I hope to live in a far better neighborhood next year, where I will be a couple of blocks from a fairly decent surfing beach. Many teachers at my school live in the Barra neighborhood of Salvador, which is considered a top-notch beach, with good snorkeling opportunities.

I could have brought my yellow labrador to Brazil, but I never even considered it. She is nearly 12 years old, and while she is very very attached to me, she also would be alone at home all day, just like she was back home. There is no "doggy daycare" like there was back in the states.

And as a large dog, she would have had to go in a crate, be sedated, and it would have been an awful trip for her. I left her with my sis in CA, where she has two other dogs to hang out with, a 4 yr old grandson of my sister's to follow around, and four acres to explore. She's plenty happy.

But there is no reason that I wouldn't be able to have a pet here. Most families in the condo complex where I'm living have dogs and/or cats.

Trolltastic indeed. Maybe Violentacrez decided to reappear here.

I would be incredibly pissed off if a school did this to me, and I think there is nothing wrong with having that webpage up. I doubt that many schools would bother to look for something like that, nor would it raise a red flag either.

Good luck on finding the next job. And don't let the bastards wear you down.

It is only K through 8 though, right? I would love a gig like that, but I doubt they want someone who only has taught HS, teaching their middle school math classes.

I would very much like to break contract, but I decided I won't. It won't hurt me to stay here for the full two years. I'll become nearly fluent in Portuguese (I'm already able to converse fairly well after fewer than 3 months here). I will likely be in a much better living situation next year, one where I can surf every weekend very easily.

I think I could land a good job at a good school if I decided to leave, but I also want to teach internationally for the next ten to fifteen years, before I retire, and I want to have a very good record.

It sounds cliche--while you can't change the situation you are in, you can change your attitude about it. Do what you need to do to be happy, but beware of landing in another situation where you will immediately be unhappy again.

The choice really should be "iPad or Kindle", since the Nook does not work for downloading in many parts of the world.

I bought the 2nd cheapest Kindle right before moving to Brazil, and I have been surprised how much I like it. I read a lot, and it has been wonderful to be able to download books to read.

I don't see much of a need for a tablet computer for other activities, but that's just me.

This school is right near the top of my list of schools to go to next. I'm fine with teaching IB, though I hope to get some training in it first. I took a year of Japanese in college, a long time ago, and when I visited for business a few times, it came back to me fairly quickly. It was Yokohama I visited both times, and I like the city a lot.

I hope they need a physics teacher sometime in the next couple of years...