The best thing about any IB workshop is the other teachers. Get in with them, and wait to share a ton of resources and conversations about best teaching practice etc.

As for the school...beggars can´t be choosers, I´m afraid. Two years IB experience + that IB training will make you much more attractive to IB schools. If you like how the Head has been, then it might be an ideal way to get into IB schools. If not...well, sometimes you just got to suck it up so you can move on to bigger and brighter things in the future.

As many have said, it´s a boring town unless you really dig the nightlife and even then, there are many better places for that in Colombia. It is all subjective, as can be seen from calipro´s posts, but I much preferred some of the other big cities in Colombia to Barranquilla, in particular Cali and Bogota. However, travel opportunities are very good, and Colombia itself is a fantastic country in which to live. The advice about getting out and about at weekends is a sound one. The best time of the year is the month or so before and including the carnaval, when there is a real . atmosphere about the place.

The school is VERY much a for-profit school, and you will be very much aware of this. It is a business, accept this and you will be fine. The top school in Barranquilla is considered to be Marymount (a girls school), and there is also Karl Parrish and a German school which teaches IB. The kids are generally nice to teach, but they can certainly be lazy, which reflects the soporific nature of the climate. They rarely managed to keep their foreign staff there after their initial contract, if they hadn´t already left by then, although this was a few years ago. Pay seemed to be fine, but I have heard Colombia has got much more expensive these last few years. If you need to get some IGCSE/IB experience it is fine and you will experience an awesome country. Enjoy the lifestyle and travel, and it´s a good place to learn Spanish as few speak English, as well as the expat population being low, definitely in the 10s rather than 100s.

I realise that this is a bit of a large topic, but I have interviews set up with some schools in India. Could anyone give any feedback about living there/general work environment etc etc please. I´ve never been there, but always been interested.

Thanks

Getting a job at a fair is only one of numerous ways that you are expected to look for a job. All of them know that candidates might get a job before the fair. In fact, it even has the school contact details on there for you to be contacting them directly. Seeing as only about half - at best - candidates at a fair actually get a job there and then at a specific fair, it is only one aspect of finding a job for many.

It would be nice to know which associates might do this, so as to avoid. In my experience, speaking with a dealing with a couple of associates, they were both very nice.

As a western male, I don´t really even have to consider this in where I might live, other than perhaps conservative muslim countries (e.g. Saudi, opposed to perhaps somewhere like Dubai). So, they are a no-no, for that and other reasons. Single females, however, tend to have it much tougher generally on the international teaching/general expat scene.

East Asia seems to be a poor option for Western women. From my experience, many seemed to find the dating options to be few there, as that is presuming they find Chinese/Asian men attractive which quite a lot, a majority I mean, did not seem to. This was in stark contrast to the expat men, of course, who almost all were smitten by local feminine charms.

Latin America seems to be the place to go. There are a lot of latinos who specifically like, and target, gringas and the culture is not as different to the likes of the US/UK as, say, your China or ME. Learn Spanish/Portugese right away, and chose a large-ish city and you might (not that it is ever easy) find the latino man of your dreams, as HAS happened to some female friends of mine, and that covers different South American countries. Plus Mexico actually, come to think of it.

Obviously, tends to be cities in the Southern Hemisphere, such as the majority of South American schools in places like Chile, Peru, Argentina etc.

Hi all,

For those who have been to one of these recruitment fairs...I see that some are for 4 days. Do you think it would be necessary to stay all 4 days? Is that usual, or is just the first few days fine? The Bangkok fair says it is from January Jan 8 - 11, for example. Seems a bit long, even with lots o schools there.

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Is there any good reason why Private Messages are disabled on this board?

I have paid to read the reviews on this site but it would be nice if I could send or receive PMs from other members should the need arise.

Perhaps they were disabled for some reason some time ago. Can these be reinstated please?

I doubt it is just the saving cost aspect that makes teaching couples so attractive to schools or even if that is the most attractive part of it.

It is more that a couple is seen to be more likely to fit in easier and be comfortable in the environment. They are seen as being mutually supportive and so less of a risk. When hiring a single, well...perhaps they are perceived to be more likely to be into partying, might not be as stable or there is more of a risk them just packing up and leaving. Teaching couples...well, may well have kids and thus stay for years.

Whether any of that is fair or not is another thing. I do know though from an experience I remember at a pretty crappy school that one singleton did an overnight runner as they a) hated the school, b) had no need to stay and c) had met a partner in a different country and another single teacher there that met a local guy and got pregnant so left before the end of their contract. The teaching couple fulfilled their contract (even though they hated it) and then moved with a warm farewell. On other other hand...so did one of the single teachers that was hired.

So...I think heads see couples as being less of a risk, less likely to rock the boat...and also it is two positions filled in at once. Never underestimate the laziness of many a school head as well. For all the hard working, dedicated directors around there are just many who will look for the easiest option for them rather than what is necessarily best for the school in the long run.

Ah well...just some ramblings...

Any chance you could give me a quick breakdown of the schools please Mike?

I would have PMd you but it says it has been disabled on this board for some reason.

I was told Roosevelt was the closest they get to an international school. What about the British schools? There seem to be a lot...which are the better ones?

More interested in good schools to work in and am with 2 kids so that is a consideration...

It is a delicate situation and it is obvious why it causes resentment.

However it seems in this case that is just the excuse for this particular somebody to let their bitchiness out.

Ultimately just because there is this unfair two-tier system doesn't mean the kind of personal and individually directed nastiness that abounds should exist. In some schools it is endemic to the point where the expat staff and local staff are essentially segregated.

Until schools agree to stop this system AND demand similar qualifications/experience/professionalism/whatever from ALL staff across the board then it will keep going on...

Can anybody give me any advice about the best schools in Lima? Or in the rest of Peru for the matter? Am considering moving there.

There are something 15 IB colleges in Lima alone I was told.

I certainly wouldn't just break off a friendship as it will only make things awkward for you.

However you are going to have to talk to her and say you feel a little uncomfortable about certain things she says or comments on. Don't bring all of those things up at once however...best just to break it in slowly.

The local hires can be a pain in the backside sometimes. They can personally resent people for what is the policy of the school. I understand the frustration that others are getting paid far more for the same job because of their nationality but it is not a justification to be nasty.

Still...that's international teaching for you! These kind of things often seem to come up.