How many hours do I work a week? I have no idea. There are times when I clearly am not a teacher and times when I clearly am. Most of the hours of the day it's undefined. My life is balanced.

I disagree about the tiers. There are "Tier 1" schools where BS is expected and knowing how and when to BS and how to "play the game" is essential for survival. There are also " Tier 1" schools where honesty and professionalism are expected, encouraged and rewarded and the same results are achieved with a quarter of the work. Same can be said for Tier 2,3 and xyz. The difference is that in a "Tier 1" school employees tend to justify their employers expectations by the financial compensation. In lower tier schools teachers will complain about "too much work" or "too little structure" when they'd just get on with it either way if they were paid/treated/respected more.

Number of dependants isn't a big issue for ISKL. Obviously if everything else is equal then it becomes a factor. But if they don't give you the job then it's likely that it's because they give it to someone who they think is a better fit and not about the money. Good luck!

Masters + 7 in the region of 60-65k USD

Housing allowance (on top of salary and about 1.2k USD after tax) sufficient for a spacious family sized apartment.

Income tax will be around 20% of your total income.

A family of four will do just fine on one salary.

They will hire you with a non working spouse and two kids and will pay medical, flights etc for all of you.

I agree with heyteach - some schools with great facilities, resources and an excellent package would be "too American" or "too British" for some. Others prefer schools modelled on their home systems to others in the same location with better packages.
Three indicators? Teachers treated as professionals and students treated as learners, no bureaucracy, a more than competitive package. Well that's the ideal, something usually gives though - "top tier" schools are not necessarily perfect.

Wow! Someone asks for advice and then actually takes it!

Good decision btw, good luck!

Ask your school. Depending on the relationship between the school and the authorities in Vietnam, it could be a CRB or a subject access report that is required.

I agree with cheery. They are taking the piss. You are not a university student on a scholarship giving you some money to live on. You are a professional and, to boot, one being hired from overseas because you have something to offer that cannot be found locally. You can earn more than that in the "european" nations in the southern cone of South America where you will live like a king and still have enough money to do a luxury backpack tour of Europe all summer long.

Money isn't everything - in fact it's not important at all. But you can earn more, pay less tax and get benefits like housing and flights in cheaper, more rewarding, places. The reality is though that teachers are lining up to live in the "cultural hotspots" of Europe and accepting crap salaries. Some international schools in Europe even pay significantly less than the state pays to local teachers. Mugs game!

I worked with a guy who had worked there previously. It wasn't the murder capital at the time but it was probably pretty close. He had a ball. Many cities claim the the title from time to time but the reality is that most people who live there are not murdered. Having lived in one when it did claim the title - it didn't impinge on our lifestyles at all. The Latin American cities that claim the title do not have schools that pay megabucks (some of the African ones do) but benefits outweigh the challenges (although Latin America is not for everyone - which is a great shame in itself).

Getting teachers there? They might not get the 40, or 100, applications per post that some Asian and Middle Eastern schools allegedly get but they get enough.

Yes, CRB/DBS check applies only to the UK (and maybe some overseas UK territories but I don't know). Schools can ask, or insist, on police clearance from every country a potential employee has worked in but the reality is that it's not always that easy to get and when it is easy to get a clear certificate it can often be paid for. It's not that long ago that when UK teachers went abroad and were asked for clearance that the only thing they could get from UK police was a statement that the UK police don't issue clearance certificates - in other words, "it's none of your business you foreign countries". At the end of the day though, if Vahey had a clear record (aside from the 1969 conviction in California in days when records where written down on bits of paper and then shoved in a drawer or a filing cabinet) then he had a clear record and no amount of police checks would have found anything.

The details are posted by the schools themselves. If something doesn't look right you can email your associate and ask if they have better info. They'll usually help if they can.

Do the skype. Not sure why anyone would want to watch a contrived videod lesson. Not sure about the skype either though but my guess is they will be more impressed by it if you come across well.

Indeed, and as you said in a previous post, every interview is a learning experience. On both sides. The head/principal/ whoever is recruiting is often less experienced in this respect than the interviewee. The one who expects non- standard answers will grow faster as an interviewer.

If you care about the money, ask them how much it is.

Depends of course on the situation but I have always asked at the (first) interview. Never been a problem if the question is framed in the right context. They should have nothing to hide and it gives both sides more information to help make the right decision. They have seen your CV/resume and have access to personal information about you? Just ask them. Nicely.

Perceptions and therefore realities will always be different. Two souls with differing backgrounds, expectations, experience, outlook will look at the same (partly shared) experience differently. A perspective can even be influenced by a teacher's next experience.

No place or school is perfect. There will always be criticisms. The kind of reviews I would be particularly wary of are those that have nothing good to say about anything (there must surely have been at least one decent colleague there, or one thing to be enjoyed outside of the workplace?), those that are clearly written by the owners or the board or the administration/management who write nothing but joy of wonder comments (they are clever enough to add a negative to make it plausible but are too vain to do so in practice), and those that are compounded by other reviews saying this school is sh1te steer well clear and then change getaway cars for good measure.

Other than that I would read between the lines. And as another poster said, put it into context. And if several reviews refer to downsides that wouldn't bother you in the slightest then count the positives. At the end of the day, it's information - and ISR provides useful information that should never be disregarded as sour grapes (even if it is!!!).

Both. Apply as normal and send the head a formal but friendly email reminding him or her who you are.

Some heads tell everyone to keep in touch because they never know when they might need a teacher at short notice. Others tell you only if they really want you to and you "missed out" to someone who just happened to be a "better fit" "this time round". You have no way of knowing other than gut feeling about your previous encounter with the head - could be a decent honest head or could be a cowboy.