This might not be of much use but I have stayed a hotel just behind the conference hotel and it was substantially cheaper and just as easy to get to. It might have been a Super 8 or one of those brands. Another time we stayed at one that required a shuttle or a 1 mile walk and it was painful, especially in the February blizzard.

My wife and I taught at Vientiane International School in Lao and had a wonderful experience. They have since changed directors and are on a course to implement IB in the next year or two so we are out of the loop but Vientiane is a great city to live in and the cultural experiences you can have are fantastic, I call them my National Geographic moments.

"Sense of entitlement"! Where does that comment come from? I hesitate to comment for fear of unleashing yet another unwarranted diatribe but of course I must restate the theme of this thread-the most common reviews being posted on ISR are negative and they don't do justice to the world of international teaching. Do these negative reports have value, well of course they do but only when taken with a grain of salt and much more research.

I think the point is that if you are new to international teaching and you read the reviews on this site then you might consider yourself crazy for going overseas. Now those of us with experience know better and we can sift through the bad news to find the schools that are gems, many for reasons other than contract perks.

[quote="scribe"]As long as we're speaking of over zealous complainers, there's a certain irony to complaining about the complainers..... whatever happened to live and let live?[/quote]

I guess I don't see the complaining, the previous posts are simply stating the facts relating to ISR. Its value to teachers, especially those with no previous experience overseas, is compromised by the lack of balance in reporting. Can something be done, certainly, but until more balanced reports and more schools are represented then the site's value is reduced. Personally, I think this forum is far more valuable than the posts themselves as information seems to be more up to date and the number of teachers able to respond is greater.

I was having the same thought the other day. I am beginning to find the site less and less relevant not only because of all the negativity, but also because of the wildly conflicting views, the claims by some that reviews are being written by administration and the outdated reviews. For example, my school has had 2 different directors since it's review was last written.

While truthful reporting and reviewing is important it often appears to me that people have an axe to grind with someone or something and that colors the review significantly.

What is more important than the length of the contract is how much you are paid. A longer contract doesn't necessarily ensure more money! It might just mean less money per month but stretched over an additional 2 months. It has been my experience that schools will pay you over 10 months and you need to save for the summer. Some are different but that has been my experience.

You need to make sure that you have a contract over the summer because that will affect your health insurance. You don't want to have to be paying that. If you don't sign an initial two year contract, make sure you sign your second year's contract before you leave on summer holiday. That will ensure, I hope, that you will have insurance.

As far as I can tell you are probably not at any more risk than if you don't buy the car. Our family motto is now "Duck and Cover", don't make yourself obvious and they won't find you, especially using your SIN. What really irritates me is that you can't get a straight answer from anyone and their standard reply is "Every situation is different". Well they don't have to be different if you made the rules a little more straight forward and simpler. Can you sense the frustration coming through.

You should know this was a good year to be a librarian wanting a job. I received multiple job offers and more than one director commented that there was a dearth of librarians available. I am sure that there is a position out there with your name on it.

Hey Dave,

Where in China do you teach? We are also from BC (Nelson) and are heading to Shanghai in July. This residency thing is driving me crazy and after paying an "in the know" accountant $400 I still don't know and I think our best bet is to just lay low and to not attract any attention from Revenue Canada. However, I also think its best to reduce the number of ties we have and I will be actively doing that this summer.

I would like to hear from other Canadian teachers and how they are dealing with their residency issues. Do you own a home? How much "stuff" do you have at home? What other ties do you have? Have you ever gotten a definitive answer from Revenue Canada about your residency?

My wife and I have taught in Africa, Lao and now Eastern Europe. All the schools have had their advantages and disadvantages and we try to take advantage of whatever opportunities there are. In Europe, nothing beats the history and the ease of travel, in SE Asia we were able to save and visit exotic beaches and in Africa we were intimately exposed to the culture (nothing like a Malawian Bottle Store after midnight). At each school we have been at there are people that are having equally rewarding experiences as well as people that are just counting the days until they can leave.

In the end you need to do your research and determine what your wants and needs are and how specific schools can meet those requirements. What is hard to do is walking away and not taking a job because it didn't meet your criteria and I have to admit I have been lucky because I don't know if I could do this.

I think that we also need to get over the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" syndrome. Every school, whether overseas or in Canada, has had its warts and thinking that a school won't have issues is doing yourself an inservice.

Joy Jobs, ISS, Search, TIE or UNI-Whatever works for you and gets you a job! AFter that who cares!

IRC Bangkok 2007-330 teachers, 94 schools and 990 jobs, $180 to register with ISS and $275 or so to attend the fair, hotelroom down the street from the Shangri-la-$50 and food is dirt cheap if you enjoy Thai.

I have never stayed in the fair hotel of choice and the only time it was a bit painful was during a Iowa Blizzard.

The year we attended it was definitely more focused on SE Asia which is why we chose that particular fair. There were schools from other continents there but not in great numbers. UNI has a wider geographic representation, which might be a reason to attend if you are not focused on one particular area, though I seem to remember a high proportion of South and Central American schools. As I mentioned before, both are fine fairs with some obvious differences as well as similarities.

I took a portfolio to the first job fair I attended and after about the first hour decided "never again"! Interviews are short and to the point and not many directors had the time or inclination to look at it. In the end I hauled it around for 3 days and maybe opened it once, and thats having had 9 interviews and accepting a position in the three day period.