My school does not have AP or IB, but my students will be accepted into Canada's top Universities. I've found the biggest challenge is getting the kids to share responses in class, but I've tried to use motivators (such as offering the kids a "shot" of maple syrup)-- so far I've found my tactics successful, and my students have warmed up to being creative. Though the fact the final exam is worth 40 percent of their final grade (which in turn influences which University they will enter in Canada) cannot be ignored. So I've had to tailor some of my lessons to the provincial examination. Personally I've found if students “see” that its “ok” to think outside the box, then they will be willing to dive in. Maybe my students only acted creative to impress me, but nonetheless I tried to welcome their creativity, while not bending too much to the final examination. It may also depend on which subject you're teaching. I'm not sure if my jabber is offering you a perspective of the “severity of the world” though, so please accept my apology!

My points may be vetoed moot ( I am teaching in a Canadian international school).

So far I've been happy with my school's settling in (albeit I have not started teaching for them quite yet).

We were given access to the school's resource database
We are also given money upon arrival, which is not deducted from our first paycheck (September 15).
We were given a few teacher's email addresses, so we could ask any questions etc.
My school also provided the first 10 lesson plans for all our courses.
We are met at the airport (as we arrive a little early in our destination (August 15). We will then do some PRO D, be given keys, go on shopping sprees with our free money, buy sim cards. The school also pays for our first couple of nights in a hotel (to my knoweldge).

No free dinners at my school though (but we do get some "living" money, which is kinda coo)

I still think information should be free, but I don't want to get flamed on this forum.

I will say this though: I don't look at teaching as "imparting info to students." A web page imparts information to the public. Our jobs are much more diverse (at least in my eyes) Feel free to disagree with me if you like, but I don't teach for free because we are not simply doing what a web page is designed to do. We are janitors, we are listeners, we are supervisors, we are councillors (ever had a kid come after school just to rant to you about his bad day?), we are presenters, we are actors, we are professionals, we are funny, we are serious, we are in the eyes of the public, we are markers, we are coffee sippers, we are creative, we are HUMAN. The list goes on. yes our jobs are to teach, but how we do it depends totally on our kids. I am not going to stand up in front of a class and simply "impart information to students.”

I'm sure SEARCH and ISS are great resources to find jobs, but I didn't land my teaching position through either of these websites.

I would suggest attending your local University job fare-- thats how I found a position, and the opportunities were quite abundent. I had options, in other words: I could have chose England, Korea, Japan, but I chose China (girlfriend reasons...=p <3). When I say I had options that does not mean I got interviews for these positions; I mean schools from these countries were looking to hire a few teachers, and thought they might hold a stand in my Uni's gym.

The best part (at least to my knowledge) is university job fares are FREE! Some people hate my opinion in that I believe the spread of information should be free, but I'll withold it for this post =D.

Ironically, most of the positions held at my Uni's job fare don't hire fresh graduates, they typically require a few years teaching experience. I got a little lucky: my volunteer helped pad my resume (according to my recruiter anyway). So if you have teaching experience it is definitly a plus, but volunteer speaks quite loud as well.

My point: attend your local Uni's job fare and see if you can get a bite.

Good luck =D

sitka wrote:
> Google anything works on an infrequent and unpredictable basis in China.
> For example, Google will not work for roughly the week before or the week
> after June 4th every year. Google refuses to keep their servers in China
> (where the government would have access to them), so they have issues with
> the Great Firewall.

Thanks for the tips sitka. I'll move my google drive to my 2TB passport!

I haven't seen the school yet, but I've conversed with the principal and my DH. My school stores all it's resources on Filezilla-- does Google docs not work in China? I'm quite excited to start. So far the school has given me a really strong first impression!

I stand corrected.

appleseed wrote:
> Search has the salaries listed for most schools when you arrive at the job
> fairs (usually in a large binder). Why not just post them on the website as
> well?


Agreed. By downloading music we are also violating several copy right laws. Even if sharing the info violates the contract, how can search actually track the information being distrubuted? Why should information be trapped with a membership fee?

Hi all!
Please scroll to the bottom for a Too long, didn't read summary! =D
I'm a Canadian citizen who will be teaching in China for 3 years. I plan to return to Canadian soil to obtain IB certification. As many of you may know, obtaining certification in Canada for IB is quite difficult; the Unviersity of BC acts as the only Canadian institution which supplies Canadian teachers with IB certification. My question is will obtaining a 12 month diploma (for educators) grant me IB certifcation for teaching abroad? I only have experience teaching IB during my teaching practicums. Here's a link to the UBC (in case others were curious, or some of you can read better than me... =P) : http://teach.educ.ubc.ca/bachelor-of-ed ... alaureate/

Tl, dr: will a diploma completed at the University of BC (http://teach.educ.ubc.ca/bachelor-of-ed ... alaureate/) grant me certifcation for teaching IB abroad? Is it enough?

Thanks all!

You're all wondAful!
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Ahh I see what you mean! Actually your post reminds me of what someone esle said about tiered schools, and about being happy in a certain spot. Where does one draw the line? happieness, or cash? Still, if you are looking for china, I'd highly reccommend Wuhan. Cheap living expenses, fairly modern, happy and helpful people who adore you if you can say hello in their native language. I've only ever taught in Wuhan, so I'm obv biased as heck

Good luck-- and be well! =D

Wuhan China: cheap living standards, big big sallaries.

Would I want you to teach my kids? Probably not to be honest-- like someone else put much nicer than I did above: it is imperative you have some passion for teaching. I am optomistically assuming you are passionate about teaching, but you are just trying to find a spot to bank some good dough.. =)

Be well

??

I think China would be ruled out; most (if not all) employers in China require a physical examination, with Hep C being written beside a small square which denotes whether you have it or not.

sitka wrote:
> I am an ex-MLIS teacher, although not at the Wuhan campus.
>
> The established schools (Dalian, Tianjin and Wuhan) are tier 2 schools.
> The recent expansion schools (Luoyang, Chongqing, and the 2 Shanghai
> schools) are arguably tier-3 schools, but with a few more years to
> establish themselves I suspect that will change. At the other flagship
> schools, the students are roughly 85% national and 15% international
> (largely from South Korea, Russia, Mongolia and Japan). This may be lower
> at Wuhan as it is further from any border.
>
> The salary is roughly comparable to a teacher back home (if you don't
> include the pension), and is paid in Canadian dollars. This makes it easy
> to send money back to Canada, but also means the salary becomes worse as
> the RMB appreciates. I made less (in RMB) in my last year than I did in my
> first year despite several raises. Taxes are roughly 13%.
>
> Considering I pay approximately $2000 a year for housing, I don't find the
> lack of accommodations in the contract a big deal.
>
> The flight allowance is actually more generous than $1500. The school will
> pay the entire cost of the flight, if they book the flight for you. $1500
> is what they offer if you choose to book the flight yourself (for example,
> if you'd rather travel over the summer rather than return to Canada).
>
> The workload is on the high side (in terms of contract hours, actual
> working hours, and class sizes). The past 2 years, we have worked about 10
> Saturdays throughout the course of the year. However, the vacations are
> long (5 weeks for the Chinese New Year, and two other 9 day vacations), so
> there are extensive opportunities to travel compared to other international
> schools in the area.
>
> I have nothing but positive thing to say about current administration from
> top to bottom. The current principal at Wuhan is a great guy (although he
> won't be there next year as he is transferring to the Foreign National
> School).
>
> I'd argue it is a great place to launch your IS career, especially as a new
> graduate from BC.
>
> I hope this helps - if you have any other questions, feel free to give me a
> PM.


Wow! Thank you so much for posting. I was wondering if it would be ok for me to ask my questions publicly, so that other people may find your advice useful as well for the future? I guess I'll shoot my questions in a list:

Did your campus have a gym? And by gym I mean a westernized weight lifting place to add some mass?

How were the students? Did you live in Maple Leaf's accomidation? how was it?
How many classes did you teach? What about preps? Does Maple Leaf offer any prep periods?
How did you find the resources? What subjects did you teach (anything you can share (i can also give you stuff in return ;) )). I have 1TB of random resources in all subject areas which I can share with you if you prefer. I kinda robbed my public school during my field experience =D.

Thanks so much for your help, and I hope my questions weren't too overwhelming!

??

I'm glad to read your praise about the admins at Maple Leaf-- how long did you work for them? Where are you at now? Did you find your experience (even though its not IB or AP) at Maple Leaf aided you in finding another job abroad in China (if thats where you are now)?

Lastname_Z wrote:
> Interesting that someone posted this, because I was going to do the same.
> I'm going to the exact same school. Thanks for posting this thread. I'm
> glad people answered it.
>
> My language skills are definitely not there, however, so I'll have to brush
> up on Mandarin (and apparently French).

Lastname Z! Nice to meet a fellow cohort (is this where I ask you to add my Facebook? ;)?) Seriously though, it would be nice to get to know someone before we cross the pond to a foreign land (albeit my gf should cushion the culture shock a little bit)! Thanks for posting. PM me if you want to get in touch (or exchange Linkedin profiles at the very leaste)?

be well
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Thanks Calin! What sorts of after school activities does your school ask you to do (just curious?) =D

Thanks again for your response (do you need resources, I have everything from Chem AP to Math IB)!