American School of Quito

radishflower · Post by **radishflower** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:24 am

Hi Everyone,
One of the schools that interests me for a variety of reasons is the American School of Quito. However, their salary for an MA + 8 is $21,000, which sounds very low to me. Also, there are FIVE English openings, which seems odd--I am wondering why so many from one department are leaving. I would love to experience this country, but can anyone out there give me some info on these two issues regarding this school? Thank you.

heyteach · Post by **heyteach** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:29 am

Well, I just replied to your previous post before seeing this subject line. I teach at this school; the reason for the turnover is that several two-year contracts are ending, and a couple others, like me, are moving on after 3-4 years. The department is the biggest in the secondary school as the classes are split in half for English. There are a number of "lifers" in the department that have made Quito their home, so the dept. is pretty stable. The salary sounds low, but you can live quite comfortably on it, with the housing allowance. Academia Cotopaxi pays better but you work longer hours and have to put in a lot of evenings and weekends to school activities (I have good friends there).

radishflower · Post by **radishflower** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:25 pm

[quote="heyteach"]Well, I just replied to your previous post before seeing this subject line. I teach at this school; the reason for the turnover is that several two-year contracts are ending, and a couple others, like me, are moving on after 3-4 years. The department is the biggest in the secondary school as the classes are split in half for English. There are a number of "lifers" in the department that have made Quito their home, so the dept. is pretty stable. The salary sounds low, but you can live quite comfortably on it, with the housing allowance. Academia Cotopaxi pays better but you work longer hours and have to put in a lot of evenings and weekends to school activities (I have good friends there).[/quote]

Hi "heyteach"--thanks so much for the reply. This sounds great. What is it like living in Quito? How much international school experience did you have when you landed this job? Any chance I could email with you one on one to ask a few more questions that are more specific to my personal concerns? Thank you.

heyteach · Post by **heyteach** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:11 pm

Radish, I'll be in Cambridge, too. My director will be there, and she has even asked a colleague and me if we would be willing to talk to recruits. See you there!

Just please don't mention we "met" on this site.

radishflower · Post by **radishflower** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:06 pm

@ heyteach: Excellent! I look forward to meeting you there!

radishflower · Post by **radishflower** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:07 pm

@ heyteach: Oh, and of course I would not mention the site. ; )

radishflower · Post by **radishflower** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:15 am

@heyteach or anyone else who works at this school:
I am looking at the Search information for your school, and of the schools I am interested in it is the only one that says "no" for sick and personal days--most of the other schools say something in the neighborhood of 12 sick and 2 personal--some more.
Does this really mean that if a teacher is sick they do not get paid for a day off?! Please let me know. That seems very odd to me, as we all get the occasional cold or flu...

American School of Quito

American School of Quito

sick and personal days at American School of Quito