General Questions

[REmmerink]

Hello all,

My girlfriend and I are in the process of signing up with SA in order to hopefully land a nice job for 2017-2018. We are however still wondering what geographical area to aim for.

A bit of background info: She is a ESL teacher, currently working at an IS in Mexico as a local hire (she is Mexican). She has been working at the school for about 7 years, but before that worked in the US (also for about 7 years) and received a teaching certificate which is by now expired. She does have two MEd degrees (in Ed. Leadership and International Education). I am a European, working at the same school (foreign hire). I have a teaching degree from Europe and an additional MA (international relations). We signed up for another year, which would be my third. I teach Socials and am also the H.O.D. Besides that, I recently got my Google educator certifications and am in the process of obtaining my Google Trainer certification as well.

Questions:
1. What region would we focus at according to you? We are not in it for the money, but would like to experience something new and fresh. We would like to save some money though and the benefits should exceed what we make now. However, that said, we do not really need to make over 100k a year or something like that.
2. Are we marketable. I guess she is, but am I? I know the market for S.S. teachers is saturated, but would it make a difference that we are looking as a couple?
3. If you have anything else you would like to share, please do so!

Thx in advance!

[shadowjack]

Get her certificate renewed ASAP. That will be an issue with some countries.

Then try SE Asia.

[sid]

Don't bother focusing. Explore and enjoy. The only benefit to focusing is if you prefer to live in a particular region or have some other deciding factor. You seem open, so why limit your options.

[REmmerink]

Thanks guys.

I forgot to mention that my girlfriend has a teaching certificate from a university in Mexico. Her Georgia license and her endorsements in ESL and Spanish from Georgia are also expired. Is that gonna be a problem?

[wrldtrvlr123]

REmmerink wrote:
> Thanks guys.
>
> I forgot to mention that my girlfriend has a teaching certificate from a university
> in Mexico. Her Georgia license and her endorsements in ESL and Spanish from Georgia
> are also expired. Is that gonna be a problem?
------------------------------------------
Is her certificate from the university in Mexico equivalent to a teaching licence? Does it authorize her to be a licensed teacher in Mexico?

If so, that is better than nothing but most international schools would be more impressed (IMHO) with a US teaching certification. If she has US experience and formerly held certification in the states she can explain all of that and it will help but anything that you have to explain carries the risk that schools will just move on to someone with more clear cut credentials. She should look and see if the US certification can be feasibly renewed as it would greatly help her marketability.

You are marketable as a couple but with some caveats on each of you (e.g. expired certificates, non-high needs teaching area). That being said, you certainly could find some good schools in reasonable locations that would give you consideration. Signing up with SA will definitely help and their database will help with your recruitment decisions. Apply wherever there are positions but do some research on a few specific regions that really interest you.

[twoteachers]

Guaranteed your associate will advise you not to narrow the field.... Just don't click your absolute no way spots....