The International Schools Review Forum

'I teach at a school in Asia that is 90% local students and it's wonderful. '

Hi Cricket,

Can you share the name of the school? This is a question which I am researching at the moment and I would love to know which school you speak so highly of!

Many thanks.

I teach at an "international" school in Latin America that is 90% or more local kids. The kids are nice, fairly rich, and it seems to have pretty average standards at best. Most of the staff is foreign hire and fairly decent. If I had kids, I'd feel fine sending them here, maybe for early elementary. It's just not that rigorous and the kids and families seem to know that they can bully the school when they need to. The kids definitely speak in Spanish at every opportunity, for better or worse. They just know they have the safety net of their rich parents, so I think the academics are optional for a lot of them. As an eager educator, that's a bit depressing.

With all that said, it's a nice community, a generally nice group of people to work with.

I have a slightly different take on "local" schools. I worked as an ESL teacher abroad and sent my kids to local preschools with better results than here in the US. It depends on the school - which of course might be difficult to figure out - until its too late. But, if you do your research, there are great national and/or bilingual schools out there.

Also, I know a lot of diplomats from smaller countries who send their kids to the local school of the host country with good results. Their kids end up performing at the top of their class and pick up a new language along the way. Its not for everyone, but if you think you and your kids are up to the challenge, I say go for it! You will certainly gain a fuller understanding of the local culture and language.