San Francisco - try to attend ISS & SA fairs?

[Trix18]

I am signed up with both agencies, and they are both having fairs in San Fran that overlap. It looks like going to both is feasible, with a lot of running around. Advice?

About me: 10 years experience teaching English. History and ESL at the HS level. No AP or IB experience. 18 years (concurrent w/HS for 10) tertiary English. One dependent child 4 yo. Willing to work almost anywhere if I can save more than $8000 a year and it is safe (this is relative as I live in a big city and hear gunshots weekly).

[PsyGuy]

What advice are you looking for?

Its busy, and youll see a lot of the same ISs, SF is at the post end of the peak recruiting cycle, its pretty late in the year, youre a higher class IT than the tiers of the ISs your going to be competing for. Its an inexpensive fair for you to go too, assuming your local. Single parent isnt a deal breaker but its harder and adds some logistical difficulty, youre going to have some difficult questions (we dont have EC, who is going to take care of your child).

Saving USD$8K a year would be difficult in some regions depending on the OSH package. The average IT salary global is about USD$30K. If your going to the ME, such as the Kingdom in a compound, than USD$8K is easy (but youd have other problems), same in China but going somewhere like the LCSA where salaries are lower and you might be able to do that while making some sacrifices, but somewhere like the WE where your not getting a housing package and taxes are high and youd need some kind of childcare possibly, youre not going to save anything much less USD$8K.

[Trix18]

Thank you! That's the type of advice I was looking for. I am already signed up and going to the SA Cambridge fair because I have a friend who lives 3 miles away and is willing to host me, but my associate made it seem like with a young child that none of the schools are going to want me and, absent the free housing, I should only go to San Francisco.

I am not looking for Western Europe, or even Europe at all. I know the cost of living is high. The ME seems like I could make money, but there might be visa issues even though my son's dad will sign any needed paperwork.

I've mainly been thinking about Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Cambodia or comparable places.

I do have the luxury of having a guaranteed position for next year, even if I am struggling a bit monetarily here, so I won't accept a position just to have one if I am not going to have an opportunity to save.

[PsyGuy]

@Trix18

Well while I dont know your associates entire motivations (BOS is a better fair than SF, and your competitive for BOS), but your associate isnt wrong a single mother with a non-school aged child, what are you going to do if the IS doesnt have EC for your childs age, thats a really hard question to answer if you want to save USD$8K, as that savings is basically child care or a good portion of it. Thats just the scheduled stuff and doesnt count the absences from a sick child, etc. Why would an IS take on that problem for what amounts to a lower secondary humanities/Lit IT without AP or IB or IGCSE or A*. It comes out as an expensive hire with a lot of headaches.

Its not just visa issues, a woman with a letter from a man is not equal too a husband in the ME, especially in places like the Kingdom.

As regards to your locations:
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Single mother with a non-school aged child, unless your young and really attractive those guys (and they are mostly guys) arent going to go for that. they will pass.
Tanzania: Less a logistical issue but the coin isnt there for the savings you want.
Indonesia: Cheap childcare, and ith a high tier IS you could afford it and still make your savings, but Jakarta for a single parent with a young child, the word 'ick' comes to mind. Its really only viable if you get into a first tier IS.
Malaysia: Again much like Indonesia, cheap child care and it works with a high enough tier, and the KL is much more livable than Jakarta, probably your best option.
Bangladesh: Coin isnt there for the savings, and I wouldnt ant to live there as a single parent ith a young child.
India: Big country, and I wouldnt want to do it as a single parent with a young child, but you could find cheap childcare, though the coin isnt there to meet all your goals and expenses.
Vietnam and Cambodia: The coin just isnt there for your savings goals. Vietnam is the easiest to get into, its almost a safety option, if you didnt have anything else. If Vietnam is an option though you may as well include China and just stay out of Beijing.
Cambodia has fewer vacancies its a smaller market, though its nicer than HCMC but the coin just isnt there.

Essentially, to do all the things you need to do to sell the interview and meet your goals you need as high a tier IS as possible and those probabilities happen sooner/earlier in the recruiting cycle not later. Go to BOS talk to anyone that will give you a slot. You would have been better off keeping quite about the single mom child issue and asked for an invite to BKK.

[Trix18]

Thanks again. You've confirmed what I have been thinking. I actually had several interviews with a school that met what I needed, except their pre-K was half-day. Nannies there are half of what I pay for daycare here, so that wasn't an issue to me, but I am pretty sure that they went with another candidate because of my situation. And that is okay. I get it from their side of the equation.

I am going to try Boston, be happy that I have alternatives here in the US, and maybe look at building either IB or AP experience in the next year or two so that if I don't get something that I want this season, I can apply with a school-aged child and better experience.

[Heliotrope]

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Agree with PsyGuy

Tanzania: IS of Tanganyika in Dar-es-Salaam would accommodate your savings goal without a problem. One of the best schools in Africa on top of that. Dar-es-Salaam isn't the greatest city, but the part the school is in is ok.

Indonesia: The two schools that would allow you to save enough are in Jakarta, and you'll have to expose your kid to pretty bad air quality.

Malaysia: Agree with PsyGuy. At least two schools there that would let you save enough easily.

Bangladesh: There's one school where you can easily save what you need (good school as well), a second one where you might be able to, but as PsyGuy says, Dhaka is a very unattractive and dirty city, not the best option with a kid.

India: At least three schools there that would let you save enough easily, but all are in cities with terrible air quality.

Cambodia: There's one school where you can easily save what you need, and it's a solid school. Phnom Penh isn't a great city, but there are worst places.

Vietnam: There's one school where you can easily save what you need, but the city it's in (the capital) has really terrible air quality, as nice as it is apart from that.

Have a look at Myanmar (one school only that I would recommend and would fit your needs), Taiwan (two good schools in Taipei, great city), Philipines (two good schools, but city is crap) or Thailand (few schools that would fit, although perhaps too competitive). If you don't mind not going out much, Pakistan would have a few schools where you can easily save enough cash, and they're good schools, but most cities are not extremely safe).

Good luck!

[Heliotrope]

P.S.
Some of the schools I'm referring to are top tier, and will be very hard to get into due to stiff competition, but not all schools are so highly sought after so then your chances are better, and all are worth a try at least – I've seen some strange hires at top schools.

[PsyGuy]

@Trix18

For context @Heliotrope and I used different criteria and definitions, @Heliotrope proceeded with the challenge that the region somewhere had a high tier, mostly elite tier IS that would meet your goals. Mine was an ana1ysis of the region as a whole across the average of ISs within a region, would your goals and experiences in the region be reflected by a more generalized/typical appointment. There is nothing wrong with @Heliotrope approach, my position is that once you move to the elite tier ISs just about anything and everything becomes accomplishable.

[Heliotrope]

Not sure what you mean with your first two sentences, but we might have a different approach yes.
I just wanted to point out that some of the countries do have schools where she could meet her goals. Some of those are top tier and very hard to get into, others are more feasible for the OP.

[Illiane_Blues]

Angola, Ethiopia, Turkey.

[Heliotrope]

Agree with the Ethiopia suggestion, domestic help will be very cheap there and it's a great country for travelling. One of the two international schools there is very good with a nice savings potential.

I wouldn't want to live in Angola though.

[Illiane_Blues]

Friend of mine works there and banks lot of coin and likes the school.
I would accept a job there if offered

[shadowjack]

So:

First off, your daughter would be Pre-K4, OR KG1, which in many schools is all day. Unless she turns 5 before September, in which case she would be KG2.

Then...

Uzbekistan, opportunity for great savings at a gem of a school.
Dubai - a few good schools with good budget
Bangladesh - only one school but AQI is not great.
Mongolia - one decent school
China - a bunch of decent schools - have you looked at Shanghai? AQ is bad some days, good others.
Why not Kenya? South Africa? Angola? Ghana? Senegal?

Why not look at Africa? Or Eastern Europe?

Honestly, I would really start to research schools (if you're not on the paid side, you should be) and cast your net far and wide.

[PsyGuy]

A significant number of ISs dont provide EC or only have one year of EC or dont have all day EC. Sure there are ISs that do have multiple years of EC and have a program as young as 4, but its not universal.

The only place Id go to in Africa is Johannesburg/Capetown. Turkey is nice to visit, see the sites, but I wouldnt want to spend 2 years there, even in a city like Constantinople.

[shadowjack]

@PG - but there's lots of places you wouldn't go that other teachers would - and would enjoy it. Dakar, in Senegal, is very highly spoken of by its ex-staff and in reviews. Lincoln, in Ghana, is another one.

As to KG I/Pre-K 4, many schools outside of Europe offer this. That's for 4 year olds.

In case of 5 year olds, Kindergarten is on offer at most schools.