Tell me your experiences.....

[vaellteacher]

:?

[WiseTeach]

Agree. I have great classroom management skills, and I love my students, but I cannot teach MOTIVATION, nor can I force my students to THINK. I am leaving to teach internationally for the first time next fall. Two primary reasons:
1) Always been on my list to live and work in another country / culture
2) Sick and tired of the politics of education in this country - devaluation of the field, poor investment in education, public perceptions and lousy parenting that creates broken children.

[PsyGuy]

I havent been back to the states in years, but even the american students ive had in classrooms seem more distracted and have a sense of entitlement. They are still very much a "me" generation. My european and asian students always seemed more connected to their community.

[stellalocal]

I'm from the UK so can't comment on how bad the situation in the US but I've never had a problem with my American students internationally.

I would point out that teaching spoilt rich kids can be a right pain as they don't care at all. They don't need to worry about good grades as they've got family money/Dad's business etc to keep them going in life, they have no need to work to achieve anything, as they see it. I've found this isn't so much of an issue the younger you go.

In addition to this you have the parents, whose view it is that they're paying so it's your job to turn their child into a genius. They also forget that you teach any other kids and think you're there to be at their beck and call.

Oh, and let's not forget that many international schools are businesses and decisions are made based on this rather than educational value.

Just wanted to point out that it's not all wonderful in the world of international schools. There are some very good schools, but most will have their issues.

The perks for me are the location, money and less paperwork. I teach young kids so mine have been pretty great everywhere.
The cons are schools run as businesses and ungrateful parents with completely unrealistic demands (there are some good ones too though)

[bigfatgit]

1. If you could go back in time, would you teach internationally or stay
at home? Definitely go abroad. I've made a lot of very good friends while abroad - I wouldn't trade that for anything. Also, the students are far more appreciative

2. Are you financially better off teaching internationally? Yes but I'm also in a position where I don't really need to touch my salary as I have money coming in from elsewhere

3. Has it been easy to make friends or has it been lonely away from home? See answer number 1

4. What have been your favorite countries/schools? Definitely Egypt! Fantastic country and people

5. What are the best things about teaching internationally? Experiencing new cultures / meeting new people What are the worst? Experiencing new cultures / meeting new people

[sevarem]

[quote]I havent been back to the states in years, but even the american students ive had in classrooms seem more distracted and have a sense of entitlement. They are still very much a "me" generation.[/quote]

Yes, let's make sweeping generalizations about American students. Because they're all raised exactly the same way, with exactly the same values and backgrounds, whether or not they've lived overseas or not.

My school has a pretty healthy mix of international kids, including American students. Some of my American students are the best and the brightest in my class. Some do the bare minimum to get by. Some of in-between. None of them seem "distracted" with a "sense of entitlement." If I apply your logic, then American students are simply awesome, no more or less part of a "me" generation than any generation before that.

[PsyGuy]

Its just true in my experience, yes its a sweeping generalization, but when i think back to the "least motivated" and distracted students they were "in general" the american kids.

I dont have a problem painting them with the same brush if the color is a good match.

[vaellteacher]

:?

[gr8teach]

I think there have been some fair points made but I don't thing we can generalize too much based on nationality or ethnicity. I do believe that cultures that revere education have strong student populations, where as though that don't tend to lack motivation.
Much of this is influenced at home. However, I do believe that teachers can affect great change in student motivation, particularly at the elementary level (where I teach). This is not to contradict that student have varying levels of intrinsic motivation but I believe as an educator I can coax some level of commitment to learn from all my students. It comes from focused lesson planning based, setting achievable goals and developing personal relationships that create mutual respect.

[vaellteacher]

:?

[PsyGuy]

See thats where I disagree, I think we really can generalize across cultural variables, such as nationality. I feel comfortable doing that because I see it, I can observe it and its there. Its not the politically correct position, but if its true and I strongly believe it is, then its the right position. The only real question in my mind is the relative difference between groups, not whether the differences are there.

[sevarem]

[quote] I also realize that no amount of classroom management can make up for the disadvantages that these students carry into the classroom. How do I motivate a child to read when they are homeless and only come to school to get their free breakfast and lunch?[/quote]

This, I absolutely agree with. I have taught in the public school system, and yes, I agree, no amount of enthusiasm will make up for the fact that many children come to school cold, hungry, tired, with no adult supervision, no adequate medical care, and then often have to walk home in dangerous neighborhoods. But that's not really a sense of entitlement, is it? Instead, it's children operating in survival mode against a system that has entirely failed them.

... which is not really a problem in international schools. And the argument that I'm making here is that my American students- in the international school I'm currently teaching in- are not more "entitled" or "distracted" than any other students. I think making broad generalizations based on race or nationality get us absolutely nowhere and contributes nothing to the overall conversation.

ETA: Why doesn't the quote function actually WORK?

[PsyGuy]

I wouldnt say the american kids are distracted the same as public school kids back in the states, but if theres a kid thats slacking, on their mobile phone, or has an excuse for a late assignment, etc its usually the american kids.

Postal Script:

The board admins disabled html and Bbcode, for security and spam prevention reasons (which is what the quote and other text functionality is based on).

[wrldtrvlr123]

[quote="Daisy"]"Postal Script" .... Pretentious - moi?[/quote]

---------------------------------------------

Well, he does inspire some people to want to "go postal".