Hello,
Has anyone been to Bangalore, India or worked at one of the international schools there ?
What is the city like ?
Are there lots of people ?
Pollution ?
Quality of life ?
Cost of living ?
Bangalore, India/What is it like ?
I lived there for 1 year...wow, nearly 4 years ago! I just wasn't that into Bangalore, but they hired me a first year teacher (though I'd been an assistant teacher at ASIJ so that got me bonus points). There is one quite good school Stonehill, the rest are all 3rd tier or less, from recent news out of Trio--much, much less.
Again depending on the school you possibly will be working with a majority of Indian nationals who have very different educational theories than you. If are teaching nursery-about grade 6 most of the students were expats, after middle school the ratio changed and many students were Indian or returnees.
I really disliked living in Bangalore and it was a combination of the school and the living situation that made me leave. The classroom was my "Happy Place" great kids!
Again depending on the school you possibly will be working with a majority of Indian nationals who have very different educational theories than you. If are teaching nursery-about grade 6 most of the students were expats, after middle school the ratio changed and many students were Indian or returnees.
I really disliked living in Bangalore and it was a combination of the school and the living situation that made me leave. The classroom was my "Happy Place" great kids!
The pollution does not seem bad, but I had many ENT problems the year I was there.
Many of the international schools are at one end of the city, which was at least an hours drive into the actual city. Things may have changed as now the international airport is in a completely different location and closer to that end. So maybe there's been a build up of things to do. India changes fast!
For me there wasn't much to do. I had a hard time making local friends and I prefer not to hang out with other expats if I can keep from it. You couldn't be really independent at the time in Bangalore--always had to get transport and who knew when you'd be able to get a taxi or auto (sometimes they'd come right away and sometimes hours later) so it was hard to plan activities, again all of this may have changed as now there is some sort of metro in Bangalore and even better bus lines.
Cost of living is not as cheap as you'd think it would be. I saved, but not much.
Many of the international schools are at one end of the city, which was at least an hours drive into the actual city. Things may have changed as now the international airport is in a completely different location and closer to that end. So maybe there's been a build up of things to do. India changes fast!
For me there wasn't much to do. I had a hard time making local friends and I prefer not to hang out with other expats if I can keep from it. You couldn't be really independent at the time in Bangalore--always had to get transport and who knew when you'd be able to get a taxi or auto (sometimes they'd come right away and sometimes hours later) so it was hard to plan activities, again all of this may have changed as now there is some sort of metro in Bangalore and even better bus lines.
Cost of living is not as cheap as you'd think it would be. I saved, but not much.