BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello all. I have done a search on this topic already, and I haven't really found the information I was looking for.

My wife and I are considering a move abroad. I am currently a high school English teacher, and she is a real estate/corporate attorney. We have no kids.

We were initially thinking of moving somewhere in Asia to teach ESL. My wife wasn't crazy about that because she isn't a teacher, and I do not teach ESL, so it would be a bit out of my comfort level as well. We recently stumbled across the option of teaching at an American International school. I was wondering if anyone has any experience in teaching in one of these?

I am finding a lot of information on these, and I meet the requirements to teach at one, but I am having trouble finding any message boards or personalized info about this (most of the info is coming from recruiter websites).

I was wondering if you have done this, where it was you taught at? What age children? How was the experience? What was the pay like? Did you go by yourself or with a spouse? Would you do it again? Also, if you went with a non-teacher spouse, what did they do for work?

We are going to have a good amount of money saved up as we were initially saving for a rtw trip. My wife is well educated, but we're not sure what kind of job she could find if we decided to do this (obviously it would depend on where we would go). I have read that flexibility is the key to obtaining a job as an international teacher, and flexible we are. We have regions that we are more interested in, but we are open to going almost anywhere.

If anyone can give us any insight as to their experiences doing this, or any other message boards/websites to obtain this information (Dave's ESL is geared toward ESL teaching, not international schools), I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if you've done this but you might check out some of the expatriate forums and boards out there... so many expats teach in international schools that there's bound to be someone with that experience...

Expat Forum
Expat Exchange
Expat Women
Expatriates.com

I have not done that. Thanks. That was one thing I've been looking for is some kind of message board. I appreciate it.

Hi,
you can also check out these links/organizations that help individuals teach overseas:
Transitions Abroad
That should lead you to ISS, Search Associates, UNI, TIE online, and others.

Also COIS has some listings, too.

While TIE online doesn't have the country I'm interested in, it does have advertisements of schools. What I would do is contact the school directly.

Good luck.

Having taught ESL for a number of years I've met many teachers that have worked in international schools.

As you would expect, their opinions have differed, but most have been positive about the experience, and many have made it a full time career, rotating to a different country from time to time. The pay and benefits are top notch.

International schools hire just as a quality private school would elsewhere in the world, meaning that they want to see at minimum accredited teaching credentials and an advanced degree in the subject. You seem to have this base covered which is good.

The issue with your wife is going to be a bit trickier. Is there any way for her to retain clients and work for them remotely? If so, she might feel more positive as it would not mean what might feel like dumping her career to help you pursue yours.