Political Crossfire Forums

I recently decided to be proactive about my life and apply to teach abroad. I want to teach either chemistry or physics as I have a background in both academically and as a teacher. I just don't know where to start. I realize most international schools are English-oriented, but I'm intimidated by the idea of living somewhere where I don't know the language by heart - although this, too, would be my learning experience. I know some Spanish and Mandarin - if I took out my old textbooks I could probably communicate on a first grade level in Spanish and as a 4 year old in Chinese. =p

Any suggestions?

BA in Physics
3 years of teaching experience; prior education experience as a special ed aid.
Biggest resume catch is that I built digital lessons where students get randomly generated questions from a bank I created. My classes aren't 'flipped' or anything, but instead of worksheets or lab sheets, my students complete online modules. This allows for instant feedback, students can't copy off each other (thus they talk about methods instead of just answers), I can instantly see which students are slacking off, and I can even run my class as a Montessori learning environment where students finish assignment 1 with at least a B before going to assignment 2. My test averages are now 8-12 points higher. I know how to code using HTML, PHP, and CSS and I've been working with Photoshop since 6th grade. All of my material is unique. My 'regular' class now learns more than many college freshmen taking chemistry know.

One lol-worthy moment came last semester when I had to get a sub last second. While at home I checked on my students' progress, saw that one had opened the activity but didn't answer a single question in the last 45 minutes, and called up to my classroom to bark orders at him.

Depends on the school itself, Ive met English teachers who have bachelors in almost any degree and they teach in S Korea (Koreans have flooded Thailand and the Philippines in recent years, apparently anybody who could afford to is trying to learn English), China, Thailand, etc. Pay is just enough to get by since its officially an ESL course. Most schools in Asia prefer native born English speakers so anybody with a bachelors is pretty much a candidate. If you want to get into more prestigious positions you would need a post graduate degree- quite a few universities do hire and tenure professors. Of course, a lot of this depends on who you know as well.

I know one guy who is married to a Japanese, he set up his own English language school in Tokyo but that does take start up money and a business permit. Bottom line, if you wanna teach physics or chemistry abroad you better have a graduate degree AND know someone- otherwise you'll end up teaching ESL.

Look at jobs in military bases across the world, you may be working with US children in another country. Sometimes your housing can be paid for and you might get other perks. I can't remember the website but I looked into doing it a year ago or so. Its just an idea.

Actually here it is.

http://www.dodea.edu/

you should be able to get a gig at a major Chinese university.

if you go to Xian I'll tell you where the back-packer bar is.

you will have fun.

god you will have fun.

I'm actually applying to teach in S. Korea next year. As you're already a teacher you'll be so overqualified for it, but you'll be pretty much guaranteed to get a job. They have a programme called epik for teaching English over there.

he didn't mention anything about an esl job, he said he wanted to be a real teacher at an international school. these are entirely different things. for one, teachers at international schools actually make decent money. and their students already speak english.

anyways, good luck dude. sounds like you have the qualifications. all i can really recommend is that you spend time in whatever country you plan on going to before you get a job. as a teacher i would assume you have plenty of break periods to do this.

I know some teachers who work for this company http://www.qsi.org/

They have schools all over the world. You could send them an email, see if they have anything you fancy.

What about the teacher exchange programme? Would that be any good for you? A friend of mine swapped with a teacher from Seattle some years ago for a year and had an amazing time. He arrived to discover his counterpart had a swish apartment, so was a bit worried what he would think of the crummy flat in Shoreditch, but he loved it and had to be prised from it afterwards.