International and Specialized Teaching Opportunities

"Honey! They want me to run the Berlin office. It's a great promotion. They want us there in two months." After congratulating your wife on her thrilling new assignment, reality sets in as you wonder what you will do about your children's education. Will they be able to attend a school with classes taught in English? Will the curriculum follow American standards or foreign ones?

Relax. Your wife's overseas assignment has many perks, one of which is that her employer will pay for your children's educational expenses at a private school while you are abroad. Your children will be taught in English to international standards. Of course, if you prefer to have them attend schools where they will be taught in a foreign language, that will be an option. Most expats keep things simple and have their children attend international schools with classes mostly in English. Let's explore what's involved in educating your children overseas.

International Schools

You can find international schools in almost every major city outside the United States. International schools offer instruction in English and the usual kind of college preparatory curriculum you would expect to find in an American high school, public or private. International schools offer Advanced Placement courses and International Baccalaureate programs.

This video offers us a glimpse of what the Berlin Brandenburg International School offers.

You will find so-called American schools in many major cities with many Americans. These schools will make your children feel like they have never

Perhaps you are thinking about teaching in a private school in the future or maybe you just started teaching in a private school during the current academic year. This article is written with you in mind. If you are coming from a public school, you will find several differences between teaching in public school and teaching in a private school. The differences are even more pronounced if you take a teaching position in a boarding school. If you have never taught at all, then the following article wil raise points and issues for you to consider.

Students who want to be there

Teachers want to teach. We love our subject. We want to share it with our students. Unfortunately it can be difficult to teach when you are more concerned about maintaining order in your classroom than you are with actually teaching. When you have a large class of, say, 30 or 40 students, maintaining order is an ever-present issue. On the other hand teaching a small class of, say 12-15 students, allows you to engage your students more or less constantly. It is very difficult for students not to be engaged when the size of the class is small.

This video illustrates teaching using Harkness tables.

Students attend private school because their parents want them to get a first rate education. The admissions process can be quite rigorous involving as it does testing and

If you are graduating this year, you probably have a game plan for finding a job in place. Naturally I wish you good luck with that and sincerely hope it works out. On the other hand should things not pan out the way you planned, why not consider teaching? We need teachers. We need talented teachers. In both public and private sectors. At home and abroad. I have several articles on finding , applying for and interviewing for private school jobs. So for the purposes of this article, we are going to look at teaching overseas.

Overseas? Yes, there are plenty of teaching jobs overseas. Hundreds of private schools in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are always looking for qualified teachers. Of course, you probably have already seen dozens of emails from ESL schools in Taiwan. Are those jobs real? Yes, they most certainly are. But, caveat emptor. Do your research carefully. There are some lemons in the bunch. besides teaching English as a Second Language isn't all you are capable of doing, is it? Laura Light, Director of Educational Staffing for International Schools Services, explains what it is like to work in an overseas school.

We are not talking about only ESL teaching jobs. How about teaching in a country like Argentina? For example, let's say you are a Spanish speaking graduate with a degree in American language and literature from Brown

What is Praxis?

ETS offers this explanation of the Praxis® tests: "The Praxis® tests measure the academic skills and subject-specific content knowledge needed for teaching. The Praxis tests are taken by individuals entering the teaching profession as part of the certification process required by many states and professional licensing organizations."

Who requires Praxis®?

Most states require public school teachers to be licensed. Part of the licensing process is taking and passing Praxis I and/or Praxis II. Praxis I tests your competence in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Many education programs will accept Paxis I scores in place of SAT or ACT scores. They basically test the same kind of readiness for tertiary-level academic work. From ETS: "These tests measure academic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. They were designed to provide comprehensive assessments that measure the skills and content knowledge of candidates entering teacher preparation programs.

Praxis II consists of subject or content tests. These are offered in standard subject areas such as Spanish, physics, language arts and so on. If you seek to be licensed as a physics teacher, for example, you would pass the Praxis II exam in physics as part of that requirement. From ETS: "These tests measure subject-specific content knowledge, as well as general and subject-specific teaching skills, that you need for beginning teaching."

How do you prepare for the tests?

There are several Praxis test prep resources available, both for purchase and at no cost. Khan Academy offers

As you Google "teaching abroad" dozens of sites offering ESL (English As A Second Language) jobs in Asia and the Middle East will show up in the search results. Those teaching jobs are not the focus of this article. I am writing about jobs in private K-12 schools. Hundreds of private schools, and for that matter, public schools, outside the United States will be happy to have you as a teacher for a few years. It's a great opportunity for teachers of any age who want to experience the world. And, because they need trained teachers, the local authorities will take care of all the immigration matters for you as part of the contract.

Where to look for teaching positions

In the United Kingdom you will find teaching positions listed in

• Boarding Schools Association
• eTeach
• The Guardian
• Teachaway
• The Times Educational Supplement

In Europe, you will find teaching positions listed at

• The Council of International Schools
• JoyJobs.com
• TIC Recruitment
• U.S. Department of State

So, what's it really like teaching abroad?

1. You won't get rich.

Of course, you knew that anyway. If you were looking for money, you would have chosen another career. Be prepared for the reality that teachers don't make a lot of money overseas. Depending on the job location, you may get housing included. Most likely you will have to find housing yourself. You definitely will not have a lot of money for luxuries. Just