NoVa teacher with offers to teach abroad in Asia, Middle East, and Europe. WWYD?
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Anonymous
| Interesting that private school is the only option in all of these countries due to the language barrier while our school system is busy bankrupting itself educating kids with a language barrier. |
Anonymous
Huh? Private school is not the only option but most expats and many wealthy locals want their children to apply to US colleges so want them to have more of an American college prep education. OP I think you are naive re the taxes in some of these countries. Another thing to consider is how old are your kids? It’s a very transient lifestyle w/ many kids moving in and out of these schools as their parents are transferred. Often the local kids stick together and the expat kid situation is somewhat tough bc often just when you become friends, they move. It makes for off social dynamics. If your kids are nursery then I think it’s fine. Older, I’d reconsider. |
Anonymous
In college I had a girl in my Japanese class who had spent the entirety of her teen years in Japan and still only tested into 102. She picked up a semesters worth of a language in 5 years of living there! My cousin did a teach abroad in Taiwan and learned zero in 5 years, he couldn't even order food. That's how tight these expat communities are. |
Anonymous
Go. As fast as you can  Life does not present these opportunities readily - see the world. People have no imagination. You will live through this experience!
It's an opportunity. Like any opportunity there's risks. Other countries value teaching English as second language. Our country does not value teaching a second language comparatively. In China they start in K. In Europe and Latin America pretty similar. It's not as easy as you think to hire American language teachers who are experienced and would be fluent in the native country's language as well. Unless you're 23 you may have a family or be like all the posters here that are way too anal to have any adventure in their life. |
Anonymous
Well for starters, Dubai is a city and not a country. The country is the United Arab Emirates. It's actually a nice place to live. I lived there for three years and I've been there 10+ times since then for work. People who post things like that usually have no idea what they're talking about. |
Anonymous
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OP, I've been an expat in several different countries. You're getting some good advice here, and it's clear that you're mistaken on some things. Taxes--Uncle Sam has a long reach. You will be paying US taxes, and potentially taxes in the new country but that is very country-specific.
It is very unlikely that you or your children will learn the language of the country you choose. Maybe if you go to a Spanish speaking country, that's the easiest for Americans to learn. UAE? Forget it. The likelihood of you even meeting an Emirati, who are a minority in their own country, is slim to none. Plenty of other arabic speakers, but they'll likely speak English to you. I've met tons of Americans in Germany who have lived there for multiple years and basically only know a handful of German words that they like to throw into sentences to make it sound like they know German. (Schwimmbad and Parkplatz seem to be popular ones, as if swimming pool and parking lot somehow are inaccurate. But I digress, clearly a pet peeve) If you post something more specific you'll get better help. |
Anonymous
This is a little weird. Your options at the same institution are Mandarin or Arabic? What perks would they have that local students do not? That sounds even more odd. Unless your kids are very young and you plan to live there for 10+ yrs, it's pretty unlikely they will learn and keep those languages. --Japanese speaker from age 2-12, can't remember more than 10 words at 45. |
Anonymous
| Taught in China for years and saw lots of things happen with lots of families that moved over there trying to make a go of it. These were good families with good kids. China changes you. Unless you have a very good understanding of the language and culture when you’re walking into it, living there can be very difficult and put enormous strains on family life. Others may have different experiences, but that’s mine. |
Anonymous
| I have an European family member as a diplomat, and he, his wife and 3 kids have been top different counties, each like 3-4 years. Kids were put in international school (expose to local cultures) for free, and they get free relocation packages with free moving and free housing/transportation and other benefits. They have stayed at Japan Tokyo, Taipei, china (shanghai), South Korea (Seoul), Africa, USA (DC, lives in potomac), and some European countries. The dad is linguist, and he can speak fluent English, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, okay Japanese and he is learning Korean. Their kids tell me that they love staying at China ( shanghai) the most because everyone is friendly to them and they enjoy the city life for entertainment, cultures and food. They find the USA is the most boring place. Their kids can speak fluent English, German, French and Mandarin Chinese. That was a wonderful experiences for kids. All kids are in college in different European countries and their boyfriend/girlfriend are from different countries as well. |
Anonymous
Is Africa a country now? It’s just insane that you narrow it down to specific cities in other countries but Africa is just one big monolith. I also hope the kids have a better grasp of English than you. |
Anonymous
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We lived overseas for many years, and I thought that the teachers at our kids’ international school were terrific and had a wonderful financial situation with the school benefits. Like someone mentioned above c you don’t start paying US taxes until above a certain threshold (like 100k or so). Some US embassy affiliated schools have some additional tax benefits (which make those jobs even harder to get).
I would do a ton of research on the individual schools. There are a ton of really bad schools in places like Dubai. With the high level of expats there, the private school system has had a hard time keeping up and most are run by for-profit entities. If you can get a job with a non-profit school that has a relationship with a US embassy (the state department does inspections of those and has academic requirements), then I would feel better about the quality of the school and your kids’ ability to return to the US with no academic gaps. |
Anonymous
| Are you a woman? I am, and would not want to live in Dubai or China. Your kids would not be learning much Arabic or Mandarin living there anyway. Due to cultural concerns I’d also avoid Spain. Have you been to their countries before (preferably the specific city DH would be teaching in, and at different times of year)? The weather and air quality spikes are crazy in some of the places you mentioned. If you’re talking about secondary cities or countryside or suburbs, you’d really have to know about those specific places. |
Anonymous
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The kids also get free flights to and from the US even at the end of the contract? If your flights aren’t covered to come back to the US after two years, well there goes 10-12k right there lol.
I think you’d be better off teaching stateside at a boarding school. Free room and board and internet. You have no expenses at all except whatever you spend on the kids. |
Anonymous
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Kids in Dubai are required to learn Arabic - they don't learn a lot of Arabic because most people speak English, but if they are interested, there are many opportunities to learn. My daughter had a private tutor for Arabic because she was quite interested. If you are looking at Dubai, make sure that you consider what school you are going to - some are better than others. There are a lot of for-profit GEMS schools, and some are better than others too. Look at Dubai American Academy, for example. There is also ASD, widely considered the best American school there - it's also a non-profit. The schools closer to Mirdif are more likely to have less American students. Teachers are always in demand because there are so many schools - read your contract carefully though to make sure you are protected in case anything should happen. My kids went to Kings - a British school which is quite good - I'm not sure if they hire American teachers. My friend owned Victory Heights school and a few other schools - she is lovely and great to her teachers.
Dubai though, is much, much more expensive than say, Thailand. It's a great place to live but expect a lot of unexpected expenses. |
Anonymous
American public schools are what made America great in the first place. The fact that schools in America are going downhill fast shows just how quickly America is becoming less Great. |