Where to teach abroad?

[Hannah654321]

My husband and I are secondary school teachers in England with two young children (one and two years old). We really want to move abroad to experience a new culture, travel (depending on covid) and hopefully make some money. We were really set on moving to Singapore but it seems it is extremely competitive. Any ideas on why it is so difficult to get a job at the moment? Or does anyone have any other destinations that they have really enjoyed when living abroad? Thank you for any help!!

www.whichschooladvisor.com has sites covering the UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and the UK. The UAE is a brilliant place to teach, but you need to find the right school. DM me if you would like.

What subjects do you teach?

Along with those already listed, I've also heard good things from those teaching at international and/or multilingual schools in Kazakhstan.

Switzerland

Yes Switzerland 🇨🇭 Absolutely

I taught in Japan for a while, I had a few friends there who had moved with young children and it was great for them.

Hmm it seems it is very mixed with China.
Thank you I will have a look at all those links :) I teach biology and my husband teaches English

@themerrywifeofwindsor I would absolutely love to live in Japan, but can't see there being many jobs there.
I really had my heart set on Singapore, just a shame how competitive it is

I loved Japan and Greece but that was a long time ago. Oman was one of my favourite places to teach but I was EFL so quite different. And you have children.

I became pregnant with DD1 in Oman and decided to come home. My children are older now and will be flying the nest in a few years. I still teach and would love to go back to the Middle East which I am sure has changed a lot since I was there.

Well, rather less exotic but we live (and teach) in Germany. We have seasons...as in, we had days with close to 40 degrees in the summer and last year -18 in winter. DS is growing up bilingual. Benefits are much better. Pay is better and it's much easier working here with small kids. We get several paid child sick days each year, for example.

Oman. There are reasons people stay for a very long time.

Come December people will be having to say whether they’re returning to their jobs come August and mows thd time to be narrowing down your choices.

I would avoid HK and China at the moment. Politically difficult (China in particular is seeing huge increase in gov control over what international schools can teach and the new non-profit rule means that some international schools will close). Also the zero covid BS is really tedious and restrictions are non negotiable and harsh - being a close contact of an infected person can get you thrown in a government quarantine camp for weeks and your children may be hospitalised without you (min 24 days) if they get covid. Inbound quarantine for international travellers is lengthy and very strict (quarantine centre or designated hotel for 21 days). Its almost impossible to have visitors to China atm as non residents not allowed in. Do not assume that those restrictions will be lifted anytime soon.

Part of the reason Singapore is so competitive is that fewer people want to teach in HK/China.

Agree with previous poster. I was living in China at the very start of covid 19 and we were more concerned about restrictive measures than being ill. My dh spent two weeks in a quarantine facility in China which he found tough (not allowed to leave you room for any reason) but would be considerably harder with young children.

I loved teaching in Singapore and in Malaysian Borneo. Oman looked appealing too. I don't know how much they still recruit but it might be worth looking into Shell schools.

For something quite different, I taught in Colombia (20 years ago!) and loved it. You wouldn't be able to save as much as in Middle East or Singapore, but you could afford a very comfortable lifestyle while there. I would love to go back to South America again, maybe Argentina or Chile this time.

You would also have the added bonus of being able to immerse your kids in a second language at a young age.