Websites of the Week

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DoDEA - Department of Defense, Schools Abroad
Search Associates - list of job fairs
TIE - the international educator, international schools (but membership costs money)

Just a few this week but every little bit helps right?

Picture from the Past

{York Minster}

Experience

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Ok, the last month or so has been rather depressing with how few opportunities there are for first year teachers. For a moment I was extremely happy because I saw the list of current needs in the UK and educators at the secondary level are needed in science... but then I realized they only need chemistry and physics teachers, not earth science. How depressing! This has been what is tempting me the most about getting my certification in another area. If I passed a Praxis test right now in chemistry I could add that to my teaching credentials and get hired to teach chemistry (and possibly receive job offers overseas). 

It looks more and more like I'll have to take a year or two with my fiance in America to teach before we can go abroad for a few years. There just aren't opportunities for first year teachers. It's tough because everyone wants someone with experience which means that if you're just coming into the field no one wants to give you any! 

Yesterday we watched a movie called Keeping Mum and while it was a dark comedy, the landscapes had me swooning throughout the entire film. Lately I've been looking around places in Virginia, as well as the rest of the United States, trying to find cities we could work in while we garner experience in the field of education. Both Mr. Right and myself are in student teaching right now and have been exhausted each night we come home. That means these weekends are valuable! I also have Monday off for MLK Day so I hope to do a last surge of research. I'm not sure what the odds are I can find anything at this point in time that accepts first year teachers along with open applications at this point in the year.... Still holding onto a little hope but I'm beginning to suspect that we'll just need some experience under our belts in order to make this move. 

Picture from the Past

This is a picture of my sister and me looking over the wall of Stirling Castle in Scotland. 

Websites of the Week

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Welcome to the first mini-series I'll be featuring on the blog. As I mentioned in a previous post, I will be labeling posts that reference internet research as "searching".

With that out of the way, this post will introduce you to websites that look promising from the past week's worth of researching jobs abroad. These are my favorites for this week:

1. Time Plan - Teaching abroad in the UK. Link to jobs (immediate) and lists ways to apply online
2. Smart Teachers - Job vacancies and ways to apply to Smart Teacher Schools online
3. ISS - International Schools Services, all you want to know about International Schools
4. Teaching Overseas - Scroll a little more than 1/2 way down the page and you get to UK agencies
5. Transitions Abroad - Lots of helpful links and directions about finding teaching jobs in UK (most of this is related to Supply Teaching - or subbing in the US)
6. Teachers UK - Permanent, Long-term, and supply positions available
7. Academics - Mostly for teachers in Australia but could be useful information for USA applicants too
8. Teaching Jobs London - A comprehensive website with job listings from London and the surrounding area of England. Definitely worth looking into further (and a quick link about CVs for the UK)

Once again, if you've done this before or if you know someone who has, any advice is appreciated! Looking for positions abroad (especially fresh out of graduate school) is looking to be a challenge. Tips are awesome!

The Hard, Simple Truth

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I'm going to be honest here. The internet has disappointed me. 

Ok, there are a lot of nice sites out there that can be useful, but how in the world has no one compiled a database of all the best sites to look through when you're searching for a job abroad? 

I have a friend who is also considering going abroad for a year after graduate school who is studying to be an English teacher. We are sending countless emails back and forth with lists of websites, international fairs, and hints for applications. 

Consequentially, as we work through websites, I'll be making a list of resources on here. I'm can't make any promises about how often I'll post but I'll categorize them all with the label "Searching" on the blog so if by any chance someone comes across this blog looking for help themselves they can at least see the resources that were helpful to me. 

With that, if you're stopping by our humble space on this corner of the internetz and have any helpful hints or resources please feel free to share in the comments section. We'd be grateful!

The Beginning

Oh hello there. Lizers in London you say? Well, yes, that is my aim one day. Currently my fiance and I are in the United States studying education (science and music) but we're looking to live abroad for a couple of years before kids. This means that we're juggling two balls already called "student teaching" and "planning a wedding" without throwing in any third ball labeled "moving abroad".  The next question is of course, "why add another stressor?".  Put simply....

It is my dream.

Since I was a freshman in high school (nine years ago now) I have had a calling in my heart to go to Britain. There's no way for me to describe in words what this has felt like over the years. I just have felt like I've been in the wrong place. The history has enraptured me along with the beautiful countrysides. During the summer of 2005 I was fortunate enough to take a trip over there with some fellow musicians and have longed to go back since.

I'm not sure where we are headed. Perhaps as first year teachers we won't get any job offers. Maybe we'll need to move abroad to a different foreign country first. I'm open to exploration. I just know that one day I'd like to experience that dream.