Exciting news ... Ali's Adventures will soon be coming from a new location - Singapore!
I am currently in post job fair recovery, after an incredibly hectic and stressful weekend. I know I got to enjoy a few more bites of Cadbury's and caught up with a couple of friends, but this was no holiday.
For those of you who have never experienced a job fair, it is some kind of cross between a cattle market, speed dating and X-Factor auditions. At sign-up, armed with only a CV, you have approximately 2 minutes to wow the recruiters and convince them to give you an interview. I'm an old fashioned kind of girl - I thought a CV was the way to get you noticed. Clearly, it had never occurred to me to go to the extent of designing personalised chocolate bars, with my own logo and a brief resume on the wrapper. The sour aroma of BS still lingers ...In my view, there were far too many candidates and not enough positions. Being told that there was a 40-60% of walking away from the fair with a job made my heart simultaneously sink and panic.
Once the interviews start, it's an emotional roller-coaster.Painting on the smile for an interview after you've just had a rejection is NOT easy! I nearly went to the pub instead of the final interview, having convinced myself that all the jobs had been given away! What a good job I didn't!
So soon it will be farewell to potholes and power cuts and hello to more sunshine, shops and Singapore life!
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Monday, 24 October 2011
Are you taking the Mickey, or what?
My quest to find a new job has begun. The forms and CVs have all been completed and now all I have to do is decide where in the world I want to go next and actually GET a job - not much then!
The choices of where to go are dizzying. Not only do I want to find a country in which I would like to live, but also try to find the right balance of salary, a school that looks welcoming, well resourced and offering opportunities for development, a social life outside of work, fun places to travel in the holidays and a good standard of living.
I'm using a specialised international teaching recruitment company that helps the process become a little easier. Each school publishes the vital statistics, such as the salary, benefits, the curriculum offered and details about the school community. I'm thinking of printing off all the forms and playing a giant game of 'International Schools Top Trumps'!
It would go something like this:
Salary: $55 000 a year beats $45 000
Flight allowance: Annual beats every 2 years
I wish I could make my mind up on where I would like to be. One minute, I think that Eastern Europe would be appealing; it's close to home, has some culture and I imagine the cost of living is still fairly reasonable. Then I remember that it would involve learning a really complicated language ... But it would be lovely to experience seasons again after 2 years in the land of eternal spring in Bogota and 3 years of the alternating 'hot and dry' and 'hot and wet' of Uganda. At the moment the 'hot and wet' is triumphing!
Then there is Asia, which with its diverse number of different cultures surely can't be lumped together as one homogenous group. The mixture of ancient and fascinating cultures and blossoming modern cities is appealing. I have yet to step foot on that continent and the prospect of travelling there is very enticing. On the other hand, I could be a little lost with the even more complicated languages with alphabets I can't even read and I would feel like a giant all the time and not be able to find any clothes to fit!
I had never considered the Middle East before, but now I wonder whether I should open myself up to the idea of living in a modern city like Dubai. I have always imagined it to be a soulless place and don't really relish the idea of having to live in air-conditioned shopping malls and cars all the time. However, after 3 years in Uganda, I wouldn't mind living somewhere where things actually work and earning a few big bucks.
Do you see why I am in such a dilemma?
Certainly the strangest thing I have ever seen is the 'Disney English School of Shanghai', where the whole curriculum is based around Disney films. I don't think I would be avery good fit for this sickly sweet approach to education, unless I was able to spend any bad tempered days in role as Cruella de Ville! If I had to teach in a themed school, I would prefer the Hogwarts International School. Lunch duties would be far more entertaining, I could turn anybody who chatters in class into a frog and fly home on my broomstick at the end of the day.
Take a look at this clip about the Disney school
Funnily enough, the percentage of British teachers at this school is a big fat zero! Oh and take a look at the 'up next' clip in the top right hand corner - a slightly disturbing juxtaposition I would say!
The choices of where to go are dizzying. Not only do I want to find a country in which I would like to live, but also try to find the right balance of salary, a school that looks welcoming, well resourced and offering opportunities for development, a social life outside of work, fun places to travel in the holidays and a good standard of living.
I'm using a specialised international teaching recruitment company that helps the process become a little easier. Each school publishes the vital statistics, such as the salary, benefits, the curriculum offered and details about the school community. I'm thinking of printing off all the forms and playing a giant game of 'International Schools Top Trumps'!
It would go something like this:
Salary: $55 000 a year beats $45 000
Flight allowance: Annual beats every 2 years
I wish I could make my mind up on where I would like to be. One minute, I think that Eastern Europe would be appealing; it's close to home, has some culture and I imagine the cost of living is still fairly reasonable. Then I remember that it would involve learning a really complicated language ... But it would be lovely to experience seasons again after 2 years in the land of eternal spring in Bogota and 3 years of the alternating 'hot and dry' and 'hot and wet' of Uganda. At the moment the 'hot and wet' is triumphing!
Then there is Asia, which with its diverse number of different cultures surely can't be lumped together as one homogenous group. The mixture of ancient and fascinating cultures and blossoming modern cities is appealing. I have yet to step foot on that continent and the prospect of travelling there is very enticing. On the other hand, I could be a little lost with the even more complicated languages with alphabets I can't even read and I would feel like a giant all the time and not be able to find any clothes to fit!
I had never considered the Middle East before, but now I wonder whether I should open myself up to the idea of living in a modern city like Dubai. I have always imagined it to be a soulless place and don't really relish the idea of having to live in air-conditioned shopping malls and cars all the time. However, after 3 years in Uganda, I wouldn't mind living somewhere where things actually work and earning a few big bucks.
Do you see why I am in such a dilemma?
Certainly the strangest thing I have ever seen is the 'Disney English School of Shanghai', where the whole curriculum is based around Disney films. I don't think I would be avery good fit for this sickly sweet approach to education, unless I was able to spend any bad tempered days in role as Cruella de Ville! If I had to teach in a themed school, I would prefer the Hogwarts International School. Lunch duties would be far more entertaining, I could turn anybody who chatters in class into a frog and fly home on my broomstick at the end of the day.
Take a look at this clip about the Disney school
Funnily enough, the percentage of British teachers at this school is a big fat zero! Oh and take a look at the 'up next' clip in the top right hand corner - a slightly disturbing juxtaposition I would say!
Friday, 9 September 2011
Wartime Memories
One of my favourite things about international teaching is the mix of children in our classes. We have practically the whole world under one roof!
At the moment, my class is learning about the Second World War. I asked the children to find out about their family histories. Unfortunately, not everybody was able to do so as the war fades out of living memory and deeper into the history books. If only I had listened a little more closely to those stories that my grandparents repeated at what seemed like every family gathering!
The stories from my class are just fascinating. One boy's great aunt was part of the French Resistance and even helped shelter Jews, escaping persecution. The same boy's grandfather was very young during the war, but remembers having to flee Rouen to the countryside to escape the heavy bombing
The most amazing coincidence is that one boy's great grandfather was in the RAF and stationed at RAF Squires Gate (now Blackpool Airport). He worked on plane maintenance - perhaps the same Wellington Bombers my Granny worked on at a site just down the road! They lived near Stanley Park and his grandad remembers meeting lots of Prisoners of War - now I always thought that Pontins was a POW camp, but perhaps I'm wrong!
There are many more stories, but it would take too long to talk about them all.
Take a look at the little movie I made for my assembly. Some of the pictures are the actual photos of the children's grandparents (and my Grandad), but I used images from the Internet where the originals couldn't be found. I'm pretty impressed that anybody old enough to have fought in the war knows how to scan and upload a photo to email - but I guess they were quite a resourceful generation!
At the moment, my class is learning about the Second World War. I asked the children to find out about their family histories. Unfortunately, not everybody was able to do so as the war fades out of living memory and deeper into the history books. If only I had listened a little more closely to those stories that my grandparents repeated at what seemed like every family gathering!
The stories from my class are just fascinating. One boy's great aunt was part of the French Resistance and even helped shelter Jews, escaping persecution. The same boy's grandfather was very young during the war, but remembers having to flee Rouen to the countryside to escape the heavy bombing
The most amazing coincidence is that one boy's great grandfather was in the RAF and stationed at RAF Squires Gate (now Blackpool Airport). He worked on plane maintenance - perhaps the same Wellington Bombers my Granny worked on at a site just down the road! They lived near Stanley Park and his grandad remembers meeting lots of Prisoners of War - now I always thought that Pontins was a POW camp, but perhaps I'm wrong!
There are many more stories, but it would take too long to talk about them all.
Take a look at the little movie I made for my assembly. Some of the pictures are the actual photos of the children's grandparents (and my Grandad), but I used images from the Internet where the originals couldn't be found. I'm pretty impressed that anybody old enough to have fought in the war knows how to scan and upload a photo to email - but I guess they were quite a resourceful generation!
Friday, 5 November 2010
A short lesson in economics and social studies ...
"How do we recognise a developing country?" I asked my class of children from Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, India, South Africa, Sudan, USA, Israel, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries. Should we look at the GDP, the life expectancy, health care or access to education? Not according to them! Here are a few snapshots of their thoughts on the subject:
I can just imagine an aid worker watching this one!
"Oh dear, pajero sales are up 20% in Rwanda ... looks like we'd better send in some extra bags of rice this month!"
I imagine a few of the kids have seen their parents getting pulled over by the police during their time in Uganda. I wonder whether they think that the police stop more shiny Land Cruisers than beat up Corrolas?
Meanwhile, the developed world looks something like this:
I don't think they are so far off the mark!
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| People drive pajeros not ferraris! |
"Oh dear, pajero sales are up 20% in Rwanda ... looks like we'd better send in some extra bags of rice this month!"
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| 'There are many corrupt police in developing countries!' |
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| 'Not so many bribes in developed countries' |
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| Yes they do have TVs in the village - just that they aren't big new flat screens! |
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| Our kids are experts on living with power cuts |
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| And this is apparently a Boda motorbike taxi - they forgot to add the family of 6 riding it! |
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