If you’re a regular ourtravelingzoo.com reader, you know we are able to do our traveling largely thanks to our decision to teach overseas. We’ve called it our single biggest travel hack. We’ve frequently been approached by people who wanted to know how we got into teaching abroad, because teaching in international schools is an intriguing gig. We’ve been more...
It’s fall 2012, my first trimester of teaching English to high schoolers in Abu Dhabi. I’m at an ADEC boys school in Al Ain. There are a dozen English teachers from the US, New Zealand, and England here, and they’re a supportive bunch of seasoned professionals. That’s good, because several of us are new to teaching in the Emirates...
It’s summer of 2018. Since pulling up the stakes and moving overseas in 2012, Jenia and I have now lived in three different foreign countries, where I’ve taught in three very different schools. We’ve put together some tips for teaching abroad because we’ve had very mixed experiences, which have taught us some important lessons. We’d like to help you...
Imagine yourself, a qualified professional teacher who is accustomed to a certain level of, what, decorum? in the classroom. Now, imagine that you arrive at your new job, and you find that all of your expectations are…going out the window. Along with the students. But the story about kids going out windows is for another day. Today’s true story...
Must-Buy Things Before Moving Overseas So you’re a soon-to-be expat? You’ve signed a contract and you’ll be living overseas, abroad, in an exotic locale rubbing shoulders with fascinating people from cultures new and unexperienced. That’s wonderful! If you know anything about Our Traveling Zoo, we think you’ve made a wonderful decision that will positively change your life. A common...
Background Last year (2016-2017), we spent a year in the USA. After four years living and working abroad, we found life in Utah amazingly convenient. After all, everyone spoke English. We were within driving distance of anything we could want, including IKEA. And Utah is a beautiful state, too. Even so, we found that we missed traveling overseas. Now...
As you may know, I (Shon writing) got my start teaching overseas with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) back in 2012. ADEC aimed to modernize the emirate of Abu Dhabi’s schools, and one way of doing that was bringing people like me to teach for them. Having quality teachers who were native English speakers was an important aspect...
Curious why I’d move half way around the world to teach English? Sometimes I am. Sometimes I scratch my own head and stare at the ceiling as a thought bubble appears over my head (pictured below). There are, of course, many reasons for making a move like the one my wife and I have undertaken. We gave it some...
The ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council) Interview Process Many people who visit our blog are wondering what the ADEC interview process is like. For all those people, and since I’ve actually interviewed twice, I’ll share my experiences and compare them a bit. ADEC Interview One When I first interviewed in 2011, Teach Away set up interviews in May at...