This summer I am moving on from my first International teaching post. It’s a great opportunity for me to reflect on what I have learnt about starting in a new school and what I plan to do differently or do again to make it a success.
Do your homework
I was very naive when I joined my first International post. I had found the job through the TES International jobs and did plenty of research online into the school. What I didn’t realise coming into international teaching is what a small world it is and how much it relys on word of mouth and networking. I didn’t discover International Schools Review until I arrived here in Egypt. Whilst I always read reviews with a pinch of salt; it is a useful resource for anyone thinking of moving to international teaching.
Get involved
In the early days it can be daunting and overwhelming to deal with the total change in environment and culture as well as a new job. I was lucky that the school had a fantastic staff events coordinator who organised a plethora of family events and days out. Forcing my naturally introverted self out with the kids in the early days helped us to build firm friendships. These friendships became invaluable when COVID-19 hit and travel home became more difficult. I have already signed up for trips and social events in my new school as I know how important it is to really get involved in the school community.
Be flexible
I am an organiser. I like to be able to plan ahead and be very prepared, to know what will be coming up well in advance but I found that Egypt is much more laid back than me! I have learnt to flex and go with the flow a little more. It’s certainly an important skill of joining a small school where everyone has to be willing to get stuck into whatever needs to be done; be it taking PE lessons, picking up IG Physics classes or temporarily merging Year 11 and 12 Biology.
Broad strokes
I knew before I arrived at my current job that I would mostly be teaching Cambridge IGCSE Biology courses. I read the specification and looked carefully at the assessment format. I brought with me a hard drive with a huge bank of resources from my years teaching but I found quickly that the nitty gritty was very different from what I had taught before. There were certain key term defintions and commonly occuring contexts that required teaching slightly differently or in greater depth. I made a conscious decision from this to move away from planning and creating resources for a specific unit of work or course. Now I try to build up resources that teach specific key concepts, such as digestion or photosynthesis, in small blocks that will apply well to any setting and then differentiate from there.
These are just some of my own lessons learned from my experiences here in Egypt.
msdsscience 