Venice of the East? Well, that certainly sounded tempting. Canals and boutique shops, but in Chinese. This was the description our students gave us of Wuzhen – an ancient water village reconstructed in Eastern China and a very popular tourist destination. Sure, I thought – let’s go! Can you take us there?

In 2013 Alexis Toye, co-founder of Teacher Horizons, travelled across China visiting schools and speaking with principals along the way. In this article he shares his experience and insights – a must read for anyone considering teaching in this fascinating country.

I’ve seen a lot of changes come and go during my teaching career in the past twenty years. Here in Sweden we got a bit of a shock when the last PISA-results were announced. Right now, we’re thinking long and hard about how to improve student performance in both reading and maths.

Teaching abroad for the first, second or even tenth time can be a scary prospect. Not only are you moving jobs – most likely to a significantly different school – but you are also moving country. With a proactive approach and the excellent support provided by most international schools, you will probably find settling in to be part of the experience and a rewarding one.

This is an opportunity to really differentiate and sell yourself.  The idea is to give an overall description of why you have chosen to be in education, explain what your beliefs and values are, and describe how you teach and how you measure effectiveness.  It is likely that your statement will change and evolve as… Read more »

Teaching ESL students alongside mother-tongue speakers in an international school environment presents numerous challenges, not least to the students. It’s hard even to start to highlight the challenges to international school teachers of teaching ESL students in such a short article, but here are a few key areas to consider. Include learners of all cultures… Read more »

It’s the year of the horse and to those who believe in such things – the horse represents energy, brightness and warm heartedness. The Chinese see the symbol of the horse as an unremitting effort to improve themselves. How apt then, that it should be the year that I move to China! And for snakes such as myself it is set to be a great year. I have to say, I feel my ‘fortune’ is already coming true!

I really took for granted the journey mastering a foreign language would take me on until I embarked on my year abroad thousands of miles away from home. No text book exercises or comical conversation classes could have prepared me for life à la Martiniquaise nor come anywhere close to that joyous feeling of finally ‘settling in’…

Along with Finland and Shanghai, Canada is a top performing education system that is also relatively equitable. So what are its teachers doing? Lucy Crehan is a teacher on an educational mission to give some insights on education in top performing systems from a teacher’s perspective. Over the next 9 months she will share her… Read more »

Without wishing to get too philosophical, what is life all about?

Tim Douglas, Head of Group Travel at GVI shares his experience of leading adventure trips for young people and demonstrates how enriching these experiences can be…