I am starting a Christmas card exchange. Fifty teachers (one from each state) will participate in this exchange. Teachers will be chosen simply by whoever responds first. I teach kindergarten, but I opening up the exchange to any classrooms in grades K-3.
Cards can be store bought or homemade. Inside your card please include a short letter about your school (name, grade level, school mascot, etc.) I am asking that all cards be mailed no later than Monday, December 6, 2010....that way all cards will arrive before the start date of most holiday breaks (ours is December 17th).
After I have a teacher for each state I will type the names/addresses for all fifty teachers onto a Microsoft Word label format so all you will have to do is print the labels and place them on your cards.
I was a participant on a Chicka Chicka letter exchange this fall and my students absolutely loved it. I would love to be able to complete a United States map with my students and surround it with cards.
Hoping this will be fun....
If you would like to do this.......
Please e-mail me with the following info: [email removed]
In these difficult financial times, the solution towards finding jobs may not be within the states. From March until August, I spent most of my financial resources driving around the United States in search for a teaching job. Unfortunately, most school districts were laying workers off. To make matters worse, if they had any openings, they were going to give the jobs to the teachers who were recently fired. The only jobs that were available to me were as a teacher assistant or a substitute teacher. That is all fine and dandy. However, unless I wanted to spend a few years living with my parents, I could not financially afford this.
If you are in the same boat, the solution to the problems is teaching abroad. However, what I found was that most teaching jobs overseas are paying teachers far less than they did a few years ago. Initially, I looked into South Korea because they paid me 30,000 USD a few years ago. Now, the average is around 20,000 USD. China paid around the same amount of money. However, they paid more in Hong Kong. Taiwan was trying to attract teachers with a teaching degree, but I could not get them to agree to anything over 25,000 for the year. Japan was willing to pay me 25,000 USD. However, with the high cost of living, 25,000 USD means you will not be able to save any money in Japan. When I was living in Japan, if I did not go out for the month, I could possibly save around 500 USD. I was also looking to teach in Europe. However, it is difficult to find a way in unless you belong to one of the EU countries. The salaries in relation to the high cost of living were also low.
I have discovered that the solution is in the Middle East. There are three countries that continue to pay a high salary are as follows: Kuwait, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. If you have a TESOL degree, many years of teaching experience, and are an English major, Kuwait and the UAE would be your best choice. However, if you lack those credentials, it is difficult to find your way in. Saudi Arabia is currently becoming the hot spot for native English speakers. For example, my company over here pays over $25,000 in benefits including the following:
• Base monthly salary, tax-free; paid vacation and holidays • Discretionary bonus based on fulfillment of the full term of the contract and performance • Quality and secure shared housing, with amenities including utilities.
• Fully paid medical benefits, including dental and optical coverage, in accordance with the plan • Transportation to and from home and work locations • Round trip transportation to and from Saudi Arabia from your home country
The greatest thing about the salary is that it is around what the average teacher is making in the United States. However, the teacher’s only cost is food. In addition, not only are your benefits not taxed, but your salary is not taxed either. If a teacher is not saving 80% of their paycheck, they are doing something wrong. The food over in Riyadh is significantly lower than the costs in the United States. The greatest problem most teachers are afraid about when traveling overseas are the cultural differences. There may be differences. Although, when you live in the compound, the culture is similar to the culture in your native country. Saudi Arabia is filled with many different types of foreigners. Every compound is like visiting another country. There is a Latin compound where you can learn how to salsa dance. There is an American compound where you can drink homemade beer. The culture outside of the compound is definitely Saudi. However, the compounds are a home away from home. I have multiple reasons for writing this letter. First of all, I know the great pressure in trying to find a job in the United States. Second, I am trying to recruit for my college called CTI. We desperately need at least 20 new teachers who can come into this program. My college had to turn away 4,500 Saudi students because we lacked available teachers. If you are friendly, have any BS degree, are a native English speaker, and have a passion for teaching, please send me your resume and I will forward it to our HR person at the college. Hopefully we can work together and ride out the financially difficult times in Saudi Arabia. Good luck in your search and I hope that your job search was not as difficult as mine was.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email. [email removed]
I am looking for someone who would be interested in a teacher exchange to Western Australia. I am a year 2 teacher and would like to exchange with a similar age group for a year. It would be a direct house, job and possibly car swap. There is a very thorough application process so that both parties can exchange with confidence. We are looking at Idaho, Washington, Oregon or Montana as my parents live in Idaho and we want a chance to catch up regularly. The Perth/South Coast of Western Australia offers some of the quietest and nicest beaches in the world, so if you are looking for a sunny sea change, this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. (FEb 2011) – Niagara University is now accepting applications from K-12 teachers nationwide for a summer program entitled Crossroads of Empire: Cultural Contact and Imperial Rivalry at Old Fort Niagara. The week-long residential sessions, which take place July 11-15 and July 18-22, 2011 at Old Fort Niagara and Niagara University, have been made possible by funding obtained from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Directed by Thomas A. Chambers, Ph.D., chair of Niagara University’s history department, the workshops are focused on the vital history that emanated from Old Fort Niagara, one of most significant and well-preserved 18th century historic sites in North America. Fort Niagara served as an important crossroads between the empires of Great Britain, France, the Haudenosaunee (the native people who inhabited what is now much of New York state and surrounding areas), and, later, the United States as they battled each other for control of the North American continent. The Fort threatened American territory during the Revolution, was occupied by both sides during the War of 1812, and then a peace treaty secured the Fort and region for the United States.
This workshop will immerse NEH Summer Scholars in the world of 18th century life, from both the Native American and European perspective. Participants will interact with historic interpreters, clamber about ramparts dating to the 1700s, handle beaver pelts and trade goods like fishhooks and beads, and perhaps even fire a musket. One unique feature will be an overnight stay at the French Castle, the three-story stone fortress and trading post perched above the crashing waves of Lake Ontario that dates back to 1726. By week’s end NEH Summer Scholars will understand the perspective of the Iroquois people who first inhabited this region, as well as the struggles of ordinary European soldiers who bled and died to control Fort Niagara.
Teachers of grades K-12 at schools in the United States or its territorial possessions, or Americans teaching in foreign schools where at least 50 percent of the students are American nationals, are eligible for this program.
Teachers selected to participate as NEH Summer Scholars will receive a stipend of $1,200 at the end of the residential workshop session. Stipends are intended to help cover travel expenses to and from the project location, books, and ordinary living expenses.
The deadline for applications is March 1, 2011.
For eligibility and application information, please call 716.286.8091, e-mail [email removed].
Niagara University is located 11 miles south of Old Fort Niagara.
Niagara University Founded by the Vincentian Community in 1856, Niagara University is a private liberal arts university with a strong, values-based Catholic tradition. Its four academic divisions include the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, and Hospitality and Tourism Management. The university also maintains an Academic Exploration Program that provides a learning community for students who are undecided about their major, as well as numerous opportunities through Continuing Education. -30-
We invite you to join us for our one-week workshops in June 2011. As NEH Summer Scholars at the “American History through the Eyes of a California Family” workshop, you will use the artifacts and archival sources of both the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum and CSU Dominguez Hills Special Collections to trace the Dominguez family history for over two centuries. Their history and lands are entwined with California 's rich Indian, Spanish, Mexican and American history.
NEH workshops feature well known scholars, hands-on work with artifacts and archival documents, workshops and experiential learning opportunities that will bring history to life, and field trips to deepen historical and cultural connections. Workshops address the Dominguez family business and inheritance strategies and their relationship to natives and migrants from varied social and cultural backgrounds. Successful applicants whose title will become NEH Summer Scholars will also analyze how territorial industrial expansion transformed the American people and how massive immigration after 1870, including the Chinese, some of whom became laborers on Dominguez lands, formed new social patterns and concepts about national identity.
$1200 stipends are offered to help cover travel, lodging, and meal expenses.
Workshops will be offered twice and applicants may apply to one, but not both, workshops. The first is the week of June 13-17, 2011 and the second is the week of June 20-24, 2011. Continuing Education Units offered. Applications due March 1st.
I'm currently in the United States with the intention of contact with teachers who could be interested in making an educational project for the next academic course 2011-2012, so that science students from Malaga and USA could make a collaborative work and establish a rewarding relationship, using the new technologies.
I´ve already done a science project to enable our students to meet students from another country, while working together and improve their science skills.
If you are interested, I could sent you the project and we could change it, since it´s a flexible project.
I´d like to have the opportunity, also, to visit some schools in Usa to learn about the U.S. educational system, the methodologies used, the available resources ... Would appreciate someone gives me the opportunity to make a visit to your school.
My email address is: [email removed]
Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about it.