In this episode, Ellen speaks to Daniel, an Aussie teaching in an International School. We hear his experiences and insights about teaching in a variety of contexts, maintaining health while balancing not only the pressures of the classroom but also language barriers and culture shock, as well as the benefits of taking bold action to make amazing memories early in your teaching career.

“If you are a pre-service teacher, hang in there. It is really, really difficult but the rewards are amazing.”

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Highlights from this episode with Daniel:

” Watching the progress that they’ve (the students) made, I think that’s one of the nicest things I’ve had the chance to do.”

“I think the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far is not being taken seriously…I probably didn’t have the amount of support that I needed as a new teacher.”

“A parent came up to me and said ‘you’re too young to deal with me’”

“The biggest thing for me was being able to process what had happened…just to be able to talk about it so that I’ve gotten it out of my head then and I can move on with whatever I’m doing in the evening.”

“One of the other challenges of being in an international school is that your community is very insular. The biggest thing that you have in common is that you work together, so inevitably every time you go out to dinner or do something social with friends, inevitably the conversation turns to school. So you are living in this tiny echo chamber. That can be challenging. That takes an enormous amount of self-discipline to move away from the constant school talk.”

“I’ve got my friend network now, I’ve got a group of people that I can rely on both inside school and outside.”

Daniel’s top tips for teachers:
  • Get some sleep! Put it into the schedule, 8 hours, every night. It will do you the world of good!
  • Get it into routine. Put some exercise in there, put it in routine and get to bed early.
  • Time management is key.  Use your time as wisely as you can. It’s a really big challenge and something to work on as well.
  • [At new schools] Never tell the kids everything about yourself, keep some professional distance. …Check your Facebook and social media and make sure it’s private…Be friendly of course but not too friendly, not to overshare.
  • If anyone is thinking of international schools, do try it!
  • If you are a pre-service teacher, hang in there. It is really, really difficult but the rewards are amazing.

Links from this episode:

ABC News Theme Remix by Pendulum

BBC News Theme Remix by Bill Bailey

Contact Daniel: 

If you are interested in an international teaching experience and available to start in September 2017, you can email your CV to daniel [dot] lee [at] cisrussia [dot] com or visit the website here.

Have questions, comments, episode ideas or want to volunteer to be a guest on the show?

Get in touch with the Self-Care for Teachers team at hello [at] selfcareforteachers [dot] com [dot] au

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