International Teacher Podcast

Stacy Stephens is the director of one of the most widely known resources for the International School circuit: The International Educator, simply referred to as "TIE".

Stacy has been in education for almost 30 years and 20 of those have been in international schools around the globe. Now she joins us from the USA to share some of the inside story about TIE. Join us to find out what TIE has to offer you. Stacy Stephens is a wealth of information and easy to listen to!

Links from this Episode:

We are three years old as of April 2024. Thank you, listeners, for joining us. We do this for you! This episode features Kent, JP, and Greg as they reminisce just a little bit about the past, discuss Greg's new book, celebrate JPMint's second year triumphs, and wrap up the show with some forecasts for the next year.

Since this is the 3rd birthday/anniversary of ITP and the 2nd birthday/anniversary of JPMint Consulting, there are four different versions of the birthday song in this episode. The episode opens with part of the Venezuelan birthday songs. There is a special Venezuelan song that precedes the "happy birthday". The midpoint song is in Korean. Finally, we end the episode with Arabic and English versions of the birthday song.

Thank you to all of our listeners for the past three years and many years to come!

Here are the links that are featured in this episode:

Welcome to the Turkey Episode with our guest Tracey Zimmerman-Sakalli, a Candian international teacher that has been living and teaching in Turkey for the past 19 years. Tracey shares her experiences from four different top international schools in Turkey: Uskudar American Academy, The Koç School, Istanbul International Community School (IICS), and MEF International School.

Tracey shares stories of living on both sides of the Bosphorus, explains the need for traffic classes, and all the reasons you should live in Turkey.

We also discuss why traveling with more than $10K is a risk and "go" bags.

If you are interested in Istanbul, this is your episode!

Here are some brief written descriptions and links to the Turkish schools we discuss:

Dr. Wayne Russel takes a break from his LinkedIn communications and joins us from South Africa for a chat. If you already connect with Wayne on LinkedIn, this is your chance to hear him in person. He has a lot of experience living overseas with his family and teaching in the international setting - especially schools in China. Enjoy this episode!

Peter Pagett "lives and breathes" different curriculums. IB,PYP, MYP, Australian, American, Chinese, British, or an international mix of curriculum. Whether it's band, chorus, performing arts, or 4th grade recorders, Peter celebrates and teaches them. He joins us from his mini-vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand to talk about teaching back home in Australia and a variety of schools overseas.

Peter agrees: "All international schools are different." We also discuss "failing forward", housing, a bit about boarding schools, several schools in China, and teaching in Macau.

Some of the connections we discussed are linked below:

Let's talk about Finances! Mark Zoril is the Founder of PlanVision and our guest for this session. Greg and Kent have no clue about money, but JP found Mark years ago. We finally have him on our show to give Greg, Kent, and our listeners some guidance!

Let's talk about Professional Development for Leadership. Our guest, Dr. Renata McFarland is a breath of fresh air and has so much to share. Join us as we discuss the importance of student learning, empowering local teachers in international schools, and how your school can bring Dr. McFarland to your international school for professional development.

The Cat Guy and JPMint get deep into Latin America with Mark Webber. With over 23 years in the Latin American teaching arena, Mark has a lot of advice for new and veteran teachers. Not only is Mark active as a teacher and administrator - he also runs a consulting business - FREE to teachers wanting to discover Latin America.

Join us for this interesting episode about leaving the international classrooms and hanging out your own shingle as a consultant, a data consultant. Ryan is an uprooted Canadian teacher and principal that has lived and taught in China and Korea. Greg leads Ryan down a bit of a techie and Artificial intelligence sidetrack, but it's well worth staying to the end. Ryan's interrogation story is hilarious!

You will definitely have the travel bug after listening to this! Don't miss this exciting World Travel episode!

Kim is an international teacher that has taught in the North Western USA, Vietnam, Guatemala, and now in Thailand. Kim and her wife, Robin, took a year off to travel to 36 countries in 365 days. Kim joins us from Chang Mai, Thailand to share their amazing trip.

Hear about lots of food, proboscis monkeys, and KEENs. Kim and Robin have proven you only need to carry what is necessary - like handy wipes, just two t-shirts, and a trusty pair of keens. From the words of the famous Anthony Bourdain: "Be a traveler, not a tourist."

Welcome to Season 4 of the ITP. Join us for this entertaining interview with Chris Lang. His rollercoaster story starts with teaching English in Japan and threads through Oman, California, and Colombia (as well as a few other places). His candor is refreshing and informative. You will certainly laugh during this episode!

Don't miss this episode. All four of us are in on this one to talk about the recruiting season. It's January and the international teacher recruiting season is in full swing. It's not over.

The second half of this New Years show is a roundtable (except Matt, who doesn't like New Years) of stories from around the world. Kent drinks Jack Daniels with older Grecians in Greece. Greg skips up to Canada. JP dons her mint colored Kimono and parades through the streets of Tokyo.

If you love children's picture books, you need to listen to this episode! International educator, A.G. Allen, joins us from Mallorca, Spain to laugh and tell the story behind her best selling children's book. Every teacher needs a copy of her book and every parent should read this to their children.

Enjoy a copy of her book.

Amaris left the USA in 2010 as a single woman for her first year of teaching, on a whim. Korea, North Carolina, married with Kids in Egypt. Listen as we dig deep into her experiences as an American Woman of Color teaching overseas. This is an excellent episode to listen to!

Amaris Miller is currently an ESOL consultant.

Follow on her social media:

TikTok: themerge_consulting

Instagram: themerge_consulting

“Young man”, he said “I have traveled 5,000 miles to give you possibly the opportunity of a lifetime. If you have those to squander, more power to you!”

In 1977, Keith Boniface left for the “beaches” of Tripoli to teach overseas. He is now on his seventh official retirement after 39 years overseas. Keith, “his excellency”,  had to actually write a list of the positions he’s held because it’s so varied. 

Not only was he a teacher, Keith was a Principal for 12 years in multiple international schools and traveled to schools all over the world as an School Accreditation team member.

Here are the important links from topics Keith mentioned in this episode:

We have started off the new school year with a new casual chat episode. We set aside the video chat, headphones, and desktop mics to use our lapel mics and comfy chairs in a fireside chat format.

Reaching out from Boston and Las Vegas, Georgia and Christine have a discussion with Greg about life balance. [Their] Making the Grade podcast is for current and former teachers to share notes, define success & assess their own happiness in the classroom and beyond.

Jason Lasky weaves his international stories together as only a playwright can. Join us for our discussion about theatre, teaching, family and so much more. Jason's passion is a chaos theory of sorts. Failure leads to failure leads to "Ahh!". Jason is a true renaissance man in the arts, a messenger of joy, and a father of three.

Here are just a few of the links to Jason's works:

Kent and Greg interview two international teachers currently in Spain and Thailand during their Gap Year. Kevin and Matt are the authors behind the best selling international teaching books dubbed "The New Normal" . This interview sheds light on how they co-authored both books from opposite ends of the world, but still give credit to the other teachers that wrote the stories. All proceeds from their books go to the Children of Haiti. Join us to hear how they put it all together.

You want to read stories about international teachers around the world, so click over to Amazon and purchase these two books by Kevin Duncan and Matt Minor:

Join us as Kent and Greg interview Jeff Torchon about his experience living and working in Japan at the American School in Japan. What’s it like moving your family of four to Japan? Will Jeff have a police story?  

Links from this episode:

Join us as Kent interviews Greg the Single Guy about his experiences at the ISS (International School Services) International Educator Recruiting Fair of 2023 in that was held in Washington D.C. from February 9 - 12.  Is Greg leaving the desert? How many Candidates were at the fair? Greg has a few funny stories and a scary US Customs story to share. 

In this episode, Kent and Greg interview Data Specialist and famous author, Matthew B. Courtney, about tools for teachers to access and interpret the real data collected in the classroom. According to Matthew, "Working with data can be hard, but it doesn't have to be!"  Join us for a deep dive into Matthew's website https://www.matthewbcourtney.com/tools and the easy-to-use data tools he offers for free. 

Get Your Copy of the Following Great Reads

Greg's (the single guy) Book:

Scott Schaffner is a long time International Teacher and Administrator. You may have seen his name mentioned on the Pacake on a Stick Newsletter or even taught with him at some point in Poland, Vietnam, Netherlands, or Dubai. Scott is currently living with his family in Poland and consulting for International Teachers. The first half of this episode we get to know Scott and hear about his experiences. The second half we discuss international recruiting. Scott has been on both sides of the International Teaching interview table, so this episode is packed with advice. Enjoy this powerful episode. 

This week Greg and Kent talk to two teachers from SAES - commonly known as the “Aramco Schools”.

Angela and Darian discuss compound life and the pros and cons of being a teacher at a huge cooperation.

You can hear more of Angela and Darian’s new podcast: “Just to Know You” at:

Music teachers are special people. Chris Koelma, founder of Music Teachers in International Schools, joins us from The Netherlands. To talk about music teachers and the resources his website has to offer newbies and veterans alike. Found out more about his passion projects and his opinion on teacher recorder to students.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Music Teachers in International Schools: