ITP - 96: Brand New Int’l Teacher in 2024

Welcome to the ITP, the International Teacher Podcast.

Kent: I’m Kent the Cat Guy. I’m your host today. I’d like to say good morning, good afternoon, good evening to JP Mint.

Jacqueline: Hello from Querétaro, Mexico. Nice to see you, Kent.

Kent: Nice to see you, JP. I’d also like to introduce our very special guest today, coming to us all the way from Australia. Say good morning, good afternoon to Sara Potter.

Sara: Hi, how are you guys?

Kent: Hello, Sara. Hi, Sara. Thanks for joining us today.

Sara: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Kent: So Sara, how’s the weather where you’re at in Australia?

Sara: It’s hot. It’s nice and hot, even though we’re going into winter. I live in Airlie Beach and it’s in northern Queensland. So summer is 30 plus, and at the moment I think it’s about 24 as we go into winter.

Kent: Oh, it’s actually warmer where I am. It’s 28 right now with no air conditioning.

Kent: How warm or cold is it where you are?

Kent: Well, I’m the winner. 7:30 in the morning, it’s 31.

Sara: Oh wow, there we go. Ding ding ding, winner.

Kent: So help us out, for those of us who don’t understand Australia as well as we should. Queensland is what part of Australia?

Sara: So Queensland, as you’re looking at it on the map, is the northeastern state. It’s the pointy part of the map.

Kent: Oh, is that the Great Barrier Reef region? Is that the big touristy area there?

Sara: Yes, I live at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. You often hear about the Whitsunday Islands. I’m on the mainland of the Whitsunday Islands. I just have to jump on a boat and I’m on the Whitsunday Island in half an hour.

Kent: You know what’s funny, Sara, is I find that people live in these beautiful places in the world, but they almost never go and see them when they’re so close. Are you an outdoorsy person? Do you go out to the ocean, see the reef? What do you like?

Sara: Very much so. I love going outdoors, and I think that’s one of the best things about living up here. I do go out. I go on bush walks because we’re right next to the national parks. There are a lot of walking trails, so I’ll go out on the weekend.

I’ve recently done, and for some crazy reason I’m going to do again, what’s called the Break Whitsunday Walk. It’s a 30-kilometer walk through Conway National Park. It was a really hard slog the first time we did it, but some people missed out, so we’ve promised that we will do that again.

Kent: And how long does that take you? Thirty kilometers, I mean, that would be for me 24 hours.

Sara: All of the advertisements say that it’s a leisurely three-day hike, and they’ve got two different camping sites there for you. But we did it in about eight or nine hours. I can’t remember exactly now. I was a bit delirious towards the end.

Kent: I’m sure. And you have to carry your water, or do they have water along the way?

Sara: They do have a couple of toilets along the way that have water tanks attached, but it’s not potable water. So you take your own water. You just water-load before you go and then take electrolytes so that you’ve got some more strength along the way.

But that’s the beauty of living up here. I’ve got the national parks on one side of me, and on the other side I have the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef.

And actually, the Great Barrier Reef is part of the beginning of my international teaching story.

Sara: So I love exploring. I love going out and finding new places. I love going on international experiences.

At the beginning of last year, I had promised that I wasn’t going to do any traveling because I had done that the year before. I had gone away every school holiday and spent a lot of money. I hadn’t saved anything. So I thought, no, nothing this year.

My sister-in-law wanted me to go up to Mission Beach with her, which is about an eight-hour drive away. She wanted me to go for the Easter long weekend. I kept saying no, I can’t go away, I can’t spend money.

She said it’s camping, we won’t be spending any money, just sitting around reading a book. And I said that’s not really for me, I need to be doing something.

So I ended up going. I decided to go on a snorkeling tour out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was absolutely beautiful.

While I was out on the reef doing the snorkeling, I overheard a lady talking to somebody else and she said something about being a teacher. I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but when I hear someone say they’re a teacher, my ears prick up and I think, okay, I can talk to them.

Then I heard her say something about a job she had just landed in Abuja, and I thought, okay, this woman knows how to get overseas to teach.

At the beginning of the year, I had wanted to go to New Orleans for a holiday, but then I realized how expensive it was and how far away it was. So I thought maybe I would do a one-year working holiday instead.

I was looking into doing all of that, but I didn’t even think about using something like Search Associates to help me find a job. I was just trying to figure it out on my own and didn’t really know how.

So when I heard this lady talking about her job in Abuja, I thought I need to talk to her and find out how she did it.

I went over and spoke to her. I basically said this is what I’m interested in, can I pick your brain? She was wonderful and started telling me about her journey.

But she kept coming back to three things that I needed to do.

She said you need to join Search Associates, and she mentioned Nick Kendall here in Australia and said he’s a wealth of knowledge.

She said you need to look up JP Mint and get your resume and CV organized, and that Jacqueline would help with interview tips and everything.

And then she said you need to start listening to the International Teacher Podcast.

Kent: Wow.

Sara: So it’s all thanks to you guys. The first two made perfect sense to me, and then she mentioned the podcast. I had never listened to a podcast before.

I live about 15 minutes away from a gym and I was walking there every day, listening to music. It started getting repetitive and a bit depressing.

So when I heard about the podcast, I thought I’d give it a try. I started from the very first episode and just kept going.

I would walk to the gym listening to it, work out, and then walk home listening to it again. Sometimes I would keep listening at home if I was really into it.

I think if anybody is listening and they want to learn about international teaching, they should go all the way back to the beginning because I learned so much from all of you and your guests.

Kent: That’s awesome. That’s exactly why we do this.

Sara: Yeah, and it really did help. I started looking into Search Associates. I reached out, got everything set up, and started the process.

At the same time, I was working on my CV and getting everything organized. I followed all the advice I had heard on the podcast—what to include, how to present yourself, and how to prepare for interviews.

It all started to come together really quickly after that.

Kent: So how long did that whole process take from when you met that teacher on the reef to actually getting a job?

Sara: Not long at all. I think it was probably about six months in total. It felt really fast once everything got moving.

Kent: And where did you end up going?

Sara: I ended up getting a job in Doha, Qatar.

Kent: Nice.

Sara: Yeah, I was really excited. It wasn’t somewhere I had originally thought about, but after doing more research and listening to the podcast, I realized it could be a great opportunity.

Kent: That’s kind of how it works for a lot of people. You don’t always end up where you initially think you will.

Sara: Exactly. I was open to different places, and that helped a lot.

Kent: What were some of the biggest challenges for you going through that process?

Sara: I think the biggest challenge was just not knowing what I didn’t know at the beginning. There’s so much information out there, and it can be overwhelming.

But once I had a bit of guidance and direction, it became much more manageable.

Kent: That makes sense.

Sara: And also just putting myself out there. Applying for jobs, doing interviews—it can be a bit intimidating at first.

But again, listening to the podcast helped a lot because I felt more prepared.

Kent: That’s great to hear.

Kent: So once you got the job in Qatar, what was that transition like for you? Going from Australia to the Middle East is a pretty big shift.

Sara: Yeah, it was definitely a big change. I had never been to that part of the world before, so everything was new—culture, climate, lifestyle.

But I was really excited. I think going in with an open mind helped a lot. I knew it would be different, and I was ready for that.

Kent: How did you find the school environment compared to what you were used to in Australia?

Sara: It was different, but in a good way. The resources were amazing, and there was a lot of support for teachers. I felt like I had more opportunities to grow professionally.

Kent: That’s something we hear a lot.

Sara: Yeah, and the students were great too. There’s always an adjustment, but once you build relationships, it starts to feel normal.

Kent: What about life outside of school?

Sara: That was probably the biggest adjustment. Just learning how things work—getting around, understanding the culture, meeting people.

But again, having that international teacher community helps a lot. Everyone is kind of in the same situation, so you support each other.

Kent: That’s one of the best parts of international teaching.

Sara: Definitely.

Kent: Looking back now, is there anything you would have done differently when starting the process?

Sara: I think I would have started earlier and done more research upfront. I kind of stumbled into it, which worked out, but it could have been less stressful.

Also, I would have asked more questions during interviews. At the beginning, I was just so focused on getting a job that I didn’t always think about whether it was the right fit.

Kent: That’s a really important point.

Sara: Yeah, I think that’s something new teachers should really think about—not just getting a job, but finding the right job.

Kent: Absolutely.

Kent: Before we wrap up, we like to ask a couple of standard questions.

Sara: Okay.

Kent: First question—what are a few things you need to feel comfortable in a new place?

Sara: Definitely a sense of community. I need to feel like I have people around me that I can connect with and rely on.

Also, access to the outdoors. I’m someone who needs to get outside, whether that’s walking, hiking, or being near the water.

And probably just a bit of routine. Once I have a routine, everything starts to feel more normal.

Kent: That’s a good list.

Sara: Yeah, I think those things make a big difference when you’re in a completely new environment.

Kent: And the second question—do you have any police or customs stories?

Sara: Not really anything too dramatic. I think the biggest thing is just being aware that things are different in different countries.

Even simple things like what you can and can’t bring into a country, or how you interact with officials—it can all vary quite a bit.

So I think just being respectful and doing a bit of research beforehand is really important.

Kent: That’s solid advice.

Sara: Yeah, nothing too exciting on that front, unfortunately.

Kent: That’s okay. Sometimes no story is a good story.

Sara: Exactly.

Kent: Well, Sara, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Sara: Thank you for having me. It’s been great.

Kent: And for our listeners, thank you for tuning in. We’ll see you next time.

All: Thank you.