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Comparing the Schools and Comments

Comparing the Schools and Comments: Working in Cairo, Egypt

September 4, 2016

Around the world, there are cities that have more than one international school. Many times there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum.

Some cities, though, have MANY international schools!  When that is the case, how do the comments about each school compare to each other?

This blog series looks at comparing some of these comments, all coming from international schools in the same city.

Cairo, Egypt

Currently, we have 32 schools listed in Cairo on International School Community.

21 schools have had comments submitted on them. Here are a few that have the most submitted comments:

Cairo American College (Cairo, Egypt) – 27 Comments
Cairo British School (Cairo, Egypt) – 30 Comments
Cairo English School (Cairo, Egypt) – 20 Comments
El Alsson British and American International School (Cairo, Egypt) – 20 Comments
Hayah International Academy (Cairo, Egypt) – 20 Comments
Misr American College (Cairo, Egypt) – 47 Comments
Nefertari International Schools (Cairo, Egypt) – 28 Comments
The International Schools of Choueifat in Egypt (Cairo, Egypt) – 22 Comments
American International School in Egypt (New Cairo City, Egypt) – 62 Comments
Modern English School Cairo (New Cairo City, Egypt) – 25 Comments
The International School of Egypt (New Cairo City, Egypt) – 43 Comments

Hiring Policy

“The previous comment is correct that foreign teachers are promised work visas but never receive them. Teachers just have to work with tourist visas. This is a dangerous position to be in because the Egyptian government is starting to deport foreigners, particularly Americans, who are working illegally in the country with tourist visas.” – The International School of Egypt

“This is a bit of an issue at AIS. They seem to hire people without checking references and most interviews are just over the phone or Skype. Several people get fired a year due to behaviors that I am sure would have shown before hiring should AIS do face to face interviews and checking references. I think this will change this year since there is a new Director. Currently, they do not go to any recruiting fairs, but are supposed to this year.” – American International School in Egypt

“The school can’t hire people over 60 years old.” – Nefertari International Schools

Housing Benefits

“Staff can choose where they want to live. A housing allowance is given at 1200 EGP per month Which is never enough to cover an apartment in a “good” neighbourhood. Rent costs on average per month for a single teacher only in a good working apartment 3000+ per month utilities are all billed separately which the teacher has to pay for.” –Cairo British School

“I found a great apartment for the housing allowance that the school gives. Some people rented much fancier places and paid more out of their salary. I lived in a great location and had a two bedroom apartment that my landlord also lived in so he was right there if I needed anything. He spoke English quite well to which helped in communication. My utilities were around $20 US per month. I had a cable bill and that was the same. I got internet on a USB stick from the telephone company which was $17 each month. I found the whole experience positive and cheap.” – Misr American College

“The apartments that teachers are placed in are fully paid for by the school.” – Cairo American College

“There is a housing allowance of 1500 LE if you don’t take the teacher housing, which is really terrible and disgusting. The housing allowance isn’t enough to actually rent an apartment though. Rent would be at least 2000 or more in the area, not including utilities.” – The International School of Egypt

School Location

“For the teachers that live in El Rehad and have their own car, it typically takes 15-20 minutes to get to work in the morning. You can hire a taxi through the school to get to school in the morning is 100 EGP. You can get a car through Careen though for 30 EGP one way. To drive to the city center from the school could take 45 minutes depending on traffic.” – American International School in Egypt

“The school is located in Ismailia Road, next to New Cairo and Heliopolis. Teachers get free transportation to and from your home to the school.” – Nefertari International Schools

“Teacher’s can live wherever they choose. The school is in the heart of the city that it is located in. Staff ride the school bus to and from school” – Cairo British School

“Expat teachers get a housing allowance and assistance in finding housing. I was easily able to find a nice apartment within the budget that is within walking distance to school.” – Misr American College

Language of Students

“Other comments are right on. Most students do not know much English so it is really hard to teach them using English language textbooks. There are very few who can write complete sentences, even in high school. The students all speak Arabic in the classroom, even though they are only supposed to speak English.” – The International School of Egypt

“All Egyptian nationals go to this school. In one classroom, you might find one kid that has parents with a non-Egyptian passport, but they will most likely be from another Arabic speaking country.” – American International School in Egypt

“Common languages spoken in hallways: Arabic.” – Nefertari International Schools

“English is the main language spoken in the school of course. from time to time you may hear the additional arabic being spoken. The school is made up of mostly high tier Egyptian families.” – Cairo British School

(These are just 4 of the 65 different comments topics that on each school profile page on our website.)

If you work at an international school in Cairo, share what you know. Consider becoming a Mayor for unlimited premium membership!

Traveling Around

Traveling Around: Cairo, Egypt (The life of an international school teacher is good!)

May 29, 2014

Traveling Around: Cairo, Egypt

Can you relate?

• Getting off the plane and seeing the armed security forces casually strolling around the airport with machine guns hanging off their arms.
• Going to the Egyptian Museum and walking past tanks and armored vehicles ready to deal with any major problems.  There is heightened security leading up to the elections but the armed forces are subtle and seeing them is reassuring.  Very strange though seeing military checkpoints with umbrellas protecting the soldiers from the sun.
• Finally seeing Tutankhamen’s treasures including his Death Mask after 39 years of wanting to go and see it, including canceling a previous planned trip as it coincided with the weekend the last revolution occurred.
• Then, walking in his tomb and seeing his mummified corpse (and ‘negotiating’ with the guard to take photographs, even though cameras and pictures not allowed).
• No queues, no waiting anywhere.  Before the revolution it would have taken 30 minutes at each of the four tombs in Valley of the Kings before you could even enter and then it would be full of people.  I was in Tutankhamen’s tomb with just my mini tour group (total of three) we had the place to ourselves…
• The Pyramids and the Sphinx!!!
• Bargaining with the vendors whilst the Nile River Cruise ship goes through the lock (they throw their product onto the deck and if you want it you throw your money down to them) – best fun ever!!
• Finding out that snacks are really cheap at roadside stalls
• Encountering insane Cairo traffic – lanes are just a suggestion and horns are to tell a story – one hour just to drive around the roundabout at Tahir Square – cars were doing u-turns in the middle of the traffic – against the flow – just to escape…
• Shopping!!! Dealing with the vendors can be so much fun if you smile at them and have a laugh…
• Walking around the corner and seeing the immense statues of Rameses II at Abu Simbel (after a 3am start and a 3 and a half hour road convoy)
• Watching an artisan make papyrus and then seeing another use hieroglyphics to personalise it for you
• Seeing an Egyptian Muslim man propose to his girlfriend on the Nile Dinner Cruise – so beautiful
• Seeing an Egyptian wedding (different couple obviously :)) get married by the pool at the hotel you are staying and then watching the fireworks when they leave the party
• Experiencing all the different temples at different times of the day so the light reflects differently
• Mummified crocodiles!
• Meeting two amazing boys from Barbados to travel around Upper Egypt with (we became known as Two Cokes and a Sprite as that reflected the drinks we always ordered for dinner but it was also a cute description of the three of us)
• Being taken out to dinner by your guide (not included in the tour package) as an extra so you can taste ‘real’ Egyptian food at a restaurant that happened to be across the road from the Sphinx so we were entertained by the Light show as well…
• Experiencing the incredible hospitality of the local people (my tour guide and tour company owner really made sure that I was having the tour of my dreams).
• Realising that Egypt is currently a safe place to visit regardless what the media says – it is cheap to visit now (weather is best Jan – April) and the people appreciate you visiting as they are doing it tough since the revolutions…
• Independently kickstarting the Egyptian economy with all the shopping I did (seriously heavy bags (plural) on the way home!)
• New friends in Egypt and because of Egypt!

Currently we have 23 international schools listed in Cairo, Egypt on International School Community.  Here are a few of the them that have had comments submitted on them:

• Cairo American College (27 Comments)
• Cairo British School (30 Comments)
• Cairo English School (17 Comments)
• Ecole Oasis Internationale (17 Comments)
• El Alsson British and American International School (20 Comments)
• Hayah International Academy (19 Comments)
• Misr American College (37 Comments)
• The International Schools of Choueifat in Egypt (22 Comments)

This Can you Relate article was submitted by an International School Community member who is Australian and currently works in the UAE.

If you are on a trip right now, away from your host country, write to us at admin@internationalschoolcommunity.com with your “Can you relate?” traveling experiences.  Tell us where you are traveling in the world, what you are seeing and how you are coping with any culture shock.  Once your Traveling Around experience is posted on our blog, International School Community will give 6 free months of premium membership!

ISCommunity Newsletters

International School Community Newsletter v2012.06 – 2 June, 2012

June 2, 2012

v2012.06 – 2 June, 2012:

Summer vacation is the time of year all teachers are waiting for (and I suppose all students as well!).  The 1.5 to 2 months of summer break is especially important though for teachers who work at international schools because it is typically when they take their annual trip back home.  When you live in a foreign country, half way across the world, it does indeed feel good to go home.  Even though you do create a new ‘family’ when you live abroad with the other international school teachers that you are working with, your home is most likely where your birth family lives.  Going home too can simply mean just going back to your home country, not necessarily going back to where you grew up.

There are some positives to going back to your home country during the summer:

• You get to see your old friends from when you went to University maybe or people that you went to high school with.  It is important to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances; Facebook still can’t compete with real face to face meetings with these people from your life. Also, you can tell them all about the adventures you have been on while they have been staying-put most likely in the same city that they went to high school in!

• If you go to your home country during the summer, you get to stock-up on all the favorite products from your old life.  Many international school teachers love to go to their favorite grocery stores to stock-up on all the products not available in their host country supermarkets.  Be careful though, food products weigh a lot and can easily make your suitcase go over the allowed weight on your flight back!

• You get to see your nieces and nephews in person, noticing how they are getting so much older now and all grown-up.  You can do things with them like taking them to the movies or going out for a few games of bowling.

A few alternatives for your summer if you don’t fancy going home:

• Some international school teachers just want to stay put in their host country during the summer.  Some feel that you don’t have the time to really explore the city, the nearby cities, or the other cities in the country during the school year. And if you are currently living in the northern hemisphere, summer is the best time typically to explore these cities.  Some teachers also just simply stay put to save money.

• A month-long trip to Africa or a month-long trip to the Chicago area where your family lives? A question you might be asking yourself in April. Some are faced with this international school educator’s dilemma each summer.  For many international school teachers, the price of the flight to go home is actually the same price it would take to go to more exotic places like Kenya or Costa Rica or even Bali.  Who would want to go home (a place you have seen many times already) in place of going on an exciting adventure?  Many choose the adventure option each summer!

So, are you planning on going home this summer? Are you the international school teacher that makes their annual trip home each summer, the one that stays in the host country, or the one that is traveling to another country on some adventure?  Share your stories and reasons for your summer plans here!

From the staff at International School Community.

Recently updated schools with new comments and information:

Recently added schools:

Requested schools to have members leave comments on:

• Greenfield Community School (Dubai)
  (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
• Horizon School Dubai
  (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
• Mef Int’l School Istanbul
  (Istanbul, Turkey)
• TED Istanbul College
  (Istanbul, Turkey)
• The British International School – Istanbul
  (Istanbul, Turkey)

Last month we have had visits from 101 countries around the world!

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Highlighted Article Why for-profit schools can be good.“GEMS schools director: ‘We don’t care about profit.’ GEMS currently runs 10 schools in the UK, but it acquired these schools from other operators, rather than creating them from scratch. It now plans to open six new schools over the next two years, and promises that they will charge more competitive fees than many existing private schools.” “In 2009, the firm’s then chief executive Anders Hultin warned that the Conservative’s proposed free school programme would fail, if private firms weren’t allowed to run schools for a profit…” Check out this blog entry to read more about for-profit international schools. Out of the 1222 international schools listed on ISCommunity 499 are for-profit and 723 are non-profit schools.  If you prefer to work at a non-profit international school, it looks like you are in luck as they are currently in the majority on our website.

Highlighted blog of an international teacher: This international school teacher’s blog is about teaching at British International School Shanghaiand living in Shanghai, China.One of their blog entries (New Year, new role…building the team) is describing how international schools are sometimes in a pickle trying to organize good, useful, purposeful, effective, etc. professional development on the few days back after a break: “Following our wonderful Christmas break in India, it was great to get back and see our colleagues at BISS; and especially the Humanities team, who I am excited to now be leading.  Although, I cannot believe how cold Shanghai has become!  Our first day back was a training day and was well structured and enjoyable; following a warm welcome back from Sir Terry, the secondary and primary staff split to follow separate training schedules. Our day (secondary) was focused on Formative Assessment and was extremely interactive and practical…” Another one of their entries (Cutting Ties…) is about how each international school is different and has their own rules about how they would like their school to be run: “I was recently contacted by my previous employer, an International School in Vietnam, who politely asked me to close down the Edmodo groups I had set up whilst at the school. In particular they wanted me to close a group I had set up named ‘Social Connections’ that was created to allow students (and staff) to remain in touch after moving on…as so often happens on the international circuit. They stated that new school policy dictated that any contact with students must cease when you leave…” * If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.