Teacherland Lessons

The lessons I have learned and the lessons I have taught in my years abroad as an international school teacher

  • From Bangkok to Brazil: How We Landed Our Next International School Job

    From Bangkok to Brazil: How We Landed Our Next International School Job

    What a season it has already been and what a season to come! Our family is moving! Like, really moving. My husband and I have each lived in Bangkok for 10 years now, met 6 years ago and have been married for 4. But now is the time for change and this summer, we’ll be…

  • A missions statement of sorts

    Personal post to start the school year– Time for another year of figuring it all out as I go along. Quick catch up: I am a stay at home mom and former secondary teacher. My husband’s school has a play group that my baby girl can now attend and thrive in so I have a…

  • End of term personal and professional check in–

    It’s the end of the semester for my husband’s school and we will be traveling to America for the summer. As a stay-at-home-mom who likes to dabble in TPT but wants to be more consistent in her little TPT business one day, any sort of structure is self-imposed. Let’s do a bit of a check…

  • Using Poster Making as a tool for teaching Social Studies content

    I just uploaded a student led lesson on the causes of WWI that incorporates students creating a poster. I also have another lesson from my years as an 8th grade teacher over the California Gold Rush that has students creating a poster. Poster-making was one of those lesson tools that I thought I should avoid…

  • Teaching the Skill of Note-Taking in a Social Studies Classroom

    It’s the 21st century and note-taking has been called into question in the teaching-sphere. Do students still need to learn how to take notes on their own if the world has become increasingly digital? Can we kick the pen and paper to the curb? A quick Google search can find you endless articles that argue…

  • Delicious History Lesson: Mexico Buns in Hong Kong

    Recently, our family went on our first international family vacation with a small child. Our daughter is 10 months old and while, yes, we have traveled home to America (with a 15 hr long haul flight!) already, I don’t really count that as an international vacation. Traveling by plane was certainly a challenge but my…

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What is Teacherland?

As a history teacher, I often have to explain different forms and functions of the government. To help illustrate to my students, I like to refer to my room as Teacherland. They soon find that Teacherland is not a democracy. No, no, this is a dictatorship run by a benevolent Queen. 😉 My students have lovingly dubbed me Dictator Devin. 

I grew up in the American public school system but moved to teach abroad early into my career as a teacher. I have 9 years teaching experience in an American international school in Bangkok, Thailand. I’ve taken a pause from teaching to be a stay at home mom but my husband continues to teach at a British international school in Bangkok. In the upcoming months, we will be going on our next big adventure as our family moves to Brazil and he begins teaching at an international school in Rio de Janeiro.

Devin Arenas

International School Teacher