| Frequently Asked Questions
Q. As a Teacher Of Children Of Missionaries, What Can I Expect With Regard To Health-Related Issues Such As Unsafe Water And Vegetables That May Not Be Clean?
Depending on where you go, water may need to treated or filtered before you drink it or use it for cooking. Vegetables and fruit may need to be treated with chemicals (e.g. chlorine water, iodine, potassium permanganate solution) before use. Your missionary agency will provide you with specific information for the location. The US Department of State web site may have this information.
Q. What time commitment is required when I become an MK teacher?
The number of years a mission organization would like to have their teachers serve varies among the organizations. Please contact various mission organizations on the upper right of the home page. Please watch the video to learn more about time commitment.
Some missionary organizations who send teachers to the field have short term “trial” programs for MK teachers who want to find out if full time teaching is for them. Among these organizations is the Global Service Program by Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Q. Can My Spouse, Who Is Not A Teacher, Come With Me To Teach Children of Missionaries And If So What Could He/She Do?
Mission schools typically do not have adequate personnel to cover all their needs. A spouse may find opportunities to contribute to the school. Some individuals may become teachers themselves (even though that was not anticipated), or librarians, mechanics, secretaries, landscapers, plumbers, etc. Ask your mission organization about how your spouse can use his/her skill set on the mission field.
Q. When I Become A Teacher Of Children Of Missonaries I Will Be Financially Supported By My Church, Friends, And Family. How Often Should I Send Them A Newsletter About What I Am Doing?
Ask your mission organization this question. Some missionary teachers send out a newsletter four times a year and others two times a year. Ask other teachers how often to they send out newsletters. The point is to keep prayer and financial supporters informed as well as family and friends. Some teachers send their newsletters by e-mail and others use surface mail.
Q. As an MK teacher, will I be paid for teaching or do I have to raise my own support? Why don’t all mission organizations who have schools for children of missionaries pay their teachers a salary?
Typically you do need to raise your own support. While there are a few exceptions, Teachers In Service, Inc. works with donation, faith based MK teachers and schools.
• You need to raise your own support because paying teachers a salary means the school has to raise tuition to pay your salary. That means the parents of the children you teach have to raise more support from their own supporters. Since teachers are just as much missionaries as the parents of the children they teach, they should not have rely on parents to pay their expenses.
• Raising your own support solidifies your call* to be a missionary. MK schools and parents want teachers who have been called by God to serve as teachers. Raising support is one way that God can communicate whether or not he truly wants you to teach children of missionaries.
• Raising your own support is a faith-strengthening process. While support-raising can be difficult, God can use it to build your trust in him. Further, it strengthens your own sense of dependence on him as you see him provide what you need.
• Raising your own support provides you with prayer support. When raising support, raising money is only part of the picture, and not even the most important part. You will also be asking people to pray for you and for God’s provision and grace in your life. You will find that prayer support crucial during your time living overseas teaching MKs. You need people who are presenting the challenges you will face before the throne of God.
When a teacher stays in mission school teaching for a few years, he/she will return to his/her home country for furlough to renew financial and prayer support. This is a healthy situation for the teacher, supporters, and the home church in general.
Please contact TIS if this answer did not completely answer your question.
* In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)
Q. Do I Need Previous Teaching Experience?
Some schools or mission organizations require experience and some do not. Mission schools are busy places and new teachers need to be able to stand on their own two feet. Previous teaching experience will contribute to the teacher’s success. First year teachers in any situation find themselves grappling with classroom issues of academics, discipline, administration, and parents. This is compounded when the new teacher is in a new culture, perhaps in a different climate, perhaps is away from home for the first time.
Children of missionaries deserve the very best possible education they can obtain and much of this is related to teachers!
Q. As A Teacher Of Children Of Missionaries, I Will Be Sending Out Newsletters To Supporters. I Want To Mention Prayer Requests. Is It OK to Include Requests For Personal As Well As Professional Items?
Certainly! Those who support you understand that you will be in a new situation and that you will have many new experiences, good and bad. When you go on furlough supporters will ask you for specific prayer requests. Be sure and keep your supporters informed as to what the status is of your requests. When God answers your prayers and those of your supporters, let your supporters know. And remember, God always answers prayer, but the answer may or may not be the answer you expected.
Q. How Do I Locate Missionary Organizations Who Have Schools For Children Of Their Missionaries?
Ask your pastor and church missions group, review Christian magazines, or look up mission agencies on the internet.
Q. Can You Tell Me What It Is Like For Teachers Of Children Of Missionaries To Live Overseas?
Some schools will have laundry facilities on campus. If you live in an apartment you may or not have laundry facilities. You may have to locate a commercial laundry place. In some cases laundry may have to be done by hand.
Outside the US and Canada most of the world runs on 220 volts and not 110. Appliances taken should either be convertible between 110 and 220 or strictly 220. In some places there will be transformers that will change 220 to 110. In some places electricity may be rationed.
Americans are accustomed to houses, schools, offices, etc. being heated and cooled. In many areas of the world there is either limited energy for heating and cooling or a different philosophy: “Put on a sweater if you are cold.” Be flexible with this and do not expect to see energy use at the same level as in he US or Canada.
With regard to cooking utensils, take some with you but remember that you can always purchase some when you get to your new home. They may not be the same shape or made of the same material but after all, you are entering a new culture. Again, be flexible.
Q. Since I am going overseas to teach children of missionaries, how will I get all my personal and professional things there?
A. Mission organizations may have different procedures for this. Items you absolutely cannot be without, take with you.
Check with mission agencies with whom you might serve. Some organizations accumulate these kinds of things with other missionaries as
well and put them in a large, ocean going container for shipment overseas.
Q. Do Schools For Children Of Missionaries Follow A Standard USA Curriculum?
Many follow a curriculum typically found in American schools. However, it is possible that you may have children in your class from other countries and that they and their parents will not only be used to a different curriculum but an entirely different view of teaching and learning. This is the primary multicultural teaching challenge an MK teacher faces. | 
