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/ Jess Barga

Chris Baier and Jess Barga – Teaching Profile

Thank you for visiting the international teaching website for Chris Baier and Jess Barga. We created this site to make it easier for hiring schools to learn a bit about us as educators and individuals, and access our references and other documents. This home page includes a IMG_1086brief introduction to the two of us; however, please use the pages listed above to view relevant materials for each of us.

We both began our teaching careers over fourteen years ago in Seattle, WA, Chris teaching biology, conceptual physics, and anatomy and physiology; and Jess teaching Spanish and English. We worked at a suburban private school, and the tight-knit community was an ideal setting in which to develop successful teaching strategies and build meaningful, collaborative relationships with our students and colleagues. The decision to leave our family, friends and jobs behind in favor of an international teaching career was difficult, but has proven to be the right choice for us.

In 2007, we accepted jobs with Korea International School and moved to the suburbs of Seoul, thinking our experiment abroad would last from four to six years. Jess taught high school Spanish and Chris, physics, biology and math. At KIS, we found that the international perspective and open-mindedness that characterized our students and colleagues truly suited us, both personally and professionally. Having discovered the gratification of a student-teacher dialogue informed by diverse cultural perspectives and experiences, we realized it would be very difficult for us to return to classrooms like the ones we left in Seattle, and confessed to our families that we would probably never be coming “home.” In 2010, we took positions at Escuela Campo Alegre in Caracas, where Jess taught primarily English literature, and Chris taught physics and math.

Life in Venezuela was fraught with political drama and a substantial measure of unpredictability, but we were fortunate to enjoy very productive teaching years in a warm and embracing community. Having taught Advanced Placement courses at KIS, we both began teaching International Baccalaureate diploma courses at ECA, and our experience with the IB program was been extremely positive. Finally, our son, Cormac, was born in Caracas 2012, and becoming parents has been especially rewarding. We decided to leave ECA due to the deteriorating political situation in Venezuela, and found jobs in China at the American International School of Guangzhou. In China, Chris’s schedule includes both mathematics and physics, while Jess began teaching the IB Language and Literature course, as well as teaching journalism and coordinating the school newspaper for the first time. We knew already from our years in South Korea that we loved East Asia, and our time in China has confirmed that.

As we enter our twelfth year of international teaching, we are seeking a school and home that will allow us to both interact with a new culture, and continue to build the practices and curricula that have brought us success thus far in Korea, Venezuela and China.

We’ve spent the past seven years at 1-to-1 laptop schools (Apple in Korea and China, and PC in Venezuela), enabling us to infuse our instruction with a high level of technology. If interested, please feel free to visit our teaching websites to see some examples of day-to-day assignments and activities.

AISG sites:

ECA sites:

KIS sites:

* Chris’ current teaching website is password-protected due to his use of copyrighted materials from his texts and the IB. However, he would be happy to grant access to anyone wishing to view the site. Upon entering the page, please select “join” from the upper menu, and create an account using your school’s name. He will authorize your request as quickly as possible.