Posted by
notyou
18 yrs ago
Hello I am a NET teacher who's qualified to teach all subjects in primary school or middle or secondary school English Literature. I have also taught ESL, grammar and English Literature to adults at a community college. I am hoping you could help me decide which avenue to pursue from the numerous jobs I have seen listed in the SCMP! I am not desperate to work as I'm here with my husband's job, but I would like a bit of an outside interest. I have small children and am a bit picky about which job I will take so I can spend time with them. I like working with young children or teaching English. Do you know how the schools compare in terms of pay and working conditions? (International vs. local or ESF?)
Working full or p/t would be ok but there are several options. I noticed that HKIS and ESF are looking for Substitute Teachers. Any ideas about which might be preferable or would they be comparable? Can I do tutoring here without a work permit? (I believe that pays about $400/hour, correct?) Any other suggestions? Thanks!!!privately, let me know. I know you can send a private message, but I'm not sure how to do that.
P.S. I am not willing to take a position which pays under $200/hour.
Please support our advertisers:
Hi notyou. Sub teaching pays around HK$1500 - 1800 per day depending on the school. If you choose to go with this option there's plenty of work around. Some schools don't require you to get a hk teachers registration here which can be a pain (and is expensive) to get. Otherwise language schools pay $250-300 an hour for qualified teachers from what i've seen.
Please support our advertisers:
aemom
18 yrs ago
I know that local schools would like to hire other NETs to replace NETs for maternity leave (10 weeks) or long-term sick leave.
I've never heard of an EMB NET being replaced by another NET for short-term leave. Most local schools use other teachers who have spare lessons to substitute for colleagues who are absent for business or personal reasons - or if it's in the school's budget, a TA gets to babysit while the teacher is away.
Please support our advertisers:
Very helpful!!! Does anyone here work for ESF or HKIS? Do they have good working environments?
I'd be willing to do some after school tutoring. Do you know how I could get tutoring work? Thanks.
Please support our advertisers:
Thanks Cara. Could I get into any sort of trouble with immigration if I do that without a permit? Also, a question for Celberg, can you tell me what a teacher's permit costs and do you know if any schools do not require them?
Amom, have you worked in the local schools? I read in yesterday's paper that NET's don't feel welcome there. Why would that be? Is it because our styles are different or because everyone speaks Cantonese all the time?
Thank you all for your helpful opinions.
Please support our advertisers:
Another question!!! Can anyone tell me what it woudl pay to take a full-time teaching job? I could teach adults, but I think it pays peanuts or I could teach children, which I belive would pay best in the ESF system??
Please support our advertisers:
You have given me a lot of food for thought. Thank you. Does anyone know the hours of schools? My kids go from 8:30-3:30. Is that the norm here?
Please support our advertisers:
If you want to work on the EMB NET scheme, it's full time and a half!
At primary level,you could find yourself working in an am/pm school, though these are being phased out, so anywhere from 6.30 till 1pm with meetings/co-planning after these hours and half day Saturday. Or 11 till 6 pm, half day Saturdays.
If you're in a full time school, anywhere from 7.30 till 5 and if you're unlucky, quite a few Saturdays.
A lot of NETs feel isolated for various reasons. For one, they are the last teacher there and it takes a while (and I mean, 2 years!) for the local staff to warm to them. This can be more difficult if there is a language/cultural barrier. For some teachers, their level of conversational English is no higher than the level they teach.
Second, it could be that NETS say no. NETS are often 'requested' to do additional duties that they don't feel are within their scope or line of duty. As such, they are deemed not to be team players and get ignored.
But mainly because all the staff are busy (marking, preparing, sleeping sometimes) with their own teaching and admin duties.
Please support our advertisers:
dawsoncreek, wow! You don't paint a pretty picture! I don't know what an am/pm school is. Does it mean that some children learn in the morning from6:30 to 1 and the others learn from 1-? Do you mean teachers are expected to work from 7:30-5 as a rule and what in the world would they be doing expecting you to do on Saturdays? I did read that NET teachers have problems with their authority figures and I can see why. It sounds like I do not want to work in htat situation.Thank you for the warning. No wonder they're having trouble finding NETS. I don't understand why they wouldn't welcome NETS though. The level of English definitely needs improvement. We are away from our families and you'd think they'd appreciate that we are helping HK to move forward into the future.
Please support our advertisers:
GO for ESF or international school if you want more independence and real teaching.
Yes, some kids go to school in the morning and some in the afternoon. Whole day school kids start at 8 am till 3.15 pm.
Saturday work? Oh, stand around being seen to be the Western face, hold one ECA class but be there for the whole morning, maybe do a parents' workshop, be the promotion face during recruitment days....... but basically because the other teachers are there, you have to be there.
Please support our advertisers:
Approx hours for most International schools are for Primary 8.30 - 2.30 and High school is 8.15 - 3.15 According to a survey conducted by the SCMP the highest paid teachers work for the ESF, I understand that HKIS are the next best paid. If you wish to do supply for ESF of HKIS go to their web pages and send an email regarding your wish to do supply teaching and they will send you back all the details you need eg. pay scale, qualifications needed. Providing you have a dependant visa you can work.
Please support our advertisers:
Thanks very, very much. You've all been so helpful!dawsoncreek, i think all expats would want more independence and to do real teaching. i don't know how the locals could stand to work in the local system and working on saturdays sounds like such a waste. i can't understand why any teacher would be at school on a saturday unless they were really behind in their work. even then, you can work at home. i wonder if they just go to prove how dedicated you are, or if it's required. anyway, that's just silly. hettijames, thanks so much.that's very helpful.
i have another question regarding finishing my master's of education degree! i'd have to transfer credits, but i'm afraid any school here would be very boring like those you guys described!
Please support our advertisers:
ldavy
18 yrs ago
Hi notyou,
I'm a qualified CELTA teacher, not a real teacher, but I taught privately for a couple of years. I enjoyed it to start with but eventually got fed up - you have to traipse all the way to the students' homes carrying all the books, then you get to sit with them in their tiny bedrooms usually on the most uncomfortable small chairs with no aircon because their mums think it's better to have the window open ..... If you want to do private teaching make sure they really pay. Unfortunately there are an awful lot of people in Hong Kong (like me) who say they can teach English. And when someone who's really qualified (like you) comes along, the parents think they shouldn't have to pay more than they do for the first sort ... if I've made myself clear. Sorry, a bottle of wine seems to have got inside me. My advice would be to do private teaching but charge real money, at least $400 an hour and maybe more.
Please support our advertisers:
Idavy. Thank you very much for taking the time to share your views with you. I think you and everyone's really helped me a lot. I'm not sure what a CELTA teacher is, but I'm sure you do a good job and the parents should at least make you comfortable! What a shame. If you teach, you're a teacher, maybe just not qualified, but some people who are qualified aren't as good as some who aren't, so don't sell yourself short!! Is there a chance that you could tell the parents of your students that if their child brings a friend, they can have conversations while you correct them, and it will be more fun. Also, you might charge $300-$350/hour for each and they will save a bit and you will earn some more money and make it fun. I think I will actually try to do some Supply Teaching. It sounds like a good way for me to get back into teaching because I haven't worked for a few years.I found out it's about $2,000 or more for the teaching license, but I think it will be worth it. If I got a job in a regular school, the school would pay it for me, but I wouldn't have as much freedom.
Does anyone know if you work for ESF or HKIS, do they really let you take days off without penalizing you or putting your name down on the list of who gets called?Would I lose work if I take off days when my kids are sick for example?Thank you.
Please support our advertisers:
clan
18 yrs ago
You'd get work with the ESF at the moment there are no supply teachers about. You can tell the school the days you want to be called. They won't penalise you for that. If you have a full time teaching job you won't be able to take days off for sick kids. Do you have a work visa?
Please support our advertisers:
TC
18 yrs ago
As mentioned a couple of times above already, a work visa is NOT required for anyone here on a Dependant's Visa. There used to be a restriction but the rules were changed in May 2006. If the DV was obtained before then (under the old rules) there would be a work-restriction noted in the passport, but that can now easily be removed by fronting up to Immigration.
Please support our advertisers:
I am so grateful to all of you for helping me so much. You have no idea how great it is to get so much help and support!!! I'm halfway done my application for ESF and I feel I have been SAVED because my original intention was to look for a NET job. I thought the kids would like you and it would be fun to help people/kids learn English. NOTTT!!Thanks again!!
Please support our advertisers:
any chance a schoolwould pay the $2Kfee for me to register?
Please support our advertisers:
Hi, I think those hours are excessive and it's odd that you paid your own registration fee and visa fee, isn't it?
Please support our advertisers:
It depends on where you want to do it. Some people could let you tutor their children or you can contact tutoring companies and ask. I'm not sure.You could also try to teach at a p/t kindergarten. Good luck.
Please support our advertisers:
You can also check the SCMP's job ads on Saturdays. There are a lot of NET jobs, but the qualifications vary. Good luck.
Please support our advertisers:
You must be logged in to be able to reply.
Login now
Copy Link
Facebook
Gmail
Mail