Posted by
HkScot
19 yrs ago
Anyone with knowledge or experience of English teaching, please help me out because it's been a few years since I was in that field, so am a bit out of touch now.
I have two cousins thinking about coming to HK to teach english, possibly for as long as a year. They are Native English Teachers, and both have permanent HKID (grew up in HK). One is a school leaver aged 18 and a graduate aged 23, both male (not that this should make a difference, but I know it does).
Two questions - 1) what is their earning potential? Are they both equal, or will the graduate earn more? What are the normal hourly rates for doing freelance and working in a centre.
2) What's the best way to find jobs these days - is it still checking the Wellcome/Park 'n' Shop noticeboards, and the AsiaXpat jobs board, or are there new methods as well now?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Cheers.
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clan
19 yrs ago
Did you mean 'native English speaker'? Or 'Teacher'? I would be very surprised if they could earn enough to live in HK. A qualified teacher would earn anywhere from 300-600per hour but then it would usually be after school hours. Personally I'm not sure how an 18yr old would be recieved by people wanting tuition. I think there is the assumption that anyone can teach. If you look at supermarket boards people offering tuition are usually qualified. There are centres but the pay is not great and it's not a one to one but a group.
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Hmmm - times must have changed - I tutored straight out of school and made a phenomonal amount of money.
Whilst teaching is indeed harder than many people appreciating, many students just want conversation practice, which isn't the hardest of jobs!
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Teaching is not as easy as it seems! We try to employ teachers and it is very difficult to sift out those who really want to teach and provide a great service from those who are just trying to make a quick buck! Education centres, schools and individuals are beginning to wise up to ex pats who think they know it all just because they were born overseas or have a British or American accent.
I think Clan's suggested figure of $300-600 is a bit high depending on where they want to teach. I would suggest $200-400 for private tutorials. Education Centres would probably pay around 16-20k per month. They would have to be qualified teachers for this.
The graduate would definitely be able to command more money. You are right, conversation practice is not terribly demanding and local people know that so I very much doubt your cousins would be able to make anything above $300 per hour.
Good luck to them though and I hope they enjoy their time back here.
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What is the grad's major? Parents often seek tutoring in subjects other than English, such as business studies, maths, physics, etc.
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Thank you all for the advice thus far. The graduates major is in Business.
lillipop79 - Who are "we"? Are you a kindergarten? Whilst there are the arrogant know it all expats, there also those who simply realise how valuable they are: fluent English and HKID - not many of those who are willing to work in teaching English, from my understanding.
20,000 per month sounds quite good, but how many hours is that? Working freelance, it is hard to build up the hours, but after a few months, they might have a 25 hour week at an average $250 per hour = 6250 X 4 weeks per month = 25,000. More money, less hours work (I would imagine) and more freedom, but less security.
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