Another Teaching English Question

Hi everyone. My husband and I are considering trying to move to Hong Kong in a few years for "fun." I am starting a graduate TESL certificate program this fall from George Mason University in Virigina which will take 2 years to complete. I have a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications with a minor in English (I took 24 credit hours of English in college, the majority of them being honors courses) from Middle Tennessee State University. Both are accredited universities. In addition, I have professional writing experience and have had several articles published for TravelMuse.com. I am excellent at languages and plan to spend the next few years learning the language of wherever we decide to move to (we're stuck between Hong Kong and Singapore). I am also planning to volunteer as an ESL teacher here for adults in the meantime.


With these qualifications, what are my chances at getting a job teaching English in Hong Kong. Both Hong Kong and Singapore seem to have strict qualifications for English teachers and Im concerned about my ability to get a job. What about tutoring opportunities? I read that private tutoring is not allowed in Hong Kong. My husband is in IT project management so I am not so concerned about making a huge amount of money. I just need to make enough to cover a place to live and my daughter's schooling.

the government has a programme called NETS (oe NETTS) where they hire foreigners to help teach english. You may need a teaching certificate fron the USA. Anyway just go online the the hong kong govenrment and look under the NETTS OR NETS PROGRAMME. ALTERNATIVELY GO ONLINE TO THE scmp AND CHECH OUT THE CLASSFIED ADS ON SATURDAY. they are filled with ads looking for people just like you. two of the more popular options are HKU and Chinese U who both run night classes for people wanting to improve their english. the better of the two I htink is SPACE run by Hong Kong U. all the universities in hong kong all have dedicated websites so you should be able to find job posting or a relevaNT EMAIL ADDRESS THERE. THEY ARE ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO TEACH YOUR MAJOR. SO DON'T THINK YOU CAN ONLY TEACH ESL. YOUR MAIN HASSLE IS GETTING A WORK PERMIT. iF YOU GO THROUGH a reputable outfit like the HKU it should be no problem. they will help youy get a wordk visa. hope it helps.

well.. i think a TESL certificate is very enough for you to get a job in HK. but you might need to go to HKEAA (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority) for getting a qualification to prove that you can teach in hk. Just bring all ur edu. cert. to there and pay money (I forgot how much ,,, maybe around HKD 1000-2000) and they will qualify for you.


As mentioned above, hk government offers NET Scheme - hiring native english teacher from other countries to teach in HK - both primary or secondary school. They offer really good salary plus allowances (altogether around HKD40000 i guess). but it may be harder for you to get a job like that as you dont hv solid teaching experience. Some of the International schools in hk is quite high pay, but they request more from the candidate too .. most importantly, your teaching experience. But dont worry.. you can still find jobs in other medias, e.g. jobsdb, JUMP etc. There are quite a high demand of NETs in HK. Even if you can't find a job in primary or secondary, I believe you can still get one from kindergartens. The last choice will be tutoring, it's legal to tutor in HK (I mean tutoring center, but not private tutoring). As you need to a working visa to work legally in HK, you need to apply for full time jobs from tutoring centers, but not offering private tutoring (usually count in hourly base). But it will definitely the worst choice comparatively as the pay is less and holidays is less too!


my bf is from the US and currently a NET in a primary sch.. hope it helps!

Chloett:


Where does one find a list of tutoring centers? If the pay is less than NET or international schools, what is it approximately?


I will post a new thread on this, but I have a BA, no TEFL, no other educational qualifications. I believe the NET rpgram and international schools are off-limits to me with just a BA. Is that right? Thanks.