Job Discussion Forums

Old Dog · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 564 Location: China

What's the present score on Hilton International College in Brisbane? I've heard staff pass through their doors as if they are high-speed revolving doors. Anyone got any info on this. A friend advised against working there for about 10,000 reasons but work's work, I guess. Should I take up any offer of work there? Can anyone suggest better places to apply for in Brisbane? What's Hilton's rank in the ESL pecking order there?

sojourner · Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:14 am Post subject:

OD,

You could always try the East Coast College of English. I have been told that it has a v. good name - apart from ESL teaching, they also run Trinity TESOL Certificate courses. ECCE is very centrally located - Ann St, about 2 minutes walk from City Hall. I believe that the following private organisations also run ESL courses: Embassy-CES, Leonie Greene and Associates, and the Sarina Russo Institute.

Probably the best places to work for would be the TAFE colleges; but they are very particular about their teachers' qualifications. A couple of years back, before heading off to Asia, I was rejected by them as my qualifications (MA, B.Ed, Dip.Tchg, and CELTA) were deemed "inadequate" ! It appears that they want their teachers to have qualifications in workplace on-the-job training. But that was over two years ago - who knows, they may have less stringent requirements by now .

Are you also interested in the Gold Coast ? It's only about two hours away from Brisbane. I believe that Holmes Institute now has a college there. Check the Yellow Pages for the Gold Coast - there would be a number of ESL schools there, as the place is very popular with Asian (esp. Japanese and Sth Korean) students and working holiday folk.

What are your qualifications ? If you are a qualified teacher, you may want to do some relief work in the State school sector. But first, you would have to register with the Teachers' Registration Board.

Peter

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

Try taking a look at this website, it lists a bunch of accredited schools in Australia. Then you can look them up on Google and find email addresses and stuff. I did that in July, and it worked well for me.

http://www.neasaustralia.com/Pages/accredited_institutions.htm

Good luck,
Lozwich.

chickenwhat · Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 4

Hilton was also the lowest paying school.

Avoid HHH, if the senior teacher there doesn't like you she'll make up some story to get you fired. Korean owned.

SPELT, last time I was there you had to order photocopying three days in advance. I had my class changed three times in one day.

Shafston has a rather colourful history.

I liked the month I spent at Pacific Gateway. No problems there whatsoever. Well run. Also heard good things about ACE.

The universities pay much better than other places. A few years ago QUT paid the most. Griiffith was second and UQ third. They have holiday programs which are a good way to get into the system.

All places hire teachers casually, so work is never definite and you could lose your job in a day. I remember going to work at Shafston and finding out that my schedule had been changed overnight. While unreasonable I think it was legal.