Job Discussion Forums

[ChrisRose]

Recently I applied for the post of programme administrator, but alas the salary wouldn�t be enough for me to survive on. I was asked if I could teach on Sundays for $200 per hour.

Initially I declined, but agreed to prepare a curriculum to bring the courses into line with ALTE and CoE guidelines. A week later I realised that their best hope for a competent teacher would be perhaps a retired individual. After all if someone is teaching for $200 an hour on Sunday�s for money, I would have grave reservations about the individuals commitments to the course and willingness to prepare suitable lesson materials in their own time.

When designing any curriculum they problem as Harmer stated �Is not what to teach but what to leave out?�

That was one of many problems. Since the students are extremely poor, it wouldn�t be fair to ask them to purchase expensive course books, which wouldn�t be complete able within the course time frameworks. The answer, well I will just have to write and illustrate them myself. You might say the Core ELT book has a built in picture dictionary.

They will need more controlled practise and exposure, so I searched for graded, ELT readers for adult students. ALTE Break Through and Entry levels 1 -2, but to no avail. The answer? Heck, I am a published author, I will just write those too.

Hmm, I thought, can I integrate the ELT course books, and readers? Well they really do need follow on practise exercises. So, I decided to write grammar usage books to meet the ALTE guidelines, and provide follow on practices for the course books. Obviously the next step is integration of skills and task to reduce the number of pages whilst allowing for abilities levelling across the classes.

I decided that I shall give away the books and course materials for use by local non-profits and registered charities. Whilst I was planning to give them totally free, I think a small licence fee per copy of say HK$5 to $10 wouldn�t be too much to ask. God knows how long it takes to illustrate, check the lexis curious and formatting.

Now my purpose in writing this is to seek advice.

Should I just seek a list of non-profit educational providers in HK or should I perhaps let one or more non profits handle the distribution?


I would really like advice and feedback

Chris