Job Discussion Forums

[johnco]

Hi folks,

I am curious to know if anybody out there in Hong Kong is currently employed with the Vocational Training Council.I have an interview lined up with the staff and HR of the VTC in Melbourne Australia next Friday.

I am requesting to you what your thoughts and experiences have been (or are) with the VTC.I am not new to the teaching ESL game but will be new to Hong Kong if I get the job.I am well versed in current pedagogical practices.

If you would like to share your experiences and insights in to the mechanisms of VTC that would be most appreciated.I would also like to know what are considered as reasonable salaries for a teacher like me with 2 years + experience in the current ESL teaching market.

Thank you in advance.

[jwbhomer]

I suggest you not flaunt your knowledge of "pegagocial" practices.

[ozman]

there doesn't appear to many helpful replies to this request.
I don't know much about Voc Training Council myself and haven't worked for them.
All I can say is they seem to advertise regularly for English teachers in the local paper here in HK.
I would assume that they are training young people for manual type and technical trades and a lot of the students would obviously come from lower band schools - kids who didn't make the marks for university or were not allowed to continue to A level. If you read some of the NET postings you will have some idea of what lower band students can be like. they have little interest in learning English and are often behavioural problems. I suspect this might be a "hard" post. You would want to find out what extra benefits you might get on the package. It isn't part of the EMB NET scheme.
If you take this post you might let this forum know how it is.

[bubblebubble]

i have been working at VTC for 4 years as a Lecturer. perhaps i can tell you what this institute is about.

it is like a college in the states, offering diploma and higher diploma courses to students in various disciplines: engineering, computer science, applied science, business admin, hospitality, fashion design etc. students are young adults, usually over 18 years old. final year students are around 21 - 22 yrs old. when i first started working here, i had students older or around my age! (but that was a LONG time ago).

you'll be working under the 'Language Centre', which is a supporting unit to all the departments, providing business communication courses to the students. if you teach foundation diploma, each class will have 6 - 7 hours of english with you. for higher diploma classes, each class will meet you 2 hours a week. teaching load varies for different campus. for my campus, if you're a Lecturer, you will teach 16 - 18 hours a week. i have heard crazier things in other campuses though.

content of business communication include: writing business correspondence, meeting, job search, presentations, tel skills etc. pretty much you've to teach the kids enough 'english' to survive in the worksplace. you don't have to prepare your own teaching materials as you'll be given a TLP (teaching learning package) along with lesson plan and any necessary materials. honestly, the teaching materials SUCK!!! i never follow it and usually come up with self-made stuff to make the class more interesting. of course, you can stick to it directly and give the students a hell of a time.

in terms of the office politics...the westerns are pretty much left alone. the moral is quite low here though.

i heard from my boss that the NETs will be doing pretty much the same thing as the local teachers. however, instead of PILING you with mountains of admin work, you'll be more involved with organizing student activities. of course, it really depends on your centre head.

there are 13 campuses and you'll be allocated to the campuses by lucky draw.

office hours: first class starts at 8:30 am and last class ends at 5:30 pm. just like college... my boss requires us to be here from 9 to 5 pm and i guess different campuses have different practices.

i just have MORE to say.... PM me if necessary.

[bubblebubble]

one more thing to add:

this NET scheme is new. a few of the campuses have 1 or 2 nets around. for the other campuses, they have no existing nets...