Job Discussion Forums

[rookieglobetrotter]

Hey Everyone,

I�m new here and interested in traveling abroad opportunities in Hong Kong. I just finished my last finals today at GMU in the States and will be graduating in a few days from grad school. I want a chance to travel before settling down and also pay off some debt since I�m broke so I think teaching would provide that opportunity. Quickly perusing the boards, the NET Scheme caught my eye but looking over the qualifications I understand it is pretty competitive and I may not meet them, so I wanted to see what would best help my case since I�m going to turn an app in any way.

This is what I�m not too sure about (from the EDB website):
- "a recognized teacher training qualification in primary education; and
- *(iii) a Teaching of English as Foreign Language or a Second Language (TEFL/TESL) qualification at least at certificate level."

So I have a BA, and a MA in Public Administration, and I have some teaching experiences as a substitute teacher, tutoring, and teaching in some youth programs but no certifications. I have heard a lot about the PGED, etc. in the UK what would I need to do to get at least the minimum teacher training qualification in the States hopefully at an affordable price?

The certification is also another topic I know that gets discussed a lot. I�m anxious to get on a plane as soon as possible and I called around and there are no good CELTA, TESOL, or in-class certs around here. I can also see that the CELTA is a big financial and time investment and is best if you are planning on doing TEFL for multiple years and I�m not set on that yet.

What fits best with my time, budget (well I just have a credit card haha!) is the 120 hour Bridge online TEFL program at teflonline.com which is accredited by ACCET and has gotten good feedback as far as quality. I know online is not good because it doesn�t have 6 hours of practiced teaching in front of real students, but I was wondering:

- Will NET scheme accept the Bridge online cert (the website was vague as shown above) as a TEFL cert? I have emailed EDB a couple days ago but have not heard back.
- Is there any way I can get the 6 hours practicum outside of the online cert with a local youth org or university program? Or maybe I teach somewhere like in Taiwan for a year, and then apply for NET in 2 years, will that cover the 6 hours? If no to these, what would be the best cost-effective option to fulfill this?
- Will the online cert be a waste of money for me and add nothing to my app at this time for applying to NET? Since I would be the back of the pecking order for the NET I was hoping if I did a quick online cert it would give me more money for a 1st year non-NET job, then help me with the NET app my 2nd year if I didn�t get an interview the 1st year.

Anyway if I have a shot at NET or not, I think it�s great that you all are so knowledgeable and willing to offer advice to rookies like me. If you have any other tips that might help my case I appreciate it. I hope to send out my apps as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Jason

[Serious_Fun]

I doubt very much that an online course will enable a "Public Administration" major to:

assist in teacher and curriculum development, while co-planning and co-teaching with trained teachers here in HK. Do you think that local teachers with 20 years in the classroom won't notice that you have neither experience nor qualifications?

develop innovative learning and teaching methods, materials, and activities suited to the needs of local students.

promote the professional development of local teachers. Perhaps a short talk on public administration?

disseminate good practices in language learning and teaching through regional teacher development programmes such as experience- sharing seminars/workshops and networking activities. Maybe you can put together a powerpoint using someone else's research.

Jason, I fear that your post is a troll, posted here in order to highlight the fact that there are unqualified teachers within the NET Schemes.

If, in fact, your post was made in sincerity, then I suggest that you apply with one of the large chain schools such as Wall Street, Hess, GEOS, etc. They will allow you to work overseas while (perhaps) saving some money.

You will find kindred spirits in Taiwan.

good luck

[Marcoregano]

A tad harsh from SF perhaps, but essentially he's right. Without teaching quals or experience, it's very unlikely you'd get a job on the NET programme or in any of the higher paying institutions, which understandably are looking for qualified and experienced personnel.

With your current level of education and experience, most likely you'd find work with small private tutorial schools or kindergartens, that kind of thing, and generally they don't pay very well. You'd find it hard to save. Your chances of saving money would be much better in Korea or Taiwan where living costs are lower and in comparative terms your pay would be higher.

[rookieglobetrotter]

I'm glad my post amused you Serious. If I can provide amusement or entertainment to my fellow man, I'm all for it. The world needs more smiles any ways.

My post was sincere although admittedly hastily written since my brain is pretty fried from all those long research papers I had to write this week (I graduated early) and I wasn't planning on writing another one in a discussion forum . I do want to travel to take a year off after my studies because I am not set on what I want to do next, and perhaps a positive experience teaching a year abroad can lead to a TEFL career.

I do understand that there are many newbie teachers giving some of you experienced teachers a bad rap so it may be common place to be skeptical, but I can assure you I am not one of them. Every job that I have taken on I have excelled in and left it in better shape than from which I started and it shows in my track record.

While I was getting my BA, I was working up to 40 hours a week teaching, training, and building some inner city youth programs from the ground up. This includes writing grants, recruiting, creating lesson plans, marketing, recruiting, working with parents, funders, coteachers, and teaching students. It also takes extraordinary patience, the ability to think out-of-the-box, and the passion to motivate youth who've been told they're nothing all their lives. I am still directly working with many of the students and helping them get into college and obtain their dreams. Come to think of it, teaching would be a horrible job w/o the lasting fulfillment of helping others to achieve more than they could on their own, kind of like Dave's ESL

I do understand the importance of qualifications and certifications though and that's why I wrote the initial post. I read on other posts in this forum that said the NET Scheme may take native teachers with just a BA, but of course more qualified teachers would be taken over them. http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=67220. I was just wondering if anyone knew if the NET would take an online cert along with some other sort of practicum, since they have not replied back to me and I am going to apply without hoping for too much.

Of course, if I choose TEFL as a career and had the means to do so, I would definitely obtain the necessary docs and qts to back up my skills.

Thanks again for the post and the suggested schools which I will look into, since any post is better than no post at all!

Jason

[rookieglobetrotter]

Proximo, just caught your post, you are indeed a man of honor and a great sage on these forums as I've seen.

I do understand my shot at the NET is low, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, so I'm going to try anyway. I've already applied to some schools in Taiwan and Korea, and for Taiwan for some reason they seem to be full and put everyone on waitlist, but for Korea I have already gotten some positive replies and confident to obtain a position there.

I've always wanted to go to the international business hub that is Hong Kong and have heard good things about the NET, so I just want to put myself in the best position I can at the moment, and if not I can learn from my mistakes and try the next year. I was just thinking that if I took the online cert now many non-HK schools I am applying for will take it, but wasn't sure if a program as distinguished as the NET would so I will probably just wait till EDB and the NET replies to me.

Thanks again and if you or any others have any more wise advice for this wayward traveler I am all ears.

Jason

[Marcoregano]

Regarding the post http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=67220 and that thread... I think I gave the wrong impression in saying that the NET prog takes on people with no teaching quals or experience. Having read through the SCMP story again, I imagine that those employed without QTS will have at least some relevant experience - probably at least a year or two of post graduation teaching experience, though I don't know for sure.

But my advice is yes, go ahead and apply - nothing ventured and all that. Best of luck. Re the online TEFL cert. - if I was an employer I'd regard it as a waste of time, and if I were you I'd try and find the sheckles to do a proper course - it'll pay dividends.