Job Discussion Forums

austeacher · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: London

Hi from Australia,

I love Hong Kong and am gloating over current expat teachers there. I was in HK last year for a couple of weeks and loved the place straight away. I have applied for over a hundred odd jobs by canvassing direct to schools through the EMB homepage and have not yet had a positive result. I have also been applying for jobs through the SCMP on line and am still waiting for an outcome.

I know with the current economic crisis things will deteriorate by February as that is what has been forecast. I meet EMB requirements to work in any ESL related context.

If any if you Honky dandy didacts are looking for a fellow Aussie teacher to work with, or if you know of any leads I would appreciate a reply.

Thanks in advance.

CJ

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Why don't you apply direct to the Government NET Programme? I imagine now's about the right time to apply for next September's intake...Plenty of info about NET elsewhere on this forum - or just Google it.

StephenAlexander · Joined: 28 Oct 2008 Posts: 10

Can you provide some more information on this program, please?

austeacher · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: London

Marco,

"If the hat fits, wear it". I applied for a job with the NET scheme through an Australian organisation that recruits for the HK EMB twice and I failed to pass the interview, in 2006 and 2007, via video conferencing.

I meet EMB requirements to work in Hong Kong as I also studied the entry criteria to teach in Hong Kong and the criteria clearly shows I am an elligible candidate to work for HK schools. Is it a case of having lots of experience or being persuasive at the interview? I thought I sold myself well at the interview. I guess the hat did not fit afterall.

CJ

Dave_1 · Joined: 11 Feb 2007 Posts: 88

Serious_Fun · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 1171 Location: terra incognita

austeacher · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: London

Serious fun,

I appreciate there is always someone on these forums who has to correct everyone they encounter who makes an error on word items. For the record, I used "Gloating" because there are three variations in my dictionary.

1. Gloat (verb and noun)
2.Gloater (noun)
3.Gloatingly (adverb)
4. Gloating (my interpretation of an adjectival adverb).

Quoted from the Oxford Concise English dictionary. Published in the U.K.

"With all due respect", I am not the only person in the world who morphs or modifies words; writers do it regularly. Problems are solved in pairs and I have just solved one by creating and adjectival adverb.

No, I don't have anything wrong with my C.V. It is a case of having not enough experience.

Since you are so clever, you tell me whether my qualifications meet EMB requirements or not. As opposed to merely stating "really?"

I look forward to a reply.

Serious_Fun · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 1171 Location: terra incognita

Honky Nick · Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 113 Location: Hong Kong

What are your qualifications? If you have a degree, but no teaching qualification, you might have a better chance if you come here and apply directly. If you do have a teaching qualification, you could expand your search to include international schools.

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Austeacher, pls ignore the pedantry that goes on hereabouts - I agree it can be tedious.

The NET scheme is a strange beast in many ways. Something that has often struck me is their habit of selecting inappropriate people at the expense of others who would have been more suitable. But that's HK for you - it's a quirky place, to say the least.

Anyway, to use another proverb: "There's more than one way to skin a cat." If applying through the Oz recruiter didn't work, try applying direct to the EDB and coming here for the interview instead, which is moreorless what someone above suggested.

Or, come out and find short-term work at a language school (or whatever) and start applying for better jobs (including NET) - sooner or later you'll get one. Better than staying at home if things are going down the pan?

austeacher · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: London

More desultory drivel from Serious Fun...

Word Item is synonymous with lexical item. I was taught that term or both; it is a free world and one can use what ever terms they like.

Gloat: (Often followed by a few variants of prepositions and adverbs) Consider or contemplate with greed, lust, envy, malice, triumph. Really the plethora of adjectives is ones choice.

Tell me Serious Fun, where I have misapplied gloating in the context I have implied?

I am "very envious' of teachers in HK. And I do "Gloat on teachers who are in HK with envy". It's a cool place!

For the record, again, I am lacking in experience and as Marco and Nick said, it is better to be in Hong Kong in person and apply for jobs.

I possess, a B.A Degree in Humanities and a Graduate Diploma in TESOL. If you do not know what that is Serious fun, you might like to do a search for it on Australian google and it should list all the Australian Universities offering the program, need I say more?

If you do a search on Google, Serious Fun, you will find that "EMB Hong Kong" appears. If you have a problem with that, maybe you should take your qualm to the United Nations, LOL. Or better still take it out on the Google CEO, LOL.

once again · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 815

To be honest, I also find the use of 'gloat" here very strange. From what I have always thought and just looked up, gloat means to look at others and be smug about your own success. This seems to be the opposite of the way you have used it. I am perfectly happy to be shown evidence of mistake here, so can you give a reference to show that gloat means envy?

Cohen · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: Hong Kong

austeacher · Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: London

If you can not accept my direct and quoted meaning of "Gloat", taken from The Concise Oxford Dictionary; year of publication 1995, 9th edition, then you might like to contact Clarendon press based in Oxford. Edited by Della Thompson. It is not my problem if you can not accept the meaning used in the 1995 period.

I am considering buying a millenium dictionary.

Could someone please inform me if the meaning has changed?

Word usage allways evolves.

I think you guys are referring to a different dictionary to me.

You will find, Greed, Malice, Triumph are listed under both nouns and adjective entries.

Auto-didacts make the best learners.

Cohen · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 91 Location: Hong Kong

The penny drops � you are troll (and not a very good one, either).

I have to say, I am not too overly surprised that you have failed to receive any positive results from over a hundred applications (even if they were "odd jobs" as you say), or that you failed the interview no fewer than two times.

First, you certainly have not given a "direct and quoted meaning of "gloat"", all you did was list the parts of speech of different forms of the lemma/lexeme, which is a far cry from 'meaning' (and you also slyly added a note referring to your 'interpretation' of a present progressive form). Second, I doubt if anyone needs to look in a dictionary; lexicographers compile dictionaries based on corpora consisting of usage of native speakers, not the other way around, and dictionaries cannot hope to capture all the intricacies of 'meaning' (nor do they claim to).

Third, 'always' has one 'l', not two (and you may also want to check your spelling of 'after all' (two words) and 'whatever' (one word) in previous posts). Fourth, 'greed', 'malice', 'triumph' are not adjectives, and are certainly not listed as such in any Oxford dictionary. The adjective forms are 'greedy', 'malicious', and 'triumphant' respectively. But what do I know? I only teach at university here so obviously I bow down to your greater knowledge and experience.