Job Discussion Forums

[Travelista]

Hey all. My husband and I are hoping to someday live in Hong Kong. I currently hold a bachelor's degree in communications and I am looking to start a graduate program which would get me a MA in Linguistics and a graduate TESL certificate. Once I get at least 18 hours of graduate work, I plan to try to teach at the local community college doing ESL. If all of this comes together, what are my chances of getting on the NET scheme even though I dont have a PGDE.

Mainly my problem is that I cannot afford to student teach (gotta feed the kid!) so I really can't get a primary or secondary ed degree here. I can, however, teach at the college level. Will that make up for not having a PGDE or am I just tough out of luck no matter what I do?

[Marcoregano]

[RiverMystic]

Yes, and they are only getting more strict, after some public criticism of the unqualified NETs. So, get qualified if you want to be a NET.

[Travelista]

Just kidding! Well there's pretty much 0 chance of me being able to get qualified here in Fairfax County AKA most expensive county in the U.S. I HAVE to keep my job and I can't take off for the 15 weeks that student teaching requires. I can't get a teachers license unless I go through a teacher licensing program which involves the aforementioned 15 weeks of student teaching.

Then again, even if I only make 20,000HKD a month, that's a teensie bit less than what I make now and my husband is hoping for a swanky IT job. Thankfully if it doesnt happen then it doesnt happen. It will be my husband who will be the most disappointed and I'll still have my masters in linguistics and be able to teach adults on the side.

Doesn't look to good for the NET scheme though :S

With the degree in Linguistics, the TEFL and a few courses in Chinese (yes I know they speak Cantonese there but I HAVE to take a foreign language as part of my linguistics degree) can I at least get a respectable job somewhere? I dont look like a hag...maybe that will help

[RiverMystic]

Yes, you may even land a good job. I know a non-teacher here who got a job at a local school for 30 000 a month, working just a few hours a day - and he didn't bother to show up most of the time!

[Travelista]

Can you give me some idea of what kind of job I could get. Would I just try to get a job in a school office? Ive heard varying things about teaching at the independent English schools. Any advice about those?

[Janettyb]

Have you looked into alternative programs in the US such as Teach for America? That would allow you to still get paid and become a qualified teacher.

[Travelista]

Actually, I know several people who are going through that program now. One guy is incredibly inspirational as he came from China just a few years ago, couldn't speak a lick of English, and is now going to teach English in Chicago's inner city. I'm not sure if that's right for me though. I'm a little bit limited in my options because I'm married (9 years yay!) and I also have a 5 year old daughter who just started school. I think Teach for America is an incredible program but I also think it's probably better suited to people who don't have the family commitments that I have.

I heard somewhere that doing private tutoring isn't really allowed in Hong Kong. Is that true?

I mean, ultimately our plan is for my husband to try to get a job and secure a visa to get us there. Then I would find employment as a supplemental salary to help out with education and/or housing costs. I have always been good with languages and have often looked at teaching ESL. The potential move to Hong Kong has been the impetus for me to look at grad programs. My work is willing to pay the cost of my schooling even though it has nothing to do with my job and have been extremely supportive. They also have some crazy benefits for my family (they pay for dental and health, 4 weeks vacay, 3 weeks sick) so there's reasons for me to not throw everything to the wind. The problem when it gets to teaching programs is that they would require a large amount of time out of the office which just isnt conducive to working full time. VA also doesnt make it easy. They've got really strict rules about who can be a teacher and what you have to have to be a teacher. The idea of teaching ESL at the adult level is incredibly appealing to me so I love the idea of pursuing this degree anyway. Im just not sure what it will do for me in Hong Kong.

[RiverMystic]

Some secondary schools in HK are direct subsidy schools, and are given quite a bit of money by the govt. Many hire an extra "NET", not under the official NET scheme, but a native speaker to take up a teaching job. Some of these people have no teaching quals; they are just living in HK. That would be your best bet. I doubt they'd hire you unless you cam to HK first. Your best bet would be to come here in hiring season, check out the classsifieds at www.scmp.com, and apply that way. The key is to distingush between the actual govt. NET scheme, and local hires - not always easy, as the ads don't always specify. No harm in sending the cv in though.

There are also quite a few part-time jobs in secondary schools - say 2-3 hours in one school in the afternoom. Some of these pay really well - say 500 HK an hour. They may involve travelling, though. If you could scrape 2 or three of those together... however you might need a working visa for those, or be a permanent resident.

[Travelista]

Well I commute about an hour now to get to work in DC so traveling around wouldnt be too bad as long as it wasnt something insane.

I assume that if my husband was here on a long term work visa that's not the same as being a permanent resident? Im sure that if we can make this happen we will fly out there at least once. I think my DH is going to fly out in the fall of 2010 just to check things out and see if we would like it.

Off topic: Are they as crazy about red heads there as they are on the mainland? My daughter has fiery auburn hair, blue eyes, and china doll skin. They FREAKED out over her when we were in mainland China. Im talking crowds of 40 people. Will we run into the same issues there?

[RiverMystic]

No. Some people will stare at her, but HK people are very standoffish in public - although they will sometimes let their guard down for babies. There seems to be a great invisible wall betwen strangers in public places, which almost never comes down. HK is surprisingly, some find shockingly, different from the mainland. I suffered more culture shock in HK than the mainland.

[Travelista]

Well as long as she doesnt have to deal with the throngs of photo takers lol. I think she was mildly traumatized by that. Sometimes it was fun but there were times when we couldnt even walk down the street without people following us. One time someone halfway gestured about taking her picture and be for I had a chance to do anything they had picked her up and gone off for a photo shoot. Uh yeah lol not so much fun.

Stuff like this was an hourly occurrence.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/josheli/2533841224/in/set-72157605245083479/

[RiverMystic]

Yes, I have seen it. They don't mean anything bad of it, but mainland Chinese people seem to have an incapacity for empathy - to see things from another's perspective. In public space an individual has no right to privacy. Of course the bigger cities are not so much of a problem. Chinese people love kids, and they love white kids even more - the whiter the better. Some foreign parents can't deal with it, and end up hating the place and the people. But don't worry about HK. It will be little more than an ice-breaker, and most people will be nice about it. How old is she now?

[Travelista]

Oh I know they were just being curious and they really were nice about it. But still 10 people very nicely waiting in line to take a picture with your daughter is still 10 people She was 4 at the time and she's about to be 6. We're a bit use to having people fawn over her just because she's got SO much red hair but China was like overload lol.