Job Discussion Forums

[Mister Ed]

I'm a teacher in one of Australia's more "exclusive" [read keep out the poor people] private schools. While this has its advantages in terms of the quality of lots of things associated with the job, eg, academically inclined students, lots of bennies, I'm a bit tired of the "born to rule" mentality that goes with the place, AND the fact they think they own my weekends and evenings. Actually they do own them. A few years back I spent a year as a "volunteer" in Guangxi, China and had a great experience working with honest, friendly, enthusiastic students, but I'm not going back to Spartan conditions and a shoe-string budget.
Looking at HK Govt. websites, I know I meet the NET qualifications, and should be OK on experience, but also that times are tough and a job may be hard to find.

My question is: If I applied and was accepted as a NET, would I be able to escape from the situation I outlined above, and make a decent living? Quoting salaries isn't much help. Isn't the cost of living outrageous?

Hoping you can help.

[wanderlust1066]

[Mister Ed]

Thanks for the quick reply and financial info. I know the competition is super tough. I can't say I place a lot of faith in information about living costs on a government website - I'd rather hear it from real people.It's more the "property of the school" thing I'm keen to escape. Re cretins on the mainland; I taught with two other volunteers in China, one a vastly experienced retired High School department head from Rhode Island, the other a Japanese Uni. graduate in her first job: both highly professional, excellent teachers, and I hope lifelong friends. I'm not sure what your comments are based on.

[Wolf]

[Freaky Deaky]

[Roger]

The first poster gratefully answered for the reply he got from a genuine and honest cretin, and a racist one at that! But should we be surprised at his/her intellectual effluents, knowing as we do that he is an impostor, a fraud, a liar?

My answer is: Students in HK are much the same as students in the rest of what 'wanderlust' qualifies as a "third-world country". hThey are Chinese. A major difference might be that they hail from a much more expensive place, and are much more spoilt than those in Guangxi. I am not saying you will inevitably feel they are trying to lord it over you - but lots of them do, and many are boorish brats that may even resort to using violence in class!

Is HK a better place than AUS?
To begin with, you are comparing apples and pineapples. You can compare HK to Melbourne or Sidney, but not to AUS. You will soon find out what I mean if you come to HK - it's crowded like any Chinese city, its hinterland extends no more than 20-odd kilometers, and you are rarely far from "civilisation".
"Civilisation" is heavily-built up, concreted-over urban jungle. In difference to mainland cities, you have better religious services, more choices, more international goods in shopping malls - if that's what you want or need, although it's not that much better than in Shanghai or Peking. In addition, things have astronomical prices, especially good things, wine for example is 70% more expensive than in nearby Macau due to taxes. Rents are not cheap either, and as a NET you will have to factor in heavy commuting costs and travelling time!
I must also say pollution in HK is a permanent issue - exhaust gas-filled air anwhere you might be walking; seawater so bad you can't swim on otherwise lovely beaches (people still do, though), and a taxing humid and hot summer!
If you want to enjoy a relaxing time away from HK, it's not without major hassles - buying plane tickets weeks or months ahead, or applying for a mainland tourist visa so you can see more historically and scenically interesting places in the vast hinterland adjoining HK.
To me, every time I visit HK I have a feeling of claustrophobia!
In other words - HK is a city, and as cities go it attracts more than its fair share of lunatics and psychos - choose the one in this thread that suits this description!

[Mister Ed]

Thanks Roger,
I've spent a bit of time and money in HK , a few years ago when on RnR from Guangxi. Enough to realise you'd need a fairly decent salary to lead a comfortable lifestyle. We have quite a few Chinese - both mainland and HK - students at my school. There was a big influx from HK in '97, when businessmen sent their families, with their bought passports and a few suitcases of money down under. The mainland kids seem to be from very wealthy faMILIES TOO [THEY WOULDN'T GET INTO THIS SCHOOL OTHERWISE]. tHEY'RE NOT BAD KIDS; SPOILED, BUT NOT ON THEIR OWN THERE! Sorry about the caps. What surprises me is that the HK kids' English is really no better than the mainlanders, which ranges from quite adequate to very weak. I'd have thought the standard of education in HK would be much higher. The majority of people I came across there seemed to speak English to at least some extent.
Hope I'm not stepping on any toes here.

[dandan]

Haven't been on for some time but I'm glad to see the forum's maintaining it's usual standards of hilarity and all the usual suspects are still here. Don't expect this forum to give you much idea about reality in HK (or China) Mr Ed!

I've worked in HK for many years and have visited China many times and I don't see any need to be down on people working in China. I'm sure there are some great foreign teachers working in China and a fair percentage of morons, much the same as in Hong Kong really. I've certainly met some excellent local teachers in/from China. I can only assume that Wanderlust has worked in China (otherwise why would he feel so strongly about it?) so if everyone who works in China is a cretin, what does that make you, Wanderlust?

That said, Roger and Freaky Deaky are the other side of the same coin really. I'm sorry if you had a bad experience in HK but like Wanderlust with China you need to get over it. Suggesting that all students in HK are super-rich spoilt brats, lazy, arrogant, unmotivated etc. etc. is ridiculous. There is a sizeable working class in HK as there is anywhere in the world (how else would any work get done?). If you work in Local Primary or Secondary Schools in HK you will meet a range of kids from different backgrounds and with different personalities as you would anywhere in the world. If nothing else, depending on the school you work in, you may well find that a significant proportion of your students are newly arrived immigrants from China.

In terms of expenses, basically there's a lot of choice in HK. If you want to eat in expensive restaurants, rent an expensive flat etc. you certainly can, but it's not compulsory. Personally, coming from the UK, I find that living expenses are generally less here than in the UK for everything except rent and beer (and if you compare HK to London even the rents are not that much different now). It just depends what constitutes a 'comfortable lifestyle' for you personally. Starting salaries for NETS on the govt. scheme are at least 3-4 times the average HK salary, so you can certainly live very comfortably by local standards.

[Mister Ed]

Thanks for all the helpful advice everyone. I'm still in the dark as to the NET/school relationship. To whaT EXTENT DO THEY OWN YOUR LIFE, LIKE MY CURRENT EMPLOYER? aLSO, ONE REGULAR [fREDDIE?], REFERRED TO SCHOOL AS "THE ZOO" . Sorry, gotta watch that caps lock. Is that a general feeling, or just a sardonic teacher comment, like "the little darlings"? I would actually like to enjoy my work, as I did on the mainland 5 years back.

[Scott in HK]

the biggest problem with the NET program is that it is a crapshoot...once the e.d. says you can be a teacher, you are given over to the control of your principal...they decided how much you work...your holidays or lack thereof....

what you have to do is apply...get put on the list and then if a school contacts you, you have to deal...before you sign your contract....find out the banding of the school...english or chinese medium...your contract hours...what they want you to teach...are you going to teach saturdays...when can you leave the school at the end of the day...how many of the 90 holidays are you going to see....how many meetings the school has and will you have to attent...

a friend of mine had an 11 hour meeting all in cantonese...the school wanted all of her small holidays and half off her summer...she had to stay until 5:30 each day...and worked every other saturday...band 2 school...and was constantly pushed to do more and more...but her teaching was rewarding...

i go home around 4...get all my holidays..work in a low band three school and little or no pressure on me...although i do have to attend meetings..i get a lot of reading done...my teaching is not rewarding

you can't ask what teaching in the NET program is like...each teacher's experience is different...you have to decide what you will accept from a school and then try to make a deal....if you get offered a job...

[Mister Ed]

Thanks to everyone for the input. Ava's post is a real eye-opener. Personally I think life's too short to take on a boring job for any length of time, no matter how good the money. Any more enthusiastic reports on the job itself?

[kitty]

i quit the NET scheme, too and for the same reasons posted as Ava. Couldn't handle the boredom. I asked and asked and asked for more work and lessons, but they wouldnt give them to me (if you can believe that!) I had eight 30 minute lessons a week. spent the rest of the time creating an english rich environment and laminating everything i could find. Spoke to the ATT's , had them in to see if they could negotiate more teaching time and more things for me to do - the ATT's suggestions, like mine, fell on deaf ears. Nearly went insane because i was so bored. Was a level 3 teacher in Aus, what a change to go from being flat out to being brain dead bored. Luckily i got another job an international school and am now off the valium! !!