Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SojuQueen]

Has anyone taught or is currently teaching in Hong Kong?

I am about going to finish my contract in a short time and I am looking at options of going to other countries to teach. Can someone give me some information on teaching in H.K.?

What is the recruiting process?

How much is the pay per month?

Is housing included? if not, then will the school help you to find it?

What is the work environment like there? do you get a co-teacher?

Can you give extra lessons?

Thanks

[missty]

I taught there about 4 years ago, so things might have changed a bit since then. But I can give you some information.

I guess you're looking for public school work? If so, then I didn't work as a NET, but had a good friend who did. The pay was very good, about 21,000 HKD base, with extra benefits for housing allowance (with the NET scheme they paid housing but gave you little to no help looking for a place, with the private schools they normally provide housing, - they did for me anyway) and settling in loans etc... You can live very nicely off that, and that was just the base pay. As for teaching, I have very little idea about that for NET's, but it seemed like its a co-teaching environment with 40 students in the class.

If you want to apply for the NET scheme you need to hand in all your documents by January (not too sure of the exact dates) for the August intake. They ONLY intake in August, (or at least they did when I last looked into it.)

As for me I worked in a private school. It was poor pay, (about 17,000 with 5,000 HKD housing taken out) and run by a witch of a manager. We worked Saturdays, had about 7 days off a year, but class sizes were small. This is common for private schools in HK, and as a newbie I wasn't too fussed.

I think, but am not too sure, that privates are ok. I never did them, and only once through my school, but I remember people doing them outside of work. Whether or not this was legal, I have no idea.

If you have any other questions then I can try my best to answer them, but as I've said, 4 years are a long time and things may have changed.

Oh, and the website for teaching in primary/secondary schools in HK is:

http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=262

You might be able to get some info from that site. From what I recall they were TERRIBLE at answering emails, (as in, they never did) so contacting them may be hard.

[shostahoosier]

You might have better luck in the International Forum with this question.

[ttompatz]

If you have a B.Ed and home country certification as a teacher or a PCGE and QTS then there are decent opportunities in HK and Taiwan.

If you don't, then language schools there are worse than here in terms of salary, savings, holidays and work hours.

As an E2 qualified ESL teacher you can do the same (as HK) in terms of pay and benefits with better holidays and lower costs of living in Thailand or even at a buxiban in Taiwan.

If you are up to a bit of a challenge, you can do pretty well in Vietnam as well (salaries for those with a degree and a TEFL cert in the $2000 range).

.

[SojuQueen]

Thank you for all of the information Missty

It looks like the best jobs are public school jobs, but they require certification, which I do not have. And I do NOT want to end up at the mercy of some 'academy' again. Well, but at least its something to consider in the future.


Thank you all

[earthquakez]

[ttompatz]

[Hotpants]

For the government NET packages, there are usually a shortage of applicants each year (at least there were - haven't looked what's going on there for a couple of years) and you can get in fairly easily as a PNET (primary/elementary) without a teaching cert if you have some previous teaching experience with ele kids. The downside with the NET scheme is that you need to interview in person, and no interview venues in Korea, and visa processing can be pretty lengthy, so you need to plan up to a year in advance to get in. The first salary payment with NET is notorious for getting delayed, so you also need a lot of your own cash up front just to get you started. However, once in, the going is often pretty good provided you are in an area with affordable housing.

Overall, best to post on HK forum - lots of similar posts on there.

[Econo]

Hotpants, your info may indeed be out of date in regards to qualifications. Two of my friends are working in the NET scheme, and were hired in 2010/2011. QTS/home country certification AND a TESOL/TEFL/CELTA are required for the primary school jobs(unless hired outside of the NET scheme). As for secondary, you need QTS and at least a graduate diploma(not certificate) in TESOL/TEFL.

Like Korea, they too have had a flood of applicants from the States and Britain, according to some of the fellow NETS in the surrounding schools. As for pay, it is good and the holidays are better BUT the other problems people have with EPIK are replicated to a degree in HK.

[Hotpants]

I literally hadn't checked the HK Edu Bureau site for 2 years, but I just checked now, and the same clause about non-certified teachers still applies:

[Scott in Incheon]

The NET program used to offer an advance on your salary. When I started, they would advance you 50K HK when you arrived. Is this gone now?

It does cost a lot to start. But for those who are thinking and are worried about start up costs, you should look into getting a serviced apartment for at first.

[outkast_3000]

I jumped ship from a Foreign Language High School gig with GEPIK to the NET Scheme in Hong Kong a few months ago. I began my application process in January. You can go through recruiters, but setting up interviews becomes difficult since they tend to only conduct interviews in the country the recruiting company is located in. For example, Footprints Recruiting only conducts interviews in Canada (unless I have them confused with another company, but anyhow...). If you intend on moving to HK directly from Korea, your best shot is to just apply directly to the EDB. Just fax in all your documents (check out the EDB webpage on the NET Scheme for what you need). E-mail them and get on their case about setting up an interview. You will have to interview in Hong Kong. There is no way around this unless you're in the UK, or Canada or the United States and interview through the relevant recruiting agencies. In my own case, they were fairly accommodating as I told them I'd be in HK for winter holiday at the end of February, and they penciled me in accordingly.

A B.Ed + teaching license or certificate from your home country or PGCE/PGDE will open up your chances of getting into the NET Scheme greatly. I've yet to meet someone without the above qualifications personally, although I've heard there are some people working under the NET Scheme with TESOL/TEFL cert + B.A. My personal feeling is that it's far more competitive than EPIK/GEPIK/SMOE and even Gangnam...granted I've nothing to substantiate the claim.

As for money, you get paid according to the Master Pay Scale, which is the pay scale used for all public sector employees. You start in at Point 15. If you have B.Ed + valid teaching license/certification, you get an automatic two points that puts you at Point 17. Then, each year of verified teaching experience nets you an additional point. i.e. 3 years of experience would put you at point 20. Here's a link to the master pay scale: http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/admin/pay/42.html

In addition to your salary, you get an additional $16,859 HKD per month as a Special Allowance. It is assumed that this will be used towards your housing. If your housing comes in cheaper, you simply pocket the difference. So I'm slumming it at $5,500 per month, and the remaining balance I hold onto for whatever I want to do with it. It's the special allowance that makes the NET Scheme potentially lucrative, depending on your personal circumstances. Basically, if you have zero years of experience, but have relevant certifications/qualifications, you'd be at point 17, which is $24,540. Add the Special Allowance and that gets you $41,399HKD. This is roughly 6 million Korean Won. This could either be a TON of money or next to nothing depending on your lifestyle. HK is expensive - primarily on the housing. My puny $5,500 rent is actually nearly 800,000KRW per month - but that's considered low here in Hong Kong. What does 800,000KRW get you? Well, around 150 square feet. My place is TINY. You can live in something substantially larger - up into the 400-500 square feet range, but that'll cost 9,000-11,000 HKD depending on the area.

If you don't mind Cantonese food, or don't mind eating McDonald's frequently, eating can be cheap. However, canto food is more difficult to stomach than Korean food for many of the ex-pats I've met here, so you'll probably be eating quite a bit at Western restaurants, which like in Korea, will cost you.

Actually, I could have saved myself a whole lot of time by simply typing in this link: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/NET_Teacher_Survival_Guide

That probably covers everything a lot better than I could ever hope to accomplish in this post.

I'll say one last thing...for MANY NETS in the program here, not all, they're treated with far greater respect than as an assistant foreign language teacher in EPIK or GEPIK or what have you. You're seen as much more of an equal in the staff room, although students can still have a difficult time affording you the same level of respect. Once again, I can't speak for all, and there are certainly horror stories out here. As is always the case, depends on the principal and your colleagues. You do NOT team teach here and you're left pretty much to your own devices. After Korea, things will seem much more "normal" here - and it's vague and it's tough for me to explain, but several people in the NET scheme here who have had experience teaching in Korea have noted the same thing.

That's not to say HK is THE place to be...I miss Korea dearly and actually prefer living there than here. In any case...I'm rambling.

Recruitment is beginning NOW. If you're interested, get on it.

http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=1301&langno=1

Good luck.

[Armin_Tamzarian]

I'm currently working in Hong Kong after doing two years in Korea. I'm with a private company and not with the public system. Paywise I get more here than in Korea with a lower taxrate as well. However, that gain is pretty much eaten away with rent. Rent is your biggest expense and trying to get a cheaper place will be the biggest challenge of living here (that I've found). You'll have to eat out as space is a premium and you may get an apartment (the term shoebox apartment is appropriate in HK) that doesn't have a kitchen.

I'm with EF which is a huge company globally (but especially in China). They just expanded and business seems to be going well for EFL here. With the influx of mainlanders to HK the demand for EFL has increased so while I don't think there will be a boom for EFL in HK specifically, there will probably be some spillover from the boom in China. Also there's a market for private tutoring that you can get into and potentially earn extra money.

Organizationally it's much better here I find than at the hagwon I worked at. I have both western and HK bosses and everyone here is much more professional. Your roles are clearly spelled out and nothing is thrusted on you at the last minute. I teach usually three classes per day (one hour each) with about five hours of prep time plus we do offsite activities. Definitely lower stress than the hagwon.

[SojuQueen]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

HK sounds like a fun place to live and good place to work, but expensive to live in. But then again it's no surprise since it's HK.

Armin_Tamzarian: I am in a similar situation, I am coming into my second year in Korea. I am currently living in a really nice city and have good connections that will secure me good jobs in the future, but I really want a change, mostly from the culture.

I will be visiting HK in January so I will make my final decision then.