Korean Job Discussion Forums

SojuQueen · Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Location: Land of the cold winters

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 · Joined: 19 Feb 2008

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 · Joined: 14 Apr 2009

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

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

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 · Joined: 29 Dec 2010 Location: Land of the cold winters

Thank you for all of the information Missty Smile

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 Smile

earthquakez · Joined: 10 Nov 2010

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

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 · Joined: 12 Oct 2011

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.