[matanica66]

Hi there.

My wife and I are moving to HK in mid-Feb 2006. I'm planning to teach English. I'm Australian and have a Bachelors Degree in humanities. I am also a native speaker of English and have been working in the UK for two years.

I have read through a lot of the useful information that people have put on this site. I have three questions:

What is an appropriate TEFL (two day, two day + 60 hr or two day + 120 hr) for teaching primary school or kindergarten?

Is it easy to line up work (and visa) before I arrive? It would be great to hear from people who have managed to do this, and the major strategies here.

How long would it take - roughly - to find work (assuming I did not line something up before I came)?

Any comments would be great.

Cheers.

Mat.

[matanica66]

Would this be a realist option?

Cheers.

Mat

[alexis]

Matt

If you go onto the South China Morning Post website and look through the classifieds for jobs in teaching, you will soon learn what you need re qualifications.

If you have limited or no teaching experience, a CELTA course (120 hour) is usually preferred - especially for the better paying jobs.

[Raiqi]

re teaching qualifications

Depends on what you want to do. If you are happy to start off piecemeal than you only need a TEFL of some sort (mine was a ten hour course 8 years ago...) Experience helps and an idea of the age range you are looking at. There are a multitude of different programs etc, if you are interested in more info, tell me what you want to know and I will try and pass on my experiences.

[jimbo]

Mat

I'm doing an online TEFL and just about to start the final module, Its a good place to start and then see how you get on.

as regards to securing a job offer and gaining a permit before you go its just not realistically possible, Language schools etc won't consider you until you actually have a tefl/celta qualification and also they won't hire you until you're physically in HK, And not forgetting the 4-6 week waiting for your work permit to come through.

Raiqi

Whats piecemeal in your view? I haven't even qualified yet and have no prior teaching experience and am getting offers of $250 an hr upwards which is not bad at all, Beats being stuck in an office doing long hours by a long shot.

In the longer term I want to do Business Language teaching, thats where the big bucks are.

[Raiqi]

Piecemeal is what I am doing at the moment, doing several differrent jobs for one language institute. I go out to different schools all over HK and teach to them, various age levels and abilities. The reason its called piecemeal is that it is not like a NET job where you have a regular schedule and set hours, come days I do 3 1/2 hours, others I do 5 or 6. It suits my schedule because usually have two days off in the week. The pay ranges from 150 - 300 dollars an hour between institutes. Usually though you need to have a TEFL of some sort and a degree. Exxperience helps too, though some places are better at supporting than others.

[matanica66]

Thanks Raiqi, Jimbo and Alexis for your comments and helpful advice.

Raiqi - the piecemeal sounds very interesting. Do you know of any reputable agencies to go through here, who may sponsor me? I currently do not have an employment visa.

I'm keen to teach either business English or younger children. Really my heart is set-on teaching younger kids, but it sounds like teaching business English pays well.

Cheers.

Mat.

[jimbo]

theres one agency that does have a bad reputation of not paying there teachers so be careful. I'm not sure if other tefl teachers have come across this one, If you have then I guess you know which one I'm on about.