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Advice on Course of Action to a Teaching Career in HK.

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  1. #1

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    Exclamation Advice on Course of Action to a Teaching Career in HK.

    There are many members that have a lot of knowledge and experience on teaching in Hong Kong.

    I am seriously considering a career change to teaching. To keep it brief, here are some relevant facts:
    1) I am currently unemployed but I have a dependent visa.
    2) I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
    3) I do not have any classroom teaching experience.
    4) I would be interested in teaching any grade (i.e. kindergarten to secondary) as well as college/university for subjects like accounting economics.
    5) I may not be a fresh graduate but I am still very young at heart and energetic.
    6) I have tremendous patience that has been well tested by my two daughters (8 and 10).
    7) I would prefer to keep to weekday (day) hours so that I do not miss out on family time (the kids grow up so fast and I do not want to miss out on that).
    8) Please let me know if any other information is relevant.

    Unfortunately the application deadline has already passed for the HKU PGDE 2011/12 program. Are there any similar alternatives or any other education programs that can help me get my foot in the door? Any advice would be appreciated!

    Thanks.


  2. #2

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    I'd keep a look out for Teacher/ Educational Assistant jobs in places like SCMP and jobsdb.

    Probably some kindergartens would accept you as a class teacher, but as relating to a large group of youngsters (many of whom might have no English) and imparting information/ implementing a curriculum are such totally different skills from those required in raising one's own children it is absolutely not a pool I would want to jump in without previously having learned to swim! You also need to consider that in school teaching the prep and or marking time is a big commitment that will eat into out of working hours and holiday time.

    I would not recommend language centre work - apart from anything else, if they advertise for "part time" you can just about guarantee it will be weekend work.

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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by chingleutsch:
    ... You also need to consider that in school teaching the prep and or marking time is a big commitment that will eat into out of working hours and holiday time.

    I would not recommend language centre work - apart from anything else, if they advertise for "part time" you can just about guarantee it will be weekend work.
    Chingleutsch, thanks for the tips! I hear what you are saying when dealing with large groups of young children and that it is not quite the same as just taking care of your one or two. I have often been involved with large groups of children and have an idea of the challenges that it can present but I guess with more experience, you become better at handling them.

    I accept that there will be tasks that will eat into 'family time'. My only issue with raising the family time matter was in the case of the learning centres that would only want you to work after school and weekends. I can handle 'some' time, just not 'all' the time.

    Keep the advice coming. Thanks!

  4. #4

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    Hi,

    Where are you in HK?

    Maybe I can help.

    PM me your mobile number (and real name, I don't want to call you Rayzilla!), I'll call you this evening.

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  5. #5

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    There's no doubt that you need to go back to school in one way or another if you want a decent job. You could look into online teaching certification program or if you think you would prefer college/university work then you need to look into doing graduate school which would take longer than a teaching certificate. In the meantime, you could try doing substitute teaching, there may be some schools that would accept you particularly if you enroll in a program, that could lead to long term sub positions and it would also give you opportunities where you could do your practicum.

    You could also look into tutoring centres and submit your name to some of the schools as a possible tutor. Once again, if you do some subbing, you'll likely improve your tutoring opportunities...

    Having a degree, you might get a NET job but you'd get the leftover positions that they haven't been able to fill with people with certification so it could be more challenging.

    Your timing is a bit poor since university admissions are usually in the spring but you might be lucky and find schools that have winter admission if you look into it...

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  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by bryant.english:
    Hi,

    Where are you in HK?

    Maybe I can help.

    PM me your mobile number (and real name, I don't want to call you Rayzilla!), I'll call you this evening.
    I'm in HK Island in the North Point region.

    Rayzilla was a nick name given to me by one of my friends that I used to play hockey with back in Canada. I'm a goalie so we are usually given funny/interesting nick names. I think another name given was "The Great Wall". (this is the hockey player smile).

    I just sent you a PM.

    Thanks!

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by gilleshk:
    There's no doubt that you need to go back to school in one way or another if you want a decent job.

    ...In the meantime, you could try doing substitute teaching, there may be some schools that would accept you particularly if you enroll in a program, that could lead to long term sub positions and it would also give you opportunities where you could do your practicum....

    ...Having a degree, you might get a NET job but you'd get the leftover positions that they haven't been able to fill with people with certification so it could be more challenging...
    Funny that you mentioned about having to go back to school. After working in the real world for the last many years, I thought that there was no way that I would consider going back to school again. And then when I thought about going into teaching, I thought to myself, I would kind of look forward to going back to school again so that I could do something that I really want to do for the rest of my life. Just another one of those "you never know..."

    What does one need to do about substitute teaching? How do you get the "call-up"?

    I don't mind 'left-over' spots at this time. I just want to get some classroom teaching experience. I have a very positive out-take on things so what others usually complain about, I often have no problems or even think of the positive about the situation. This has happened on many occasions in my previous work environment. I tend to make the most and try to appreciate anything that is going well around me.

    Thanks!

  8. #8

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    Best thing to do for subbing is contact each schools directly and try to make an appointment with the headmaster/principal or you can also try to do it on the phone though in my experience, there's nothing like meeting face to face. Bring/send your resume, explain your case and go from there... ESF is supposed to only take registered teachers but others can be more flexible, they'll tell you what their policies are. Depending on the situation, you get calls the day before or around 6-6:30 in the morning and off you go...

    If you look around, you can get TEFL certification fairly quickly( one month intensive study) which would qualify you for a proper NET position. Check this site for more details about the government NET scheme...

    I think teaching is a great job particularly in HK but it's not for everyone. Consider that drop out rates in the US are very high. 1/3 of new teachers are gone within three years and it goes to 50% in inner city schools. The UK also has similar problems... Personally, it took me a few years of in and out to make a decision to stick with it and I still bailed out and retired early even though I like teaching. It's not a bad idea to give it a go with limited investments both in time and money to get a better feel and really see if that's what you want to do for the rest of your life.

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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by gilleshk:
    It's not a bad idea to give it a go with limited investments both in time and money to get a better feel and really see if that's what you want to do for the rest of your life.
    Yes a lot of people don't realise it's hard work! I still get people saying, 'Oh, you only have 4 hours contact time? It's like a part time job really isn't it! '!

  10. #10

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    There are many issues that make the teaching profession more challenging. First, it's quite obvious that many that go into into teaching are not from the best and the brightest and some treat it like a part time job. When reality sets in, it's not surprising that many choose to leave quickly. Then you have the parents that often have little respect either form the perception that there are too many of that fit the bill I earlier described and/or because they have a chip on their shoulder or they think that because they make more money or that because they are lawyers, doctors, business people, they know better. I've seen more than a few of those in HK and on this board. Young teachers that lack confidence are often easy targets for what I call the parent/bully syndrome and even administrators often find it easier to push teachers around than to stand up to those parents.

    One thing to always remember is that for many parents, their kid is the number one priority and it often doesn't matter to them if it's at the expense of others. The balancing act is to try to make everyone believe that each child is your own special priority while maintaining a fair and equitable environment to all.

    Unfortunately, the reality is often that 80% of your time is spent dealing with 20% of the children... I often struggled with that concept, on one hand, the children that needs more help will probably reap greater benefit from it however it's not fair that some kids get less attention because of that.

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