Needing help with HK salary!!

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  1. #31

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    Sure, the main reason if solely for travel, if I was wanting to further my career I would stay within Australia. I am now looking into obtaining the Working Holiday Visa, it is probably the safest way and I will be looking into teaching English on my weekend!

    Does anyone know if it is possible to teach private English lessons? If so are there special cafe's for this?

    Last edited by Minet; 21-12-2009 at 09:45 AM.

  2. #32

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    Yes. And No.


  3. #33

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    You can try private language centres which would hire part time help. You can also advertise yourself on boards and local papers as a tutor which is very popular and contact international schools to get put on their lists of available tutors.

    Qualified teachers can make around 500HK/hour for tutoring in international schools and they virtually never report that income so it's a little tax free bonus for them. You could charge 300/hour and once your stable increases, raise your rate. I know several people who made a good living by just tutoring.


  4. #34

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    i privately tutored for almost 10 years and made a fair amount of money. problem is: most parents want long term residents, no sick pay (if child is sick or if you are), no holiday pay etc....

    but, if you are just doing it for short term, you should be able to find students. if you are good, then you only need one or two students to start as they start recommending you to their friends & family and the number of hours increases quickly. up until early 2008, i charged minimum $400/hour.


  5. #35

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    Same situation with The Strife - she teaches Mandarin; mostly Indian clients which has been word of mouth recommendation. Earns a fair wedge cos she's f'good at it, but but absolutely no security, clients cancel at last minute, new clients want one t' one teaching not in small groups etc. Very demanding of time.

    Last edited by Load Toad; 21-12-2009 at 11:39 AM.

  6. #36

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    the other problem for english teaching is that it is mostly parents wanting it for their kids. when the gov't decided to phase out half-day schools, it made scheduling private lessons much more difficult and my income took a huge hit.

    it used to be that you could get 2-3 hrs in the morning, then have a long lunch and start again at 1pm-ish and finish as late as you wanted. there were some days i had 9 teaching hours per day.

    when the gov't changed the policy, then it became MUCH more difficult to get those kind of hours. now, the peak time is 4-8ish. although, my aunt still teaches privately and she has a few lessons starting as early as 7am and some nights doesn't finish until after 10pm. this doesn't happen every day, and she still has huge gaps in the day with no lessons.


  7. #37

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    Carang, do you work on the weekends? Is it normal for students to seek English lessons on the weekends rather than weekdays?


  8. #38

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    If it's anything like The Strifes customers it is up to 9 at night and all weekend (if she agreed to it). Certainly most of Satdee.


  9. #39

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    weekends were the busiest times. however, honestly, it didn't make for a pleasant week. there was no time for me to wind down. i couldn't go out on friday or saturday night because i was always working the next day. it was a fair amount of $ (if you can get 8 hours in, that's $3200/day!!!) and i just couldn't bring myself to cancel those days unless i was REALLY sick.


  10. #40

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    ps> i no longer teach privately. i set up my own playgroup centre instead. again, weekends are the busiest times.