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TESOL/TEFL courses?

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  1. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by M Khan:
    It may be expensive compared to courses in other territories, but considering rental costs in central Hong Kong (not to mention salaries), 25k is probably not wildly unrealistic. I would agree with others, though, that if you can get on a recognised Cambridge CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL course in a less expensive city, then do so.

    Otherwise, for those already living in HK (and who haven't got the opportunity to spend a month studying in another country, for whatever reason), then I would say that the 25k course will more than pay for itself in the end. The assertion that pretty much any foreigner can walk into a teaching job in HK is, to put it mildly, lacking in a few critical details :

    Without a degree and at least a certificate-level ESL qualification, the majority of English teaching jobs will be closed to you. Very few (if any) schools will offer teaching positions to unqualified foreigners, regardless of their immigration status, so you can forget about regular school hours, regular teacher pay and regular school holidays.

    Without even a basic ESL qualification, you're going to left with kindergartens and training centres. There are some very decent examples of each, and they can offer good rates of pay, reasonable working hours, visa sponsorship and generous holidays. Plenty don't, however, and some are out-right scams. Again, the better ones will be looking for suitably qualified and experienced educators, and without a qualification, your choices of kindergartens and training centres will likely be limited to those that pay very little and require long hours with evening and weekend work.

    The Trinity CertTESOL course, coupled with a degree, should be enough to get you into a respectable teaching establishment, and may be enough to get you into the Government (primary) NET scheme. If you're looking to do English teaching only as an interim measure, then I guess a 25k course MAY be a bit steep. If, however, you're looking for an in-road into teaching, or if you're looking to make more of a career of ESL, or if you just want a fall-back qualification for whenever you find yourself in a new country or for when the economy takes another nose-dive, then even at 25k I'd be prepared to chalk up the course as an investment.

    All that having been said, IF your immigration status does not restrict your right to work, then there may be easier jobs to get than teaching. Given that this thread is over two years old, however, I suspect the OP has discovered all this already.
    OK buddy. A Cambridge CELTA costs about 900 quid in London (not a less expensive city by any means when you add it all up). A bit more if you do an International House one. 25K HKD by 'English for Asia', whoever that is, is a ripoff no matter how you slice it or dice it.

  2. #12

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    Thank you Mr. M.Khan for the explanation.

    I agree with M.Khan that once a person has landed in Hong Kong, the options of doing cheaper courses anywhere else are not really very helpful since there are many considerations involved. I also know during my past countries, it was lot more cheaper. In India the fees is USD 1200. But now it is meaningless for me.

    Could you kindly comment on me [indian] being not from an English speaking country, would it be possible to get a job of NET after doing TESOL? I am a science graduate from India but do not have any degree like B.Ed. Will it be going to be difficult or a bit easier after doing TESOL.

    Thanks in advance.


  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by thakur:
    Thank you Mr. M.Khan for the explanation.

    I agree with M.Khan that once a person has landed in Hong Kong, the options of doing cheaper courses anywhere else are not really very helpful since there are many considerations involved. I also know during my past countries, it was lot more cheaper. In India the fees is USD 1200. But now it is meaningless for me.

    Could you kindly comment on me [indian] being not from an English speaking country, would it be possible to get a job of NET after doing TESOL? I am a science graduate from India but do not have any degree like B.Ed. Will it be going to be difficult or a bit easier after doing TESOL.

    Thanks in advance.
    No offence but your level of English wouldn't be good enough to teach it as a language.

  4. #14

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    Hey thakur,
    I did the English for Asia TESOL in Sheung Wan, and yes it is expensive, but I would say it is definitely worth it over the online course. The course was invaluable to me both in developing and refining teaching strategies and also in actually learning how to explain these various grammatical rules that I grew up just knowing when to use without really knowing why. With that being said, your nationality will make it difficult finding a job teaching english in hong kong. Hong Kong is super racist when it comes to teaching, and a white canadian will not only get more jobs offers but will be paid more than a chinese or indian canadian, even if that person was born and raised in canada and speaks perfect english (just using canadian as an example). However there are many many many english teaching jobs, and what your accent is can affect your ability to get a position, it just won't be as easy as it is for a white person, brutal truth. All the best,

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  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by thakur:
    Could you kindly comment on me [indian] being not from an English speaking country, would it be possible to get a job of NET after doing TESOL? I am a science graduate from India but do not have any degree like B.Ed. Will it be going to be difficult or a bit easier after doing TESOL.
    N.A. has touched upon an important issue, and I cannot say to what extent it might apply to you. In general, however, I understand that your options for teaching in Hong Kong are likely to be more limited if you don't fit the 'profile' of what schools/parents/students expect of a native English teacher. That said, I do know of two CertTESOL-qualified English teachers from that part of the world who are working in Hong Kong at the moment, so it's by no means a closed book.

    Fiona's assertion that "your level of English wouldn't be good enough to teach it as a language" may or may not be correct. This is quite an important consideration. There are plenty of people from India who speak excellent English and, despite the occasional grammatical or lexical variation from the 'standard' expected in HK schools, are quite capable of teaching the subject.

    There are many variations of English that are all perfectly valid, including Caribbean English, Australian English, American, British, Singaporean etc. etc. - and all the subsets thereof. Whilst North American and British (RP) tend to be the favoured models, there is nothing to say that a native speaker of those forms of English has the necessary accuracy or language awareness required to teach the subject. Likewise, there is nothing to say that a speaker of another variation of English, with a high degree of language awareness, appropriate teacher training and proper lesson preparation, could not teach the subject.

    It is not uncommon to see Canadians teaching RP, or Brits teaching north American English. They don't need to change their accents when they speak to their students, or do anything at all unnatural, but merely be aware of the grammatical, lexical and phonological variance when they plan and deliver their lessons. Indeed, there is a fairly popular school of thought which suggests that exposure to English in a range of accents (naturally modelled) is beneficial to the development of listening skills.

    If you are concerned that your English may not be good enough to teach, then it couldn't hurt to have a go at the pre-selection tasks for prospective ESL teachers. Every Cambridge CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL course provider will screen candidates prior to selection, and will be able to tell you whether your English is sufficient for the course. These assessments tend to be straight forward but fairly rigorous as they clearly want to ensure that their candidates stand a decent chance of passing the course.

    If near-flawless English were a prerequisite for becoming an English teacher, then a fair few native speakers I've come across shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near a classroom...
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  6. #16

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    .....
    If you are concerned that your English may not be good enough to teach, then it couldn't hurt to have a go at the pre-selection tasks for prospective ESL teachers. Every Cambridge CELTA and Trinity CertTESOL course provider will screen candidates prior to selection, and will be able to tell you whether your English is sufficient for the course. These assessments tend to be straight forward but fairly rigorous as they clearly want to ensure that their candidates stand a decent chance of passing the course.

    If near-flawless English were a prerequisite for becoming an English teacher, then a fair few native speakers I've come across shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near a classroom...[/QUOTE]

    Thank you so much.

    Could you kindly elaborate the funda of screening of candidates for their level of english? Is it done by the concerned institute before payment being made or after the payment?

  7. #17

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    -

    Quote Originally Posted by thakur:

    Could you kindly elaborate the funda of screening of candidates for their level of english? Is it done by the concerned institute before payment being made or after the payment?
    It will be before payment by the training provider you apply to. There's usually a written application form that you complete with normal background stuff. Some schools will give you some language tasks to do at this stage, others only give you the tasks if they decide to invite you to interview. The tasks compose of things like identifying the different parts of speech in a sentence, identifying mistakes in a sentence and explaining why it is a mistake and how you would explain it to a student, marking word stress, maybe phonetic scripts...

    Then if you have an interview, they generally use these language tasks as a basis for it and get you to expand on them. The tasks and interview are sufficient for a trainer to figure out whether you have the necessary level of language and language awareness to cope with the course and teach effectively after it.

    That said, most providers are private businesses that make their money from course fees. If there are more places available than there are 'perfect' candidates, less than perfect candidates may well be offered a place.
    thakur likes this.

  8. #18

    I am a native English speaker living in HK and I wondered if anyone has tried the British Council TESOL courses. I want to be able to tutor/teach English privately. In an old thread on this subject it is claimed that there are such courses but they are expensive. Any comments please or advice of other roads into this area.
    Thanks Rosemary


  9. #19

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    rosemaryg

    You don't really need a qualification to teach privately, although having one might give you more confidence and boost your earning power. Look at Cambridge ESOL for some of the teaching qualifications you can get, although not all are available through the British Council. Note also that you need the correct visa to teach privately in Hong Kong, although some do teach (illegally) on tourists visas.