23rd August 2016
Many of you will be gearing up for the new academic year, or looking for your first English teaching job in Hong Kong. Aaron joined the CertTESOL at English for Asia course in 2016 after working extensively in various teaching contexts throughout the city. Here he gives us his honest insight into the ups and downs of working in the Hong Kong local school system as a NET teacher, and first-hand advice on finding your first teaching job in Hong Kong.
So you think you want to find a teaching job in Hong Kong...?
Since arriving in Hong Kong in 2009, I’ve often met people who are interested in working in Hong Kong’s local school system. I have worked in local HK kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools as a full time, part time, summer, and supply Native English teacher (NET), so when I talk to these individuals, I have a lot of Q&As I do with them. Quite often many teachers from outside of Hong Kong don’t know what to expect from local schools, and often find themselves unhappy with their experiences simply because they didn’t know how to set their expectations. So, to help teachers who are considering experiencing the challenging, but often rewarding experience of working in local schools in Hong Kong, I’ll share some of the things I wish I had known before working in local schools, and also provide some tips to help both manage expectations and make acclimating to a local school (hopefully) much easier for someone interested in a EFL job in Hong Kong.
What's the difference between Contract NET, Freelance NET and EDB NET teachers?
My first job in Hong Kong was as a Contract NET, and I worked in three different schools during my first academic year. In Hong Kong there are three primary ways to work in a local school. You can be a part of the government’s NET scheme, you can work as a Contract NET, or work as a Freelance NET. The Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) NET scheme is the closest thing to being employed in a stable, official position as a teacher in Hong Kong, and often provides the best overall benefits package compared to teaching in anything other than an international school. Contract NETs and Freelance NETs, on the other hand, are paid much lower salaries, have a much more ambiguous status as faculty, do not have guaranteed contract continuance from year to year, and don’t get benefits like paid summer holidays. Contract NETs are the most numerous NETs in Hong Kong’s local schools because schools often do not want to try to locate, interview, and sponsor a NET. Instead they pay a monthly fee to an education provider company for the services of a Contract NET. The company sponsors the NET takes a portion of that monthly fee, pays the salary of the Contract NET directly, and contracts can be lost at the end of academic years. Freelance NETs fill the same roles as Contract NETs, but do not have the education provider middle-man (so they get the full salary), and are most often people who have permanent residence in Hong Kong. When looking for work as a NET in Hong Kong, a vast majority of postings for work in local schools are through education providers, or from schools looking for EDB NETs, which can make the experience as a teacher a bit more taxing for obvious reasons. While the EDB NET position may be the most inviting, it is the most difficult to get due to the very high standard of selection for prospective NETs. Without knowing these differentiations, many teachers often try to apply to positions that they aren’t qualified for, and end up feeling perplexed when they don’t receive responses.
For Hong Kong local schools, it can feel like there is a certain level of elitism when selecting teachers that can combine racial, academic, and experience biases which impact a teacher, even after being hired. British English speakers may tend to be given primacy in selection due to the history of Hong Kong, while “white faces” and female teachers also receive special treatment. What level of degree, TEFL/TESOL certification, and teaching experience you have are often secondary considerations to the first ones. If you happen to have experience teaching in Hong Kong, but it is for tutorial centers, that experience is often dismissed as irrelevant because it isn’t in a formal school setting. However, if a teacher is hired in spite of not fitting the “ideal criteria”, but they dive into the job with a good attitude and drive, Hong Kong local teachers tend to put aside preconceptions and appreciate the NETs.
What choices do I have for teaching in Hong Kong: local schools versus other schools.
In Hong Kong, “local school” refers to schools that are fully or partially funded by taxpayers. These are very different from private and international schools in Hong Kong, especially in their overall student body performance and teacher requirements. Local schools, can be high pressure, but aren’t as work-intensive as private or international schools most of the time. That said, local schools can be difficult to adapt to for new NETs because there isn’t a uniform standard of English for the staff, and oftentimes local schools’ English classes get taught, in part or full, in Cantonese by local teachers.
Do I need to speak Cantonese or Mandarin?
Before taking my first job as a teacher in local Hong Kong schools, I researched the laws, customs, and languages spoken in the former UK colony. I believed that English being an official language meant that Hong Kong’s standard of English would be high. I was very wrong. While the Hong Kong education system has mandatory English classes for students beginning at the K1 level (Pre-K or Pre-School), the average speaking, listening, and comprehension ability of a majority of Hong Kongers is quite low, which is often shocking to new NETs. This low English standard has affected Hong Kong negatively, including being a reported contributor to the diminishment of Hong Kong’s standing as a financial center. This has caused an excess of pressure on the local schools to try to show that their schools appear to have a better standard of English than exams seem to reveal, which often leads to NETs having a lot of extra duties or classes that they weren’t expecting when they signed on the dotted line.
While the above excerpts may have seemed a bit off-putting, please remember the meaning of the title of the section. I work in a local Hong Kong primary school in Shatin, NT, and I absolutely love my job. The staff and students at my school are some of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and my contract company has provided me with sponsorship and job opportunities throughout my time with them. So, if you’re still interested in working for in local Hong Kong school system, please keep reading for some tips to help you successfully manage your expectations and succeed in the job.
Tips to thrive as an English teacher in Hong Kong
Do your research. If you get an opportunity to work in a local school, research the school. Schools that don’t have English sections (not to be confused with “versions") on their websites often have a lower skill or emphasis in English, and may be challenging for newer teachers. Being able to identify key aspects of a school’s approach to teaching their students can be done by seeing what kinds of extracurricular activities (ECAs), awards, and special events are advertized. This is especially important for interview preparation. Being able to speak to specifics of a school’s programs or activities can help you land a job, while also giving the school an idea of the type of activities to assign to you.
Don’t oversell yourself. If you absolutely adore teaching poetry, by all means put that on your CV and talk about doing poetry as an ECA. However, if you only enjoy poetry, but haven’t enjoyed teaching it, you can put it under your “past experience” section but don’t call attention to it. Many teachers that I’ve known who have had miserable experiences in local schools made the error of giving the impression that they loved teaching all kinds of “extra English skill areas”, so they were given a multitude of ECAs or “extra lessons” that they despised. If you love to teach specific aspects of English, like drama or puppetry, emphasize those and minimize others. If the school specifically asks about something you do not like to teach, simply state you are experienced in it or willing to teach it, but you’re even better at the things you enjoy.
Learn this specific response. “I have a lot of ideas for things that I would love to teach the students this year, but what would you think would be the most helpful to the students?” I have taught as a NET in local secondary and primary schools over half of my time in Hong Kong, and the scariest question to be asked by an English Panel Head/Level Coordinator/Head of Department is, “So, what do you think you want to teach the students this year/term?” This question comes up quite often, no matter what school I’ve worked in. The reason I emphasize my response is because many Contract/Freelance NETs and even EDB NETs arrive in a school with many preconceived ideas of what and how they want to teach, which often doesn’t fit with the needs of the students or the school. Being willing to put what you teach at the needs of the school is key to having a rewarding experience because students have General English classes with local teachers, and benefit best if your lessons coincide with themes, grammar, etc… related to what they are learning. There is a place for teaching with your own methods and themes, and that is when doing ECA classes. However, in the unlikely event that the response is that you’re free to teach whatever you like, you’ll need to pay especially close attention to the final tip.
Follow the “acceptable” teaching style. Unless you’re coming from the Hong Kong PGDE program, you probably haven’t experienced a teaching style like that of local schools. Local Hong Kong schools follow a teacher-led, rote and repetition format for teaching. Class sizes average 35-40 students, lessons average around 45 minutes, rearranging classrooms is often frowned upon, work book or worksheet inclusion and completion is often mandatory, and speaking is minimized in favor of reading and writing. Quite often, the only times in which speaking is emphasized are during preparations for public exams or for when students must interview for primary or secondary school. Trying to teach “everyday English” during normal classes is often prohibited, and emphasis is placed on formulaic English for use during exams. This has been the number one complaint that I have heard from fellow NETs, with many NETs (including myself) butting heads with their Panel Heads. This kind of push-back from a NET, especially if a Contract or Freelance NET, is seen as insubordinate and often leads to complaints or dismissal. Pick your battles, pay attention to the “acceptable style” for the school, ask about what is allowable in the classroom, and save more engaging styles and themes for your ECA lessons. While it isn’t ideal, it’s the best way to both give the school what it thinks it wants, while giving the students what you know they need.
In a Nutshell
If you’ve made it this far, hopefully you’ve read this entire somewhat lengthy guide to teaching in a local Hong Kong school. However, if you feel you need a simple take-away, it’s simply this: Hong Kong isn’t as high in English as many people think, there’s a huge emphasis on exams and teaching in the “local style”, and oftentimes any forms of push-back is seen as defiance worthy of termination. However, working in a Hong Kong local school can be extremely rewarding and fulfilling so long as you simply ask the school what the school needs from you, ask before teaching something “different”, and pay attention to acceptable teaching methods. If you follow this guide, your experience as a teacher in a local school can be just as fulfilling as mine has been.