Teaching English

Working Wednesdays: Teaching English in Yuen Long, Hong Kong

Posted on May 1, 2013May 2, 2014 by Jonny Blair

By the end of 2011 I had worked in 3 schools in Hong Kong as an English teacher. I always like to pick up extra work on my travels and I got the opportunity to work on Saturdays at a Primary School in Yuen Long. I like the charm of Yuen Long – I had already visited the town a few times – it’s a much quieter Hong Kong world when you venture out to the New Territories. You’re away from the hustle and bustle of the office blocks or the urban lifestyle. Today’s working Wednesdays focuses on working in Yuen Long.

Yuen Long near the theatre — Teaching out at Yuen Long was nice – it’s a lot quieter and more rural than Hong Kong – the countryside is a short walk away.

I got into teaching English by chance I must admit. I had no real intention of doing it. My real strengths always belonged in writing and serving pints. But at a house party in Yuen Long at the end of August 2011, suddenly I found myself teaching in 3 schools simultaneously. I haven’t written about any of them yet and posts on the two kindergartens will follow, but first I was off for Saturday morning work in Yuen Long. And loving it. These were half days so I had the rest of the weekend to blog, relax, sightsee, eat and drink in Asia. A lifestyle of travel indeed.

Yuen Long theatre Hong Kong — The theatre in Yuen Long – pretty close to my Primary School and nice memories of my walk to work.

How do you get a job teaching English in Hong Kong?

I’ll cover this more in detail at some point, but these are the top 3 things you need:

1. A valid working visa or at least be in the process of getting one.

2. English as your main language and “look Caucasian” (as racist as this sounds, it proves that we’re all like Suarez and Evra…)

3. Be enthusiastic and hard working.

The bottom line is if you are based in Hong Kong and have those three things, you will get a job teaching English – I have no doubt about that. I’d actually say points 2 and 3 are the most important. Enthusiasm goes a long way. Much more important than qualifications. I got a TEFL qualification in the end, but honestly it’s not one of the top 3 things.

Jonny Blair travels the world and teaches English in Yuen Long — Beside my green board in the classroom in Yuen Long. Busy day at “the office”

How did I end up teaching English in Yuen Long?

It was a phone call from my (Monday to Friday job) boss asking if I wanted some extra Saturday work. As a rule in life I never turn down work (sometimes I delay it, but I NEVER say no). So I was straight in. Initially it was just for one day and just 3 lessons. But the school liked me, the kids liked me and I was always available to work, so I ended up doing all their Saturday classes from October 2011 to March 2012!! The money from that job alone covered my South Korea trip in December 2011. Got to love it!

working wednesdays Jonny Blair in Yuen Long — My classroom in Yuen Long.

What did the work entail?

I would arrive at the Primary School in Yuen Long at 8.45 am, get set up and plan the lessons then have my first lesson at 9am. I’d get a short break before the second lesson which began at 10.15am and again a short break before the third lesson which began at 11.30 am. By 12.45 pm I was clocked out and free to enjoy my weekend! (OK, with the exception of some private teaching to help fund my travels!)

Jonny Blair teaching English in Yuen Long — A busy day of writing on the green board in Yuen Long.

9am – 10am – My first lesson was teaching phonics to P1 and P2 students. Their age group was 6-8. Their level of English was low, but their enthusiasm was high. There were also a few messers in this class whose names I won’t forget – Charles and Kenny! I wish them all the best n their future education and careers.

teaching English in Yuen Long 2012 — Me and Kenny on my last day working in Yuen Long in March 2012.

10.15am – 11.15am – My second lesson was teaching advanced phonics to P3 and P4 students. Their age group was 8 – 10. Their level of English was average and the girls were well behaved. A few of the boys sometimes refused to do their work though!

teaching phonics in Yuen Long — One of my books for teaching phonics to the younger Primary School students in Yuen Long.

11.30am – 12.30pm – My third and final lesson was talking in detail to the older Primary School students and making sure they were ready for going to Secondary School. This included interview practice, advanced vocabulary and sentence structure. I always introduced fun and games too. This was the first lesson where I had to confiscate a mobile phone from a child. God, these kids are lucky!! When I was at school there was no mobile phone and no internet…

Working Wednesdays travel blog a lifestyle of travel — One of the kids gets a bit of a telling off!

The big difference with this lesson was it was all boys, which was kind of cool as I think they liked me as some funny Northern Irish travel dude. When I told one of the kids I had been to Antarctica he was like “cool, I’ve been to Norway”. Yes he beat me to that one, and he was 10!! The age group of these children was 10 – 13. One of the guys was older and had been kept back a year.

Christmas English lessons in Yuen Long a lifestyle of travel — The greenboard during one of my Christmas lessons in 2011 in Yuen Long.

Who Did I Work with in Yuen Long?

I ran the classes and lessons myself and was normally the only teacher there in the classroom. Though I had some awesome assistants helping out – Miss Doris and Miss Vicky. Both local Hong Kong girls. The teacher above me was Miss Keung, essentially my boss. There was also a native English teacher called Craig from South Africa and a guy from Peru, who despite speaking Spanish and Kechuan was also an English teacher.

st patricks day in Yuen Long — My final day working in the Primary School in Yuen Long was St. Patrick’s Day 2012 so I dressed in green, introduced some Irish gimmicks and had the kids posing with my Northern Ireland flag.

As I did my last shift in Yuen Long on St. Patrick’s Day 2012 it was a nice memory for me. I loved working there, in a classroom overlooking a football stadium. These are the travel jobs and memories that inspire me. Thanks for dropping by Working Wednesdays today and checking out my travel blog. I’m just a passionate nomadic Northern Irishman, that’s all…safe travels.

Here are my videos from teaching English in Yuen Long:

First day teaching English in Yuen Long in 2011:

My Classroom in Yuen Long:

On St. Patrick’s Day 2012 working in Yuen Long:

At a barbecue in Yuen Long in August 2011, the day I met a guy who helped me set up a teaching job interview:

English interviews in a Buddhist School in Yuen Long

Working Wednesdays: English Video Interviews in a Buddhist School, Yuen Long, Hong Kong

Posted on April 17, 2013May 2, 2014 by Jonny Blair

I haven’t mentioned much about teaching yet on Working Wednesdays, despite having worked in about 10 different schools, but it’s a regular feature so there will be plenty to come. These teaching jobs have been wide and varied ranging from Kindergartens to Joint School Events to Primary Schools to Buddhist Schools to Private Tutoring, all within the bounds of Hong Kong. One day I headed to Yuen Long on the west side of Hong Kong to conduct video interviews with 11 – 13 year olds looking to progress to the next level. It was in a Buddhist School, my first time to work in such a school.

Video Room in Buddhist School — The first thing I noticed wrong – I was working in the Video Room – they couldn’t even spell it correctly!!

The job was just a half day of work, around 4 hours of filming video interviews with over 40 students. On arrival I was sent to the Video Room where I had my first laughing out loud moment – they had spelt it wrongly – Viedo Room instead of Video Room. That was the teachers in the Buddhist School – if their English was this bad then how bad would the children be…their standard was low put it that way.

Working in Yuen Long Hong Kong Buddhist School — Video Interviews in a Buddhist School in Yuen Long, Hong Kong

For the next four hours I was sitting in a chair with a video camera in front of me and a set of questions. Work like this as an English teacher is not too difficult – you just ask the questions and record the student. At the end of each interview you get a new form to fill in with marks. Each video is stopped and given a number and the student is later presented with a copy of their CD for their own reference. And so it began – myself and just one other student at a time coming into the classroom for an interview.

School classroom in Yuen Long — My classroom in the Buddhist School in Yuen Long, Hong Kong

Their level of English was very low – some of the students actually hardly said a word for their 8 minutes or so on camera! But then again, can I really be critical? I don’t think I can. How about asking me to speak in Chinese for 8 minutes and write the word video in Chinese characters. I couldn’t! So I’m not being harsh, just real. Most of my other students in Hong Kong have been of a higher standard so that’s why I noticed it.

Teaching in Hong Kong Yuen Long — In the classroom with my boss after work!

As a teacher in Hong Kong employed by an agency, I get asked to do this type of work regularly and I normally say yes! It’s usually just a few hours on a Saturday and great pay. For this shift I got 900 Hong Kong Dollars alone, I could live and travel in China for 2 weeks on that, including having beers and good food. So it’s very much worth it.

Countryside and skyscrapers in Yuen Long Hong Kong — Not a bad “view from the office” either – checking out the mix of countryside and urban flats in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.

I will be detailing a lot more on teaching and working in Hong Kong in forthcoming Working Wednesdays on here. Safe travels!

Here’s a couple of decent links for you!:

How to get a Hong Kong Working Holiday Visa

Why Hong Kong Needs English Teachers

Working Wednesdays: Private Teaching

Posted on January 2, 2013May 2, 2014 by Jonny Blair

Today’s Working Wednesday is all about a bit of private teaching on your travels! As a person who is qualified to teach English abroad, there is also the option of ‘private teaching’, in essence this is freelance work – you set the rate you earn, the hours you work, the lesson plans for the teaching and generally this is a good option for many travellers! As a world traveller, I’ve done this a few times – the rewards are good and the stress level is non-existent! Plus it’s cash in hand 😉

greenboards teaching privately hong kong — When you teach privately – you set the agenda, the times, the rate of pay and the attire – sounds great!

It all started when I would help friends in England learn English back in 2008. At the time I just sort of helped them with their homeworks for schools they attended. They were all adults, mostly foreigners from Turkey and Hungary living in England. More recently I have done a bit of private teaching in Hong Kong, all in my own “spare time”. I taught some adults who were based on Hong Kong Island. I taught some kids based in parts of Kowloon. But what you want to know really is How do you get a job as a private teacher?

teaching private in hong kong kids — Get yourself a bit of extra work as a traveller by teaching privately – kids or adults alike!

Well the truth is there is no real trick OTHER THAN immerse yourself into the local sphere, by meeting locals, making yourself available and opportunities WILL arrive on your doorstep. I have taught 5 locals in Hong Kong in just over a year, all through word of mouth, hearsay, friends of a friend etc. Locals in places like Hong Kong will gladly pay you for a few hours of decent English time on a weekend. I even had to turn down some extra private teaching work recently as I simply didn’t have the time! Don’t forget Hong Kong NEEDS English teachers!

Here’s my rundown on it (a brief overview – quick tips):

1. Always be on the lookout for private teaching opportunities when you travel!

2. Never turn people down completely (if you can’t work, let them know you are busy and may be able to teach them later).

3. Set a price from the offset (I charge 200 HKD per hour straight off, if they are friends or relatives I bring the rate down to 150 or 180 HKD, or sometimes even free if a decent meal and a cup of tea is thrown into the mix).

4. Be as flexible as you can with age group time, money, commitments etc.

5. Be friendly! Introduce yourself to people. Tell them your story and ask about their lives.

private teaching in hong kong — A nice couple who I helped with a few English lessons about a year ago in Hong Kong!

Frequently Asked Questions:

How much can I earn?

You set the rate and the hours, so in theory you could earn a lot of money fast by doing this regularly. It’s entirely up to you. Price yourself just under your competitors and you might suddenly have locals knocking on your door!

What Materials do I need?

Good question and I’m lucky in that I have access to hundreds of teaching books and own a few myself. Quite often the person who requires teaching will have their own books anyway so you might not need any material other than a notebook and a pen. If you have any decent teaching books, bring them.

What Experience/Qualifications do I need?

NONE whatsoever – as long as English is your main language and you are a good communicator you will be able to to do this.

What Countries can I do this in?

As you can tell I recommend Hong Kong, however these types of private teaching jobs crop up anywhere and everywhere – you will be surprised. Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, England, Australia.

Can I live off Teaching Privately?

Short answer is YES! But realistically you will be doing this as an extra on top of another job as there may not be enough work to keep you going financially with this.

How do I get an opportunity of teaching privately?

Once you are in a country, you need to immerse yourself in local culture, ask around, offer yourself to people for teaching, swop phone numbers/e-mails, check advertising boards, advertise yourself, check online teaching opportunities. Basically if you want to work, you can. Anyone can teach privately on their travels, particularly good communicators and those who have English as a number one language.

Good luck and any more advice/tips you have let me know and let others know!!

Don’t Stop Living – a lifestyle of travel! Working Wednesdays are a regular feature!

Why Hong Kong Needs English Teachers!

Posted on December 19, 2012January 25, 2022 by Jonny Blair

In the upcoming months, I’ll be going into a bit more detail and helping you out in terms of how to get a job as an English teacher in Hong Kong, amongst other countries (such as Taiwan and South Korea). To start with though I have to say Hong Kong seriously needs Native English teachers and for a number of reasons. Here are my top five reasons why Hong Kong needs English teachers – well, native ones.

1. A High Turnover
It is known that a lot of native English teachers move to Hong Kong and work for a year or two and then leave. There is a high turnover of staff and therefore a constant need for new English teachers to replace the ones that have come and gone. I will detail this a lot more in future but basically you normally get a one year contract, after which the option to renew comes up.

2. Bad English
Hong Kong, possibly through no fault of its own suffers from bad English and is clearly behind the likes of Japan, Korea and Singapore when it comes to good use of English. I have noticed a mix of Chinese and English known as Chinglish cropping up. Common phrases are:

so so la – average
sleep la – go to bed
snake – snack
andenna – and then
ar ma – added on to any given English sentence for no reason
(these are just five off the top of my head – there are tons more examples!)

The bad English stretches from speech to spelling and writing, as you can see from this posts first photo, just a few days ago in Hong Kong I came across a sign saying “Merry Chirstmas” and the below photo taken today from a Christmas Card I received.

“beat wishes” and “happines”

I don’t blame Hong Kong for its bad English though, as it’s still streets ahead of its mirror cities of Macau and Shenzhen. They do make an effort to learn English here in Hong Kong, more so than foreigners do to learn Cantonese. There might be another reason why Hong Kong English isn’t entirely up to scratch however…

3. Philippeno and Indonesian Maids!
You might be wondering what this has to do with Hong Kong English but it’s become glaringly obvious to me that the (difficult to understand, culture wise) Philippeno and Indonesian Maid culture here that is widespread has a very bad effect on Hong Kong children’s learning of English. First of all, families and couples in Hong Kong lead busy lives and they really really believe that their work is the most important thing in their day (honestly! – in stark contrast to me – Working Wednesdays – Travel Writing. ) As a result, they have less free time to themselves (through a major fault of their own I have to add) and they often pay for a maid! Ridiculous as it sounds, this is true in Hong Kong. The majority of these maids are from Indonesia and the Philippines and they work for a low price. In addition they get free food and accomodation as well as a temporary Hong Kong ID card and valid working visa! They often have to look after the children in these families, taking them to school, changing them and bringing them home from school and even doing homework with them.

These Philippeno Maids often speak NO Cantonese and therefore they end up speaking to the children in a really bad English style of speaking. This includes slang and often US English terms and phrases, again here’s a few of them:

– ok baby
– honey don’t forget mama waiting for you
– where you go?

Not to mention mis-use of words, shortened sentences and made up words! So the effect of this on the children is very apparent (you notice this when you teach in Kindergartens particularly, and some local Primary Schools)

4. Hong Kong is Asia’s World City

Hong Kong is a global metropolis and business hub. It’s marketed as Asia’s World City and it’s skyscraping skyline is jammed full of office tower blocks. In order for Hong Kong and China to connect to the rest of the world in a business sense, what else would they need? Yes, of course a good grasp of the English language!

5. History

Last on this list but not least, Hong Kong’s history will tell it that learning English is a good thing. Once a British colony, and used for world trade, one of the major reasons for the wealth and development of “The Kong” was the ability to trade. Trading with places like England, Australia, Canada and USA. If it worked before and it works now, why change it? By default English should be a certain language for all business people in Hong Kong to know. It’s a city that wants to maintain the successful city culture that its history clearly shows.

More posts to follow in future on teaching English in Hong Kong.

Don’t Stop Living is a website dedicated to a lifestyle of travel. Work, at various points plays a major part in this journey…

Posted on October 13, 2012May 2, 2014 by Jonny Blair

All my posts about teaching English will appear here. I have worked in 2 Kindergartens and 4 Primary Schools teaching English, as well as doing private tutoring.