Pros
• A chance to gain some valuable teaching experience for newly qualified EFL teachers in the bustling city of Hong Kong. • Salary is good (21K HKD 1-6 months and 23K HKD 6+ months) • Lessons are pre-planned and the environment is fairly stress-free. • Depending on who you work with, it is possible to make some very good friends. • The students are, for the large part, well behaved and manageable.
Cons
• The hours are long. Although you only actually teach a maximum of 6 hours a day you are expected to be in the office between 09.30 and 18.30 with 1.5 hours for lunch. Twice a week you are expected to do a late shift which means staying until 19.30. Therefore a work/life balance during the week can be hard to maintain. • They seem to hire teachers indiscriminately so many are not suited to teaching children or EFL. • The work can become tedious at times. • If you go for the accommodation option the utility costs can be excessive and not very clear. I would recommend finding your own accommodation if possible. • Many of the centres are franchises so business needs frequently trump student needs. • Centre managers can be difficult to work with. • If your designated day-off falls on a bank holiday you do not get this back in lieu which is extremely unfair for teachers who have Mondays off. • Only 2 paid sick days per annum