"I had been to Hong Kong once before, on a stopover. It was too hot and I actually didn't like it much." Scottish-born New Zealander Rosemary Gillies, 36, smiled thinking about it, a year after returning to Hong Kong to teach English.

She is taking part in a Native English Teacher scheme (NET) introduced in late 1998 to boost language skills in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Australians, Canadians, English, Irish, New Zealanders and Scots are among more than 200 teachers taking part in the programme. The Education Department's prerequisites mean that the youngest are in their early 30s, and that they all bring a wealth of experience.

In mid-summer it is still hot - and Rosemary Gillies hopes to sign a second, two-year NET contract. She would also like to stay at the school she was assigned on arrival from Auckland last August, Lok Sing Tong Leung Kau Kui on western Hong Kong Island.

"It's been a really positive experience for me," she said. "It's completely different teaching, but it has made me realise what the art of teaching is about and it has confirmed that I still want to be a teacher.

"My school has already asked me if I would renew the contract and I think I will. I am really happy here."

Her friend, Scottish teacher Linda Archibald, added that Hong Kong is one of the best places to work as a teacher of English as a second language.

"I had just finished a Master's degree in applied linguistics in London," she said. "Hong Kong is one of the best places to work in that field - teaching English as a second language. There are lots of jobs here, there are good opportunities, it is a fairly open field if you want to progress from secondary up to university teaching, get into publishing or teaching development areas. This is a very good place to be."

Ms Archibald, also 36, teaches at one of Hong Kong's top girls' schools, St Stephen's Girls' College. She has taught in Scotland, Rumania and Japan, and said Hong Kong's educational approach was different from those.

"I would say it is quite a difficult system to enter and pick up quickly because it is so structured," she said "You have to conform to what the syllabus tells you to teach. The testing system is very stringent and you have to make sure you are following that."

The scheme provides one NET to each public sector secondary school with fewer than 40 classes and two to those with 40 or more. About 80 per cent of public sector secondary schools use Chinese as the medium of instruction, and they get a NET as one of their extra English teacher posts created to enhance the teaching of English in such schools.

The government sought to recruit about 750 NETs for the year. They are paid a basic monthly salary of HK$20,865 to HK$43,940 (about C$3,900 to C$8,400) determined on the basis of individual appointees' qualifications and relevant experience.

They also get passages to and from Hong Kong, a baggage allowance, medical allowance and contract gratuity. A special allowance (fixed at HK$13,000 per month) is paid to cover accommodation costs.

Canadian David Mennier, 34, of St John's, New Brunswick, edits a newsletter for teachers in the scheme.

"The NET newsletter is part of a support group we started when we first got here," Mr Mennier said. "A lot of us have taught overseas before - and usually there have been social and support groups for those expat teachers because there's a normal adjustment that goes on, while you are finding your feet.

"A few of us decided we'd get together once a month and it grew. Now we have regular meetings, the newsletter, trips and sports days, all the normal expat social things. And luckily we have gotten the support of the government and the universities who have kicked in some money here and there. It's another component that makes the programme easier."

He and 36-year-old New Zealander Perry Bayer both taught in Japan's "JET" programme for three years before coming to Hong Kong. They teach at neighbouring establishments in Hong Kong's New Territories. Mr Mennier is at Shek Lei Catholic Secondary School and Mr Bayer at Ju Ching Chu Secondary School, Kwai Tsing.

Mr Bayer, of Wellington, said the Japanese students were much shyer than those in Hong Kong.

Mr Mennier agreed: "The general level of English tends to be much higher in Hong Kong, but also their personalities are more outgoing, there's more life in the students here.

"Also, the Japanese programme tends to hire new graduates and this one hires experienced teachers. In Japan I was the old guy, at 28. Hong Kong has teachers in their 40s, 50s and even 60s."

They were looking forward to a new syllabus due to start in 2001, which promises to be more flexible. Like Ms Gillies and Ms Archibald, they felt Hong Kong's educational style is more structured and lays more emphasis on discipline than other places they have worked.

In the meantime, Mr Bayer would be happy to repeat one facet of the current situation. His school is rated at the bottom of the academic stream - and his class won a Hong Kong-wide drama contest, writing and acting in their own play.

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