Happiness in life is all about balance. When I taught in North America, it seemed that the majority of my time and effort was centered on motivating disinterested and often ill-equipped students to pass an assortment of state-mandated examinations. These assessments became the focus of everything that happened in our schools, yet preparing for (and even passing) those tests neither developed nor measured the important skills that young people needed to be successful as they progressed throughout their lives. The entire practice seemed to leave students jaded and teachers looking for better options. 

While many of my colleagues continued to struggle—and some left the profession altogether—I found an appealing alternative in international education. That was more than a decade ago, and I feel extremely fortunate to have seen and done all that I have since entering the wider world. Today, I am a healthier and happier person, a better teacher, and a truly humble witness to the beauty of people and places across the globe.

Through that lens of domestic and international involvement, I can confidently recommend HFI as an outstanding opportunity for caring, curious, and qualified educators. Beyond the excellent staff you will be working with or the encouraging administration supporting you, the absolute jewel of this program is and always will be the students. Highly intelligent, incredibly motivated, and laser-focused on their goals of attending only the best English-language universities on the planet, the young men and women of HFI are a joy in the classroom. They bring their interests and creative abilities along with an eagerness for learning that makes daily instruction both meaningful and delightful. The broad spectrum of academic activities that you can successfully attempt with such high-achieving students is limited only by your imagination.

On the subject of balance, your work to play ratio is another benefit of teaching at HFI. Guangzhou is an amazing location in terms of things to do and places to go—it is a progressive city with more culture and green space than most might expect. It is also a convenient starting point to visit some of the most interesting and beautiful places on Earth, many of which you can see in China alone!

If you find yourself searching for new challenges, possess a passion for teaching, and have a strong desire to work with some of the brightest minds in Asia, you would do well to consider HFI.

Nov 5, 2018

Working with the students at HFI is a once in a lifetime experience! The school is small, the relationships between students and teachers – collegial and warm, and the cultural make-up of the staff – fascinating! This is my second year at HFI and I am really enjoying the challenges that the AP curriculum and these kids bring me every day. As the students are so motivated to succeed, one does not have to waste much time thinking about classroom management issues or remedial work to set for those students who are not achieving the course objectives. You are encouraged to set the bar high and watch as the students gratefully impress you time and again. This is a lovely school to work for and despite some drawbacks of space limitation, your creativity has a venue to flourish here and your teaching skills will definitely improve. You will find that these kids deserve your best!

After teaching for a few years in NYC Public Schools and then at international schools in Mexico, I felt a bit burned out, and decided that it was time to take a break from the field of education. So, I returned to NYC and took an office job. After a few years in the office, I realized that my place really is in the classroom, no matter how emotionally draining it can be. so, I searched around for schools in China and luckily was offered a job at HFI. The first week of school went great, as often is the case. So, suspiciously, I waited and waited for the honeymoon period to end; but it never did, and hasn’t a year and a half later. It truly is a joy to work with such highly-motivated, intelligent, hard-working, and genuinely interesting students. The atmosphere of the school is more closely related to that of a college campus than to a high school campus in that these students don’t have to be monitored at all times (they don’t need to be), which gives students the opportunity to be independent, and helps teachers to have time to focus on their real job, teaching. Indeed, this is the kind of job that could ruin a teacher’s classroom management skills for life—I haven’t had to raise my voice regarding behavior once with any of my students in the past two school years, and neither have I had to ask a student to do something more than once! The most enjoyable thing about working at HFI, however, is that these students will actually listen to what their teachers say, participate in class activities, and genuinely consider the class’ concepts—in other words, these students want to work hard, and they want their teachers to work hard. I have grown a lot as a teacher here, and look forward to being pushed to work harder and grow into a better professional. Needless to say, my faith in teaching has been restored by the students at this school.