How to become a language teacher

Official title: Other language teachers

Also called: Intensive language teacher, Migrant education teacher, Practical language teacher, Second language teacher

Other language teachers teach non-native languages to adults and children who are learning a language for reasons of migration, to fulfil employment requirements or opportunities, to facilitate participation in educational programmes delivered in a foreign language, or for personal enrichment. They work outside the mainstream primary, secondary and higher education systems, or in support of students and teachers within those systems.

Main tasks

• Assessing the level of ability and the extent of language difficulties of students, and establishing students’ needs and learning goals
• Planning, preparing and delivering lessons and workshops for groups and individuals, with content and rate of progression adapted to students’ abilities and needs
• Designing and producing teaching materials and adapting existing materials
• Assessing students’ progress
• Assisting students in classroom settings where subjects are taught in a language other than the students’ native language
• Providing assistance to other teachers by designing special teaching programmes for students still learning the main language of instruction
• Assigning and correcting work, and preparing and grading exams
• Assessing, recording and reporting on students’ progress

Ways in

• University: Education & Teaching degrees, Offered by 14 universities in Hong Kong
• University: Arts & Humanities degrees, Offered by 21 universities in Hong Kong

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$48,000 a month
• About 1,542,900 people in 2025, and about 1,639,100 projected by 2028. (+6.2%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

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Questions people ask

How do I become a language teacher?

Ways in include: Education & Teaching degrees; Arts & Humanities degrees.

Do you need a degree to become a language teacher?

Usually. 91% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a language teacher?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026