It’s back to Filipino and English, from kinder to Grade 3 classes

[hk blues]

6 hours ago, JJReyes said:

 Her Hong Kong job is less stressful, and the pay is good.   

Compared to here yes of course,  but around $650 a  month for work which is usually in excess of 70 hours a week is hardly good.  Of course, the one you spoke with may be one of the lucky ones who have a boss (usually non-local) who pay more than the minimum.

[JJReyes]

5 hours ago, hk blues said:

Compared to here yes of course, but around $650 a month for work which is usually in excess of 70 hours a week is hardly good.  Of course, the one you spoke with may be one of the lucky ones who have a boss (usually non-local) who pay more than the minimum.

We also encounter a lot of Filipinos working in cruise ships.  Starting pay is about $1,000 and it goes up with seniority.  Contracts are usually 9 months with no retirement benefits.  The work is 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.  They have to launder their individual uniforms during break hours.  For 24 hours internet on the ship, passengers pay $55.  (Our discount price as elite member is 50% or $27.50 for up to 4 devices.)  Crew cannot afford it.  You see them at onshore Starbucks and McDonalds using the free Wi-Fi.  Still, the pay is good, and they don't pay taxes as OFWs.  Same with the domestics in Hong Kong.  

[earthdome]

Just got back from visiting family in the province. Long drive of 450km one way. My daughter only speaks English and is learning a bit of tagalog at school. Her 5 year old cousin, a boy who is autistic, was not talking at all last year. Now he is speaking some English. Of course his parents both speak fluent English as they work for a call center. Remote now from the province rather than in Manila. Another cousin, a 6 year old girl already speaks good English for her age. Her and my daughter had a blast. Neither of this girls parents speak much English. Not sure where she learned it so perhaps it was the local school.

[Mike J]

11 hours ago, JJReyes said:

For 24 hours internet on the ship, passengers pay $55.

I expect the ships are using Starlink for a couple hundred dollars a month.  

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, JJReyes said:

  Same with the domestics in Hong Kong.  

I know - my wife was one for 16 years there. 

[JJReyes]

12 hours ago, Mike J said:

I expect the ships are using Starlink for a couple hundred dollars a month.  

No.  During the past 6 years, the cruise ships industry installed multiple spherical domes on open decks for their communication needs.  I think it's a different network.  This system permits streaming movies to your room and NFL games at no extra charge.  $27.50 for 24 hours personal Internet is an astronomical amount.  We subscribe to the service only every 3 or 4 days.   

There is a non-profit group promoting a Starlink package to donors.  The idea is to pay and install Starlink in remote elementary schools.  Problem is what devices to link, how about electricity and maintenance?  Also, who pays the monthly fees?  

[earthdome]

11 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

 

There is a non-profit group promoting a Starlink package to donors.  The idea is to pay and install Starlink in remote elementary schools.  Problem is what devices to link, how about electricity and maintenance?  Also, who pays the monthly fees?  

Cell signals were very spotty where my wifes family lives and no internet. One positive outcome of covid was that the promised cell phone towers were finally installed and there now is good coverage with internet data.

[Mike J]

11 hours ago, JJReyes said:

There is a non-profit group promoting a Starlink package to donors.  The idea is to pay and install Starlink in remote elementary schools.  Problem is what devices to link, how about electricity and maintenance?  Also, who pays the monthly fees?  

I think you are spot on.  The system could be installed and become useless in little more than a month.  Unfortunately the areas where Starlink would be required to access the internet are probably also area with subsistence level poverty and no computers/smart phones etc.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Mike J said:

I think you are spot on.  The system could be installed and become useless in little more than a month.  Unfortunately the areas where Starlink would be required to access the internet are probably also area with subsistence level poverty and no computers/smart phones etc.

I suppose on the upside is the fact that areas such as you describe would have little use for it anyway. 

I wonder what happened to all those computers bought to distribute to public schools during the pandemic? 

 

[GeoffH]

9 hours ago, hk blues said:

I wonder what happened to all those computers bought to distribute to public schools during the pandemic? 

I wonder if that's where the laptops and printers came from that are in all of the classrooms at the children's school?