Good opportunity for those wanting a career in teaching English abroad, but be careful
Pros
I think that Chatteris provide a fantastic opportunity for those wanting to move abroad for a year. It is rare to find an organisation that will take on individuals without previous teaching experience. I think that the support that they provide you with is also positive and they have the right mechanisms in place to access support if you wanted it. I was lucky enough to be in the first cohort of tutors, this meant that I could make friends with individuals doing the same role as me. Chatteris provide good experience, especially to those wanting to move into a career teaching English abroad. I also had a positive experience with the upper management, I thought they were very fair.
Cons
If you are not in the first initial cohort I would advise against joining Chatteris, as once you arrive in Hong Kong it may be suggested you will be in a big group but this is false. If you are joining later you will be completing orientation whilst others are working, thus making it difficult to make plans. Orientation (initial 3 week training phase) was completely irrelevant for me and my school and taught me very little in how to teach at school, I learnt most of my skills observing other teachers. It is completely down to luck whether you’ll be places in a school that has a high or low work load, whether you’ll be alone, or an hour out of the city. In my school I had to pay over 200hkd in transportation costs, something that is not initially mentioned on arrival. The pay is low for the work we do, with other English teachers making around double the salary you will be making. You will also be forced to attend monthly professional development sessions which also provide very little. I was lucky enough to be in a school with 5 other foreign English teachers, but be warned that in other schools you may be alone, with either very little to do, or being completely overworked, so be warned.