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artemisia
Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 875
Location: the world
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 Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:13 am Post subject: Re: Lesson Preparation |
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| JRJohn wrote: |
| I have never had to spend this much time in lesson preparation before. I have no free time, and no time to go houdse hunting, though I am expected to do that too. |
In terms of Spain, I think many teachers have been - and still are - willing to trade on money for lifestyle. As a new teacher or a �transitioning� one (e.g., from Asia), it might take time to see more of the lifestyle aspect. You get there in the end. I think if I�d stayed doing what I was doing in Germany, I�d be just about able to do a significant amount of the work in my sleep by now.
Even with experience behind you, if you take on courses which require a lot of preparation time, you�d want to know you�d be radically cutting down on the time for the further courses that follow (you hope). If they do, then that would be part of calculating the overall ongoing pay. Without a follow on of the same kind of courses, significant prep time for 'one-offs' would probably not be worth it.
Did you teach at all in Europe prior to arriving in Spain? I�m just wondering because European students can be quite demanding. I saw the initial workload as a trade off in terms of getting that experience, but it�s often tough at the beginning, especially when trying to get set up with a place to live etc. |
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daniel_hayes
Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:18 am Post subject: |
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I happened to see this advert today on a popular website. It said:
''The Job:
Morning and afternoon shifts, Monday-Friday, totalling 22 hours per week plus 5 hours preparation time
Highly supportive environment where the candidate will be working with the other teachers to plan classes during the preparation time to ensure the quality of classes given - you will be given all the help you need to become a great teacher
Working in a professional, friendly small academy''
I am not saying it's common to get paid for prep. time, but neither is it un-heard of. And in my opinion it should be far far more common. If schools expect teachers to prepare outside of classes, they should pay them to do so ------------or raise the wages. Pretty simple stuff. In my case I would like to get paid for prep. But I don't. No puedo hacer nada. |
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PointedAndPent
Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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I went for an interview for that place you mentioned Daniel. The offer was �1000 / month standard salary. So 1000/4/22... = 11.4 / hour. That's without even considering the preparation time... which to their credit they said you could do at home. But ultimately 11.4 is less than what I'd want as a CELTA qualified experienced teacher.
Honestly I'm very down about the situation in Valencia in general. I've been here two years now, and this year I feel like I'm going backwards.
My previous employer, an International House affiliate, who I trusted and was excited about working for full time this year rather than running all over the city working for five different people eventually were trying to offer me a full time 34 hour a week contract (33 contact hours) which worked out at �9 / hour before tax.... You can live pretty well on Valencia for �1100 a month but not save very much and 33 hours contact time is a damn busy life. This is after last year when I was working on month by month part-time contract which paid over �12 / hour.
If you have an active enough imagination you probably have a good idea what I responded to them with...
I don't know where people are getting these �15-20+ / hour jobs from, which is allegedly what we should be making with a CELTA + years of experience, but I'm certainly not coming across them, and definitely not the ones with paid holidays.
Meanwhile most academies are absolutely raking it in regardless of the quality of teacher they hire. |
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daniel_hayes
Joined: 18 Jun 2007
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Pointed,
So what is your plan for now then? Will you work in a few academies, or just one? I have only been in VLC for 4-5 months, and it seems there are a sh*t-load of jobs around, even though the money is crap.
I am happy at the moment. I earn less than the amount you mentioned for a nice life, but I share a flat with 3 other people, and I live cheap. I am saving up some money, but that is from extra non-teaching work -- teaching more than covers my bills, food and tapas's (and the odd visit to H&M!)
I work at a really cool academy. The place is relaxed and professional, and they are a pretty big company. I teach just adults, and the students are great. Yes, my pay is bad but it's okay for me. I have plenty of private students, and I could easily earn more money if I just did privates, but I like the security of an academy. I like working in a cool school in a great area. And it's good to pay my social security and stuff.
Did you see the company on that website offering to sell the phone numbers for private students for 20 Euros? Now there is a talking-point! What do you think of such an offer? |
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Nicky_McG
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| daniel_hayes wrote: |
| ...your posts are usually dripping with self-congratulation. |
Haha!!! It is annoying when someone turns takes a whole conversation off on a tangent just so they can let you know how well they're doing!
I think prep comes with the job but only to an extent. If you're asked to teach a class that is going to involve an unusual amount of prep for an experienced teacher, you're within your rights to ask for more money. I know people who have done this and got what they wanted. I'm not saying it will always work but asking won't hurt. It's the same with marking I suppose. Marking the odd essay is fine but if you're asked to compile reports and calculate grades for quite a few classes then it does get a bit annoying that you're not offered a sweetener. |
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RoisinDubh
Joined: 23 Apr 2011
Posts: 43
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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| PointedAndPent wrote: |
I went for an interview for that place you mentioned Daniel. The offer was �1000 / month standard salary. So 1000/4/22... = 11.4 / hour. That's without even considering the preparation time... which to their credit they said you could do at home. But ultimately 11.4 is less than what I'd want as a CELTA qualified experienced teacher.
Honestly I'm very down about the situation in Valencia in general. I've been here two years now, and this year I feel like I'm going backwards.
My previous employer, an International House affiliate, who I trusted and was excited about working for full time this year rather than running all over the city working for five different people eventually were trying to offer me a full time 34 hour a week contract (33 contact hours) which worked out at �9 / hour before tax.... You can live pretty well on Valencia for �1100 a month but not save very much and 33 hours contact time is a damn busy life. This is after last year when I was working on month by month part-time contract which paid over �12 / hour.
If you have an active enough imagination you probably have a good idea what I responded to them with...
I don't know where people are getting these �15-20+ / hour jobs from, which is allegedly what we should be making with a CELTA + years of experience, but I'm certainly not coming across them, and definitely not the ones with paid holidays.
Meanwhile most academies are absolutely raking it in regardless of the quality of teacher they hire. |
I think you need to be realistic. You're 'worth' what people will pay. CELTA course tutors like to tell you you 'should' be making 15-20 euro an hour, but really, where is that ever going to happen? There's an abundance of EFL teachers and they're not all backpackers either. One school I worked for in London had DELTA qualified teachers working for �12/hour. Not uncommon.
The 'going rate' in Valencia might have been 14 or 15 euro a couple of years ago, but now most places are offering 10.50 - 13. The rates are going down, from what I've seen a lot of places are losing students because they can't afford the classes anymore. I refuse to lower my private class rate (I advertise classes at 15 euro/hour) because it's extra pocket money for me and it's simply not worth me doing the class for less (I'd rather just have the free time) and 90% of students come back to me with 'that's too expensive'. They just won't pay what I'm asking when there are so many teachers willing to work for less.
TEFL is just crap money unless you go to one of a handful of countries and it seems to be getting worse. That's why I'm trying to get into alternative careers so I can just teach as a back-up rather than depending on it to live |
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jonniboy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| PointedAndPent wrote: |
Honestly I'm very down about the situation in Valencia in general. I've been here two years now, and this year I feel like I'm going backwards.
I don't know where people are getting these �15-20+ / hour jobs from, which is allegedly what we should be making with a CELTA + years of experience, but I'm certainly not coming across them, and definitely not the ones with paid holidays. |
I'd 15 an hour in Valencia last year.
First academy paid me 900 a month, 14 hours a week and all holidays were paid. She even paid me the 900 for June even though it was a shorter month and gave me a bonus of 100 at Xmas, 100 for all students passing Trinity exams and 100 at end of contract.
Second academy paid me 15 an hour but didn't pay holidays. I'd 8 hours with them.
Third academy paid me 180 a month, I'd 3 hours there a week.
It is doable but you have to pound the pavements and have contacts (in my case, I know the president of the association of language schools in Valencia and my ex colleague had his own academy) I'd also worked there 2003-2005. In general I'd say 13 an hour would be more realistic in Vlc now. |
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