Job Discussion Forums

BethMac · Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 79

Just curious...

How many hours a week do you teach? How much time do you spend on lesson prep and correcting?

Ludwig · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 1:20 pm Post subject:

19 and 20.

ilunga · Joined: 17 Oct 2003 Posts: 842 Location: China

and that's just on this forum.

jojo_rock · Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 9

Last year I was contracted for 25 hours a week. But that didn't mean that's what I would teach. It would usually be something between 27 hours and 32 hours a week. Which is too much. To be a good teacher you should have about 20 contact hours (maybe 25 as a maximum).

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:04 pm Post subject: How many teaching hours?

My contract is quite specific - I teach 21 40-minute lessons between Monday and Friday. That's it - no more, no less, unless I volunteer to teach two more 40-minute lessons on a Sunday morning, for which I do receive extra pay.

No foreign teacher at my school is expected to substitute for another in case of illness or other reason(s) for absence - the teaching assistants will teach the lessons instead during any absence by a foreign teacher.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

The good news: 10 to 15 hours in class, maybe another 5 preparing. The bad news: I have to be on campus 40 hours a week.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

20 contact hours (actually 20 50-minute classes), plus five office hours. Prep time--dunno. I do a lot of it at home at random times. My contract includes up to 15 hours, I think.

d

Guest · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:56 pm Post subject:

I have just returned to this School for the second year. I teach around 15 - 40 minute classes which only equates to about 10 hours per week.

We are not required to put in any office hours here at this School even though they tried to encourage it initially. I think that fact that our apartments are on the School grounds and only two minutes away from the classroom - makes it difficult for them to enforce office hours. Also, our computers are in our apartments and not in the office - whereas the Chinese teachers all have computers in their office. I found in the beginning that they all tended to ignore me and speak Chinese around me, so for me to sit there and virtually be ignored was not much fun.

The idea was for them to practice their English on me, but it does not happen, so I go straight back to my apartment after each class now.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

At my high school, I teach 16 classes per week (45 minutes per lesson). That amounts to 6 different lesson plans per week.

Prep time varies, because some classes have pre-arranged duties every week that need no polishing or further planning on my part. On average, however, I spend several hours preparing for each lesson. It's a massive job.

Many teachers (Japanese and foreign) at my school criticize its lack of organization. We hear about our year's assignments 2 weeks before school begins. Nowhere near enough time to plan for a whole year! And, there doesn't seem to be any good record system for people to follow from previous years. On top of that, the curriculum has changed every year I have been here (3), so for the foreign teachers, that means creating a whole new system each year for every class we teach.

On top of teaching and prep time, all teachers are expected to attend 2-3 types of staff meetings per week, plus do extracurricular activities. Since I work at a private HS, we also come to work (not for classes) 3 Saturdays a month, too. Planning for lessons is usually squeezed between classes and well into the evening (at work).