Job Discussion Forums

franjipani · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 29

Hi
i know this is a very relative question, but i'd love some ideas...
I'm about to start a career in teaching. What i'd like to know is,
how much time do you have to yourself "after hours"?. By that i mean free time, not preparation, admin, etc...
i am a writer, and need my time. Is teaching at all complementary
to such a lifestyle?
i am interested to hear how your time works, anyone. Idea

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

Depends on what kind of job you get. If you work for an eikaiwa, you may be teaching until 9pm. From what I've heard, JETs often have fairly relaxed schedules. I consider myself very lucky because I am free at 3pm every day (some terms I teach until 4pm). After that, my time is my own.

d

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

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

I work in a private high school and end up spending 11-12 hours a day there. That, plus half an hour one-way commuting puts me away from home for 12-13 hours a day. Add an hour or so for morning preparations at home, and an hour cool-down/dinner at night, and I use 14-15 hours a day. So, theoretically, I have 9-10 hours a day for free time, but you gotta figure SOME time for sleeping. I have a wife and child, too, so they get most of my "free time", leaving me with very little. I also work every other Saturday.

Not all private HS teachers have this lifestyle. Many that I have spoken to work 9 to 5 or 6. So, if you want to make more money teaching, you use the after 5 or after 6 time doing private lessons or PT work. That leaves you with little for other activities.

glsco · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 12:41 pm Post subject:

I work for Peppy Kids Club and have lots of free time.

Classes don't generally start before 3:45, usually more like 5:00, and you only teach three or four classes a day, one hour a pop. The only catch is that you can get some schools that are a bit of a journey to get to.

One of my schools is a five minute walk, and I teach two hours a day Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Unfortunately, at the same school I have 6 classes on Saturdays, and work a full 8 hour day, but that is very uncommon and may wind up being changed in the near future. Another school is an hour train ride, forty minute layover, and ten minute bus to get to, but my longest day is from 3:45 to 8:30.

I really don't think you could do better then Peppy for free time. It's great.

chixdiggit · Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 60 Location: ROK

Hey Franjipani,

I sympathize with your plight as an aspiring writer myself. I've managed to manipulate my schedule over the course of 5 years so that I teach 3 days a week, and write the rest. Mind you it did take a while to work that out. Don't expect to sort it immediately, but keep your eye out for part-time positions and start building your ideal schedule as soon as possible. I work about 17 hours a week and make the average 250,000. Before I made writing my priority, I made close to double that. Turns out it was a good decision to cut my hours in half as my book is finally getting noticed by the right people. This never would have happened if I'd kept up the grind (although the money was nice). Just so you know, I simply did not have the energy or motivation to write when I worked full-time Eikaiwa style hours. Best decision I ever made.
Best of luck.
Chix