Job Discussion Forums

skppen67 · Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 6

Are certain countries better for someone who wants to work 40 hours on a regular basis? It seems that many people don't work more than 25 hours a week. I imagine it's difficult to get by without steady employment. My intentions are to teach a year or two and travel as well. Is it realistic to do some traveling in the host country and possibly neighboring countries while teaching 40 hours a week (plus additional time for lesson plans, etc.)? I'm prepared to obtain certification if this would greatly enhance my job prospects. I do look at this as a one or two year commitment, and not just a means to an end (although I do sympathize with anyone who's short on cash and needs a quick buck!). Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

It sounds from your post as though you've never taught in a language school. The 25 hours per week that folks talk about are class hours. Factor in office hours, lesson prep, marking, and other paperwork hassles and you're talking a 40+ hour work week. If you were teaching 40 hours per week, you'd actually be working 60 to 80 hours per week. Most folks start to burn out once they get over about 28 hours of teaching time per week.

guangho · Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 476 Location: in transit

Teaching hours are a subset of the 40 hour week. There is also prep time, meeting with students, organizing materials and coordinating with fellow teachers, etc. I personally don't wish more than six hours of teaching a day on anyone. One day I taught for nine straight hours (nine different classes) and thought I was going to die.

Boy Wonder · Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 453 Location: Clacton on sea

Maybe he's thinking of working in the Med.
In Greece having a teaching schedule of 32-35 isn't uncommon whilst there were teachers in Italy who thought nothing of regular 35-38 hours per week in the classroom.

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

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

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

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

This year at my high school, I had 10 different lesson plans to make every week, plus one additional one every other week. Each lesson plan took about 1-3 hours. Some were dirt simple; others were extremely hard and involved a lot of online time and creativity in making worksheets and designing in-class plans. I have a partner to help with only one of those classes, and we meet twice a week for an hour each. Lots of prep time for me, you can see.

Of course, since it is a high school, there is also grading of papers, recording them, and such to go along with some lessons.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:45 pm Post subject:

Just to be clear to the OP- 25 hours a week, which means contact/teaching hours, is a full time job.

I've run into teachers, usually on their first time out, who have "forty hours" stuck in their heads. So they hear, in Spain, for example, that they can earn 10 euros per hour, and they decide that means 1600 a month. (Which is a pretty good salary in Spain.) But, you have to prepare. And do paperwork. And meet with parents, travel, etc.

You DO NOT want to teach anything like 40 contact hours a week. Take this into account when you're planning your earnings/expenses. Exactly what "full time" means varies considerably according to your situation, admin responsiblities, etc. But 40 hours a week would either kill you, or force you to do a substandard job. Personally, anytime my teaching hours have crept over thirty, I feel the strain, and know I'm not prepping as I should.

A little pet peeve of mine is colleagues who believe that as they are paid for teaching hours, they don't have to do anything else. I'm in a country where minimum wage, for what it's worth, is less than a dollar an hour. So I have no sympathy for people who figure that additional responsibilities don't count. (Those who turn up 5 minutes before, don't prep, skimp on paperwork...) The pay for those additional tasks is included in the $6-8 dollars they receive per hour of teaching.

And where travelling is concerned, I don't know exactly what your intention is, but I know that a lot of schools wouldn't bother giving a full schedule to a teacher who plans to be around less than a year.

Regards,
Justin

Will. · Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 783 Location: London Uk

It would appear, from the OP's first posting posting, that OP has not much experience as they are prepared to gain "certification".

Fact
I have taught 40 hours a week, both intensively and in split shift variations, not one offs but over a period of several years.

Fiction
It is easy....

I would not recommend 40 hour teaching to anyone who appears to have so little experience. The outcome would not be positive for students or teacher. A teacher with experience is able to recycle material and lesson plans and is also able to adjust to the needs of students or class. This is not an option for a Newbie. This is why there are schools where newbies only teach 20 odd hours a week until they are competent and confident enough to do more. It is not just a case of which country but which teacher can actually teach that amount of hours a week and not burn out.

That said, teaching 20 odd hours for a school allows you to do 10 or 15 privately, that is where the money comes in. This will definitely allow you to travel in the off season wherever you happen to work.
My advice try and do the 20- 25 hours a week first and then see if you really want to do more.....

valley_girl · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:27 pm Post subject:

What lazy teachers we are not teaching a full 40 hours a week! Laughing

Seriously, if there is someone out there teaching 40 hours of ESL or EFL, I'll be the first to shake his/her hand because I sure as heck couldn't do it. I teach 24 hours a week (over four days) and it wipes me out most of the time.

Several posters have already addressed the 'preparation' issue. I do a great deal of lesson prep and marking (along with some other administrative duties that are a part of my job), which brings my total hours per week to approximately 50. However, how much out of classroom work you do will depend largely on where you work and what the specific expectations are of your employers. I teach at a university and there is simply a lot of work necessary outside of classroom teaching.

Still, I can't understand how any teacher could have "no prep" time. Shocked

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject:

It depends a lot on the structure of a school. 20 classes two hours long is a lot different than 40 one hour slots. Teaching the same level, textbook, and material more than once also makes a difference, whereas a world where all classes are on different materials is harder.

Justin

khmerhit · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:13 pm Post subject:

You can shake MY hand, VG!

My old schedule was

3 hrs am
3 hrs pm
1 hr pm
1.5 pm

x 5 days/wk = 42.5/wk

I went for a job on a movie set as an extra, and the casting director said--"You teaach 40 hours a WEEK?"

But I wouldnt vouch for the quality of those hours!

No prep time. No marking time--I threw it all in the can and made up the answers based on what I thought they could earn. But no matter, they learned.

No time for much else except the madness that is Cambodia....I agree with Justin and Valley....