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40 hour week: fact or fiction
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skppen67



Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:18 am    Post subject: 40 hour week: fact or fiction Reply with quote
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.
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ls650



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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.

Last edited by ls650 on Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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guangho



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 476
Location: in transit
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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.
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Boy Wonder



Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 453
Location: Clacton on sea
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
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.
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PAULH



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:13 am    Post subject: Re: 40 hour week: fact or fiction Reply with quote
skppen67 wrote:
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.


You dont say where you plan to work but a full time job you will get anything from zero to a couple of weeks paid holiday spread out over the year. In Japan you get probably 5 weeks of national holidays and days off, but only a fraction of that is paid vacation time.

You might get a week off here and there but its unpaid. You also have the cost of hotels, trains, planes (I have hitchhiked around western Japan) and food costs. It all adds up.

If you only plan to do it for a year it does mean that you simply plan to use a teaching job overseas to fund your travel hops. Teaching does become a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

Lots of working tourists in Japan and Korea who work 50 weeks of the year and take off to Thailand whenever they get the chance.
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
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

Can you clarify what this means? Are you figuring that you could work a week in Kyoto (for example) for 40 hours, then do some sightseeing to spend that money, then pop over to Hiroshima for a couple of weeks of 40 hours each, tour the country a bit, hit Tokyo for a week of 40 hour lessons, etc.?

I'm hoping not, but I'm not sure. Obviously, one would have to live in a hostel or hotel (or pitch a tent somewhere) to live like that. And, nobody would hire you for such microscopically small hours.

If you simply mean get a full-time job, work a few months, then move on, it's about the same (in Japan anyway, where contracts are for a year).

If you mean work a 40-hour week somewhere and have the free time (weekends or holidays) to sightsee, it depends. You might not get 2 consecutive days off for your weekend in the beginning. You might not be allowed days off for the first 6 months. You might not be able to afford the sightseeing.
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JZer



Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Factor in office hours, lesson prep, marking, and other paperwork hassles and you're talking a 40+ hour work week.


I wonder who actually spends 20 hours a week preparing their classes. I bet there are posters that spend no time on class prep. I bet that in some cram schools preperation time is about pointless since they just want you to go throught the book anyways.

If one is working in a university they may need to spend substainal time on preperation but i bet that many jobs dont require much prep. I also was told about one woman who teaches 9 freshman english classes a week. They are all the same, so she spends like 4 hours preparing a lesson on Sunday and gives that lesson 9 times. Her total hours per week are around 16. Twelve or so hours of class time by 4 hours prep. Maybe 2 office hours a week. So maybe around 18 hours a week.
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Spinoza



Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Saudi Arabia
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote