Job Discussion Forums

[nomadder]

This happens to tie in to Naturegirl's Burn Out topic. I was wondering what kind of school people work at and what kind of holidays you get. I would have stayed longer at my old school if there'd been longer holidays so I could have gotten away. It was a conversation school and the holidays were:

nearly a week in May-usually had to work one day though so not good for travel

1 week in Sept which coincided with a few public holidays in Japan which means all airfares were sky high(no pun intended)

2 weeks at Christmas-better than some got but also an expensive time for travel

various public holidays which sometimes made 3 day weekends


Meanwhile a friend who also worked in the conversation business but travelled for most of her gigs got nearly a month at Christmas, 2 weeks in March, a week in May and all of August off plus the usual public ones. That made going abroad much more feasible. Anyone else have any good holiday time or do you have just enough to keep you half sane?

[Capergirl]

I work at a university. I have all holidays off and about 2-3 weeks at Christmas. Vacation is when I choose to take it; it's pretty flexible (although it is unpaid time). We have enough instructors to fill in for each other during those times. In addition to my Christmas break, I only take about 2 weeks for vacation (this year it was in April, next year probably in Feb.). I'll likely be in London again for my vacation next year, so maybe I will be able to meet a few of you guys this time around...a little informal ESL convention.

[nomadder]

No burn out there I would say. I should add that due to my limited holiday time I only left the country once in 2 years for 5 days in Seoul-really expensive ticket too thanks to there being 1 public holiday during that time. I also had 5 days in the Kyoto area. That's it.

[Lynn]

Ten days off per year.
Christmas Day
New Year's Day
Easter Sunday
Thanksgiving Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Memorial Day

(don't remember the other 3)

[denise]

I've got about a month for Christmas, a few days during Japan's Golden Week (not the whole week--d'oh!--but I can't complain...) a month in May/June between contract periods (OK, I guess this one isn't really a "holiday," since technically I'll be out of work), two weeks in August, and Japanese and American national holidays.

The strange thing is that according to my contract, I get 20 paid holidays (not including the national days?!?). I'm sure if I do the math, the above will add up to more than 20. Hmmmm.

d

[Gordon]

Don't shoot me anyone.
I get about 5 months off.
2 months in the summer, 3 weeks at Christmas, 2 months in the spring, 1 week in May.
Sorry.

[denise]

[wanderlust1066]

I get 3 months fully paid holiday as a NET here in Hong Kong, 6 clear weeks of which are in summer. But this is normal for a teacher, right? I mean, when you were at primary school you did not only have 9 days off a year, did you? One way in which I think many teachers of English around the globe can help themselves is by insisting that more holiday be written into the contract.

There is no way you can teach for more than 9 months a year of you are teaching properly.

[Wolf]

About two months' in the summer (unpaid).

About a month during Chinese new year (paid.)

A week in October and May (unless they feel like canceling .)

And this year a few days for a belated sports meeting (3 days next week.)

And the odd Chinese holiday.

I'd give most of it up if it meant having the funds to travel, though.

[shmooj]

At my eikaiwa we get:

7 weeks paid vacation each year including most public holidays.
Of this we can take 21 working days at any time so long as we don't have more than two weeks off at a time.

We fought hard for this flexibility for over two years!!!

[october]

Don't shoot me either.
I get:
2 months summer (july august)
3 week passover (april)
1 week Succot (Dont want to rub it in but im on it now...)
1 weel chanuka (December)
and another little different annoying holidays that amount to about another 3 weeks.
But my salary is a joke.

[Roger]

At a college in China:
- One week of holidays from 1st of Oct. through 7th, National
Holidays (used to be one day, but now is one week; in some
schools - but not mine - teachers had to make up lessons);
- Maybe 3 days at Christmas/New Year (would have to check
my contract, but what's the point?);
- Spring Festival, 2 weeks;
- summer holidays from July through end of August.

Some employers do not pay you any salary during summer holidays.

[Lynn]