Job Discussion Forums

Nargile57 · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 42 Location: Istanbul

40 hours?
Pah!!!
At one now closed school in Aksary (run by Ali Aksay) I was doing:
a morning week intensive class (15 hours)
a 1730-1920 class 4 days a week (8 hours)
a 1930-2120 class 4 days a week (8 hours)
the they gave me an afternoon class (8 hours)
plus 16 hours at the weekend!
Yes, I was tired, but very very well paid.
And I was in the pub every night.
After teacing for a certain time you just get used to jumping in into lessons with minimal preperation, you know the books inside out.
Interlang here I come!

teacherdude · Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 260

lovelace · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 190

That's great for the old hands. But if you're a new teacher and you want to do your job well, 40 hours a week is a killer. Does nobody here remember planning for hours and being completely flummoxed by some of the grammar? When I was at school we learnt what a verb, noun and adverb were (they obviously didn't think adjectives were important) - nothing else. In the early days of teaching I was learning the advanced grammar the week before the students! Great if you're someone who doesn't mind winging it, terribly stressful if you're not.
The main point is, most of these contracts put your hours at a maximum of 30 or rarely, 35 hours a week. Then they guilt trip, pressure or intimidate you until you agree to do more. It's not the hard work. It's the lies! Crying or Very sad

Guys, try to remember what it's like to be a newbie please.... Shocked

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Lovelace has a point. I remember(sort of) my first ever lesson. I was ... ahem teaching the simple present and continuous. It took abot 5 hours to prepare. I was lucky though. In my first job I was only teaching about 20 *hours a week. The book I was using was NECC. I guess that book is older than the average newbie.

*and 15 hours of that was kids under the age of 12.... so that wasn't real teaching Wink

chip · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

I agree about the hours. As a newbie to the field I was learning the ropes of teaching as we went along. Istanbul-InterLang was my second job. I didn't want 40 hours, I just wanted to earn enough to live on and see Turkey. With the garbage that InterLang was pulling I knew my attitude, as well as my bank account, was going to crash. If you're willing to leave your life and move to a different country, I think the least an employer can be is honest in what the situation will be.
Maybe that's naive, maybe that's why I'm not in Turkey anymore. Thanks, InterLang; lesson learned.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject:

Now I know why they call it the slave trade ,40 friggin hours a week !I don't care how much you were paid, that is just taking the piss!

calsimsek · Joined: 15 Jul 2004 Posts: 775 Location: Ist Turkey

Otterman Ollie: