Job Discussion Forums

killian · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:34 am Post subject: how long is a "teaching hour"?

how long is a "teaching hour" as in "...teacher will teach 100 teaching hours..." ?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Usually 40 to 50 minutes

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

it depends

tedkarma · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:16 am Post subject:

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

And when they compute those forty minutes as only 2/3 of an hour, then if you have a maximum of four teaching hours a day, then they will give you five classes (or in the case of my old Board of Education, when you had a maximum of three 50 minute junior high classes with a Japanese Teacher of English per day, that somehow translated to five or occasionally six 45 minute elementary classes with a Home Room Teacher who spoke zero English and just stood at the back of the room, or would try to leave and get a cup of coffee, per day).

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

Call me old-fashioned, but an hour is sixty minutes. Whoever dreamt up the concept of the "teaching hour" and the "pedagogical hour" should have been sentenced to clean Imelda Marcos' shoes for thirty years, whatever that is in teaching hours.
Why can't managers say "a fifty-minute lesson"?

killian · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:41 am Post subject:

yes, it is all pretty innane. the recruiter tells you a teaching hour is a class session. then you take the long flight, get to the school and a teaching hour is now sixty minutes.

the difference? 100 classes vs. 130 classes.

malu · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 1344 Location: Sunny Java

It is something you need to clarify before accepting a position. My present employer calls single class sessions of 40 minutes 'teaching hours' and, fortunately, my contractual obligations are stated in 'teaching hours'.

I used to work for a school where teaching hours were 50 mins each but hours for pay calculation were 60 minutes. Not nice! Especially as this wasn't very clear in the contract - but partly my fault for not checking.

tedkarma · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:38 pm Post subject:

It's not really anything to get super stressed over - things are different in different places. Things are not always defined the way we would like or think them to be. Such is life overseas.

Just get it clear on your contract - at least ASK before you take job: "How long is a contact/classroom hour?" and "How are my wages computed?" (seems a common sense question, no?)