Job Discussion Forums

[leeroy]

Come on! Really!

I know that my lessons should be (ahem) communicative, I know I should always have clear goals pedagogically and personally as I walk into the classroom. I should always be prepared and answer my students' questions with accuracy, brevity and clarity. There should always be a good mix of activities/teaching styles - which maximise student enjoyment of the lesson while still effectively achieving my language teaching goals.

But sometimes, I just can't be bothered. The mind can go blank when lesson planning, where "Sod it, we'll do a crossword, page 67-68, the end of unit test then scrabble." will suffice. While the students don't seem so bothered by these lessons, I get a strange pang of guilt sitting on the tube later. "It wasn't a real lesson was it leeroy! Imagine if your CELTA tutor could see you now! She'd kick your arse! "

Is it that I am chronically overworked, underpaid, and undervalued? Is it because I am young and immature, and simply haven't quite worked out "professional responsibility" yet? Or does everyone do this (but not freely admit it on teaching discussion forums)?

[Wolf]

Sounds like overworked/underpaid - itis in your case. I've been there to. 40 CONTACT HOURS per week, minimal preparation time, and getting yelled at for trying different things. Sure I coasted at times. I took flak for trying to prepare proper lessons.

In my current job I try hard. I make a (loose) plan of what I'd like to accomplish during the year, and set out to accomplish it. As I have no access to my students before the class begins, and can't really consult too much with the administration, I don't bother with needs analysis.

I try to plan out my lessons. That being said, I also try to leave my students freedom to proceed as they like. They might spend longer on an activity then I planned, or bore of it quickly. As I teach the same material to several classes during the week, it's pretty interesting to see how different groups respond to the same lessons.

I also assign/grade homework, and prepare/give/grade exams.

And in the oral classes at least, I make my students be communicative. I point out from the first day that a)I expect it and b) I think it's necessary. I've had a very high sucess rate with that approach, all things considered.

I've only got 17 contact hours (7 classes) per week, so that helps.

[Capergirl]

[Cleopatra]

How long is a piece of string?

If I like the class, and feel "inspired", and if the subject matter lends itself to something fun and creative, then I can spend an hour or moree planning a lesson.

however, there have been times (just a few, of course...) when I've waltzed into a class having barely glanced at the pages I'm supposed to be covering. Whether or not students notice the difference, I can't say. The No 1 rule in this "business" - like most - is bluff. If you go in there and look confident, I would suspect that 99% of students won't know you haven't prepared. I don't think they even think in those terms, anyway, unless you're really useless.

Of course, when I'm being observed, I spend ages preparing the lesson...

[Roger]

The advantage of a teaching job is that you can unashamedly recycle your best hits all the time, and each time you reuse a good idea you can focus on what worked previously rather than anticipating what might go wrong this time...

It may strike you as bizarre that my best-planned lessons worked out like a shot in sand... Here I was, expecting student reactions to pre-arranged, pre-orchestrated and pre-rehearsed parts, planned down to every five minutes, and the students simply flunked, leaving me in a sweat, feeling low ("are they bored? What am I doing wrong?").
That was nine years ago, and within weeks I learnt that my students simply weren't up to the task before them - to act in an adult way, asking what bothers them, and replying to my own questions.
Since then, I have seldom planned my lessons so accurately. I follow my intuition, instinct. Of course, I set out some goal ("comprehension", or "SVA"), and the rest is up to personal chemistry and circumstances. Most of the lessons are plain sailing, although I have to admit that in a handful of classes, I get challenged - not so much on theoretical points but on how to do the entertainment bit of my lessons: I often feel I don't want students to practise their fossilised English with me, so I cut that out. I want them to actually learn something new or old, but something they have not mastered yet. Those putting a challenge to me are not the dedicated, motivated and interested students.
Last but not least: if I am not happy doing my job according to my professional conscience, I feel bad, and feeling bad, I can't share any happiness with anybody else. It's of paramount importance for me to feel on top of things, and that's what I am feeling most of the time.
I seldom put in more than half an hour a day preparing old lessons for new students.
That's why I feel so energetic even after so many years!

[Freaky Deaky]

I found that if the students were serious I'd make an effort. If I had another class where the students were just lazy I'd do zero...

[guty]

Im with Freaky,
its a two way thing, Ive been lifted by good students, and drained by bad ones. I generally reach some kind of balance. Of course with good classes it doesnt feel like work, but with bad ones, like in the Gulf ........
In all honesty I dont prepare anymore, cos Ive done it so many times before anyway.

[fat_chris]

B@lls to the w@lls every time man.

[dmb]

I'm with Freaky and Guty. When the job is a joke it's hard to be serious. When the management and the students have given up. Join them. For example when you fail student at level 4 because he can't say 'My name is ..........." then surprise he turns up in Upper Intermediate because he has an uncle who has some "wasta"
Sorry not in the best of moods.
We had a meeting with our contractor today where we were told.
"Sorry we are taking away your cars and moving you into rabbit hutches. "
"But our contract says we are provided with cars"
"Tough. We are changing things. If you don't like it you can leave"
"OK. I'm leaving."
"You cant leave. Your contract says you must give one month notice. BTW Because you are leaving you lose your bonus, holiday pay and flight money"
do you ever feel that your employer will always have the upper hand?
it's ok for them to break the contract but not you.
Does this only happen in the Gulf or is it a big part of our Industry?

[ls650]

I guess I'm lucky. I really like the school and staff where I work, and for the most part the students actually try. I put serious effort into my planning and teaching, and so do my co-workers.

[denise]

I put a lot of effort into planning syllabi and assignments. On a daily basis, the amount of effort I put into the lesson depends on whether or not I'm using a book. I probably use the book about half the time, and when I do, I really don't put too much planning into it--just reading the material, checking the answers, deciding which activities to use/modify/skip. For non-book activities, I spend a lot of time planning and prepping--finding stuff online, designing worksheets, etc.

Another factor is the type of class: for a writing class I had a couple of months back, I had to sit down and write an argumentative paper to use as an example. It was short, but still, I found myself gathering materials on the 'net and from our library, writing a draft, etc., etc. For my speaking classes, I assign a lot of speeches and projects--there is very little work involved in planning them, but they are a pain in the wazoo to grade.

d

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[struelle]

[roadrunner]

Are teachers paid for all this lesson preparation they do?

In all the contracts I've seen, no mention is made of preparation time, just for teaching hours (typically 800-1,000 Euros (net) for 25 hours of teaching).

When I taught at a summer school here in England last August (immediately after completing my CELTA), I spent about 1 hour preparing each 1 hour lesson. This was bearable for the month long duration of that course (for which incidently, no course book was followed, but materials were avaliable for me to use) , but not for an academic year.

More experienced teachers tell me that preparation is only expected if you are paid accrodingly. However, I fail to see how this is possible, and it contradicts everything I learned during the CELTA.

Also, as has been mentioned, I don't like the idea of stumbling my way through a lesson after not having thought beforehand about how I'm going to teach the material.

Do you have any advice about how to achieve a balance between producing effective, enjoyable and interesting lessons without working 50 odd hours a week (which, incidently, would exceed the legal limit in the EU)? Thanks.

[dmb]

I hate to say it but I think lesson planning time shortens after you have a few years under your belt. I remember when i started teaching planning took ages. Sometimes I had to teach the lesson to myself before trying to teach others. Now I open up the book, Think I'm doing this today dig something out of files and do the lesson with no effort atol. Even better got the students to write their own materials