Job Discussion Forums

[Kootvela]

I was wondering how free are teachers to decide upon their teaching. I mean this: working in IH, we had so called levels, whic meant that pages x to xx are to be covered this term with this group. No less but not more. Now I am a freelancer and I do whatever I see is necessary and I am free to choose the units to cover or to skip as I see necessary.

What about you?

[Glenski]

Gee, which experience do you want to hear about?

conversation school
freelance private lessons
private high school
university

Everything is different, and I imagine different countries vary, too.

[Kootvela]

[Glenski]

Private HS in Japan is as competitive as anything else. In fact, most job openings aren't even advertised publicly, and you'd need a year or more of teaching experience here just to get your foot in the door.

As for freedom of teaching, it varies. Mainstream schools have textbooks, even private HS. Mine didn't most of the time. Teachers worked grueling hours (6 days a week half the time), too. Teaching is just part of one's responsibilities. I taught at a private HS for 4 years in Japan. Solo classes, team-taught classes, oral communication, reading, writing, speech-making, projects courses, TOEFL prep. We had syllabuses to follow, of course, but if there was a textbook, it was selected by someone who had never taught the course, and you had no choice but to use it. With no text, you had the obvious freedom to do what you wanted, but it also meant a heckuva lot of photocopying! Team-teach, and you have to squeeze in the time to meet to plan lessons, and if your partner is a Japanese teacher, good luck in finding that time. If it's a part-timer, even more good luck. PM me if you want more details, but bottom line is, freedom isn't all it's cracked up to be.

As for the "franchise", let's just take eikaiwa (conversation school) in general. Textbooks are usually provided, and I'd hazard to say that most eikaiwa also have their own formats, or at least a schedule you have to meet in order to finish the texts. I taught eikaiwa for almost 4 years. We had 11 textbooks to cover the range of courses offered! Not all courses had textbooks, though. Freetalking courses don't, plus I taught a couple of specialized courses where I had to make my own materials. Again, it was a photocopying nightmare. Had to use lots of recycled paper, and there was no Internet connection available (1998, by the way, so yes there was Internet around, but my school was too cheap to offer it to teachers). Teachers were given the textbooks, but given the freedom to make lessons any way they wanted just to fill the schedule, but other eikaiwas may be different and may require teachers to do certain things in each class. As for fixed levels, it's a crap shoot. Some schools don't have them, while others do. When they do, you might really, truly, honestly have people who have been tested beforehand to assure the class is a homogeneous population, or IMO you will more than likely have just a room full of people that got there by a 5-minute interview from one of the staff or teachers. It's a business, so staff often overrode the interview decisions we made as teachers (and native English speakers), and as a result, we ended up with classes that 2 friends wanted to join, even if they were totally different levels. Money is money, and the staff didn't want to turn down a paying customer.

[coffeedrinker]

I've taught in private language schools in Eastern Europe, one was a franchise and the other not, and it was also as the OP described: level X covers these units. There may be a different teacher next term (8 or 16 weeks), or students may change groups, so there isn't really any picking up slack next term.

You can of course adapt or skip things, and bring in your own activity from time to time, but usually time is tight (students want the most for their money) and bringing in a whole lesson (text, activity which builds on itself) meant skipping something in the book.

There was usually a test based on the book, and how seriously it was taken varied - but generally - pretty seriously. If you skip something in the book and it was on the test, you can adapt the test. This is not all that bad for one class, but you teach all different levels and may not teach the same one again for a while, so it adds up.

The few freelance classes I taught - or the rare private one that didn't strictly follow a book - were great because of that freedom.

[denise]

I've never worked for a franchise or a private high school. Or a public high school either, for that matter. But based on my years in universities and private (non-franchise) institutes, I'd say, as already pointed out, it really varies. I've never been required to stick to exact page numbers, but I have had jobs in which certain units were covered by final exams and I was expected to cover them... how I covered them and if/how I supplemented or modified things was up to me. I've also had jobs where I designed everything in the class. I was given some suggestions on textbooks--things that had been used in the past, etc.--and then I designed the syllabus and exams. I liked the freedom.

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[arioch36]

In China, the basic rule is if the students are happy, the school is happy, and you can do whatever you want.
the one exception is some of the "international" or "foreign language" schools that offer some kind of credit from a foreign organization, designed to get the student accepted at a foreign college. I taught calculus, math at such a school. Here it was an Australian group that made the textbook, determined how many weeks each lesson should take, and made the tests, and all rules. The book needed to be followed closely, and was okay.

At the high school I taught at, (teaching english) if the students were doing well, I could do whatever I wanted, show them a movie, take them to the park ask the school to get the textbook ... complete freedom, as long as the students did well.

language mills here usually have a set textbook someone who may or may not have taught oral english decides on. But at the older level, students happiness is of more importance then strictly following the text. At the younger level, there is a series of books one must often complete, on paper at least. If the student is doing poorly, and hasn't learned all of the tasks in book one, most teachers and school admins are determined to "pass" the students to the next level regardless. And if you have the nerve not to pass the child, be prepared to to face the wrath of a parent who has been told for years that their child is superior, thus you must be an inferior teacher.

At the uni ... mostly worthless books, and little success persuading the to get texts that could actually be helpful. Texts are usually chosen by those who have never taught the class (perhaps kickbacks involved in the form of favours)
As long as my classes are considered "successful", students are happy, I can do what i want. Freedom .. much more then in the states

My experiences

[GF]

I work at a private high school in Tallinn and we have a lot of freedom, but a lot of responsibility comes with it. We get to choose our own books and supplementary materials, and pretty much get to run our classes as we see fit. Our main task is to prepare the students for the state English exam (nearly 100% take it) because it is often a main factor for which university they get into. Teachers are rated on how well their students perform on the exam. Student-parent satisfaction plays a part as well, but not as much.

[Jetgirly]

Public K-12 system: Students are divided by age, not English level. There are three "general outcomes" that must be met, but the criteria for achievement is divided into five levels, from beginner to advanced. You will likely have students from all five levels in your class, with a variety of L1s represented (and about 50% of students will be the only speaker of their L1 in the room). It would be impossible for anything to be set in stone with classes like these, so we have almost 100% freedom in how we achieve the general outcomes. Once a student reaches level five, he or she no longer attends ESL classes. This could happen in Grade 2 or Grade 12. There are no provincial exams for ESL because so many levels are in the same grade; instead, students take regular tests to determine their BICS/CALP levels and are phased out of ESL as necessary.

Franchise: Ha ha ha ha... freedom? The company used written placement tests to put students in classes that focused on oral communication, in which we were "forbidden" from using the textbook and doing writing activities during class time. Company-developed resources were pushed on students to make a profit, and once a student has paid EUR 60 for a textbook, as a teacher you can't just use it as a doorstop (or toilet paper). However, management was willing to overlook certain educational "indiscretions" as long we showed lots of cleavage, were willing to work alone in the building with male students at night, and the secretaries got good Christmas gifts from our students.

ESL Offshoot of Local Community College - A good amount of freedom. A variety of textbooks had been pre-ordered by the previous teacher so I didn't have a say, but I was free to do what I wanted and I was also free to get the students out of the classroom as much as possible (as they had six hours of classes a day... with me!). I was also free to bill as I pleased, and billed the school for prep time (this became a big issue when the school told me I HAD to find job placements for the students, to which I replied "that's not in my contract!", to which they replied, "we don't care"). I was often billing ten hour days, of which only six were in the classroom.

[ecocks]

Private Students: Well you're in control so you set the materials, lesson plan, activities, etc. and, of course, the fees. So if that isn't the best situation, I cannot imagine what could be.

Franchise Schools: Seem to have set curriculum with little or no tolerance of supplemental materials. Where I am teaching EFL, we can add things on for homework or if we finish the required lesson early, however we are responsible for finishing the plans since the material is covered by other teachers and testing.

Group Classes through Schools: These seem to be the same wherever you go. The school offers or the client selects a curriculum (Market Leader, In Company, Headway, whatever) and delivers it. Sometimes you can introduce supplemental material although trying to get them to buy a new book after agreeing on price and format can be challenging.

Specialized Programs: Teaching TOEFL, GMAT or other test prep situations should probably be highly structured although an experienced teacher can mix supplemental materials into the agreed-upon content.

While I do teach in English at a public institution, the subject is not EFL but I was free to select my material from the school's English language library and the Internet. Through use of PowerPoint and handouts teachers normally add materials to the lessons and often have to pre-teach vocabulary.

Arioch, Glen and others bring out the real truth though, in the private situations, the customer's satisfaction is what really counts. They are casting a vote of confidence in their teacher and the program according to their needs, not the school's perceptions. I have one customer who meets me at the doorway with memos, emails and articles he has received in the course of business and wishes me to explain them to him. I have read legal agreements and explained them, helped plan vacations, outlined visa requirements and discussed personal relationships all within the classroom environment and have a core of satisfied students.

[Kootvela]

[Kootvela]