Job Discussion Forums

[fgru01]

Hi all

I, like many before me, am in the early stages of my research before moving to Japan to pursue a career in teaching.

I'm really interested to know how peoples average days compare. So, this is open to everyone, what's involved in your average teaching day in Japan?

[geekpie]

I'd like to hear how people's average days go as well- I've done a lot of research over the last few years but it would be great to see how schedules differ as well.

[Glenski]

I think this was posted somewhere, maybe on this or another forum.

I could respond to 3 different types of jobs (eikaiwa, HS, university), to show what sort of things encompassed a FTer's day from my standpoint.

eikaiwa (I worked Mon-Fri.)
Off to work after lunch for 2 80-minute classes. A couple of hours off in between (ate dinner, went over lesson plans, maybe did a level check interview with a prospective student), then another 2 lessons that finished at 9pm. Got home around 10pm.

HS (I worked Mon-Fri, with every other Saturday a half day.)
Morning staff meeting at 8:15. 3-4 45-minutes classes per day, starting at 8:45. Lunch with other teachers, then after the classes were done another staff meeting. Since I had 3 committee meetings per week, there is a chance that an average day would have one of them, conducted all in Japanese. During the day, various interruptions to make photocopies, answer questions from the J teachers, deal with a student's issues (tardiness, cheating, class project, or something), and squeeze in a few minutes of Internet research. After 5pm, find time to look at homework, then meet with other native teachers or JTE to plan lessons. Half the time there was a sports club I had to sit and watch practice for 2 hours. If I was assigned dormitory duty, that meant eating dinner there and staying from 9pm to 11pm just to make sure they studied. Otherwise, out the door around 7-8pm. Home half an hour later.

University
Teach a class or 2 (90-minutes). Answer questions from students about homework. Spend an hour or so managing student interns in the resource center. Work on JALT SIG matters for an hour or more. Then there is always some administrative item (entrance exam, proofreading, questions to/from staff, look at/search for book samples, CALL room / computer room problems), Internet research, lesson planning and homework checking. Out the door around 6pm. Home 10 minutes later.

[TokyoLiz]

Administration/ALT position - start at 8:20am, finish at 4:15pm. I teach 3-6 lessons at more than one ES, and do one day at the office. I'm home by 4:45pm most days.

[rxk22]

Dang Glen, you had it cushy at your eikaiwa.

Mine was. Leave between 8 and 9. Teach 2-3 baby classes. Get a couple hour gap. Then teach 4-5 kids classes. Get home between 8 and 9.

Sat was the same, but with 7-8 classes.

[Glenski]

It was still about 18-20 lessons per week from half a dozen textbooks, trying to keep all of them straight. You can have the kiddies!

[Calico]

Eikaiwa where I visit a different school each week (four in total obviously).

MY average is 3 classes a day. Sometimes 4, a couple 2, and one one class day that all last one hour. I only teach five classes if I'm subbing at somebody else's school, but 3-5 is the regional average I've noticed.

All my classes now start at 5 pm or later (sometimes 6:15). The earliest they start on weekdays is 3:45, sometimes 1 on the weekends at some schools. I work M-F for the most part but there's one six day school that lasts M-Sa. We work based on number of days a month so sometimes I only get one day off a week (but then I'll have a three day weekend the next weekend, or something else to make up for it.)

So example, here was my day today;

Got up at 1pm (I usually go to bed around 5am, so there you go), Left for work at 3:15pm. This week I'm working at the school in the town I live in so I walked, but it takes about a half hour to walk there without stopping anywhere. Did lesson prep, went through my faxes, did some cleaning and reorganizing for my week there all while jamming to my ipod (we work alone in my company so we can pretty much do whatever in the down time.) First class started at 5, and I had three one hour classes. Finished at 8:30. Had to wait about 15 minutes for a student to be picked up and then did my cleaning and lesson reports. Left around 9pm to go grab dinner and go home. Got home at 10:30 pm (because I ate out and played DS).

Three classes (or less!) ain't a bad deal at all, but at this school in particular the classes themselves can be pretty rough so I'm ready to be done when it's done.

(Every couple of weeks there's a two hour staff meeting in the morning too. With my sleep schedule that can be brutal, but I get back in time to squeeze in a nap so I'm not dead for classes.)

[Inflames]

Like Glenski, I've worked in different places so I have different experiences. Here's my day at a uni or senmon gakko part-time:

Get there for the morning meeting (if working the first lesson) - usually 10 or 20 minutes before the first class.
Teach your classes (from 1 to 4 90 minute classes in a day, although 2 or 3 is very common and 1 is quite rare), the go back to the teacher's room and get stuff ready for your next day there (making copies, picking out tapes, etc.). If there are problem students or someone stopped coming (especially in the beginning) talk to their teacher about them. Total time is teaching time plus 10 to 15 minutes.

[timothypfox]

Teach at private high school and junior high as a full teacher (not ALT).

Staff meeting at 8 AM

3 mornings a week for about 5 minutes - do a short home room (as an assistant homeroom teacher to 2 class). homeroom is also in the afternoon for the same amount of time.

teach 1-2 classes of 50 minutes a day on mon, tues, and fri, with 5 - 50 minute classes on wednesday, no classes on thurs, and 2 classes on saturday. Yes, saturday work is until 1:30.

help with afternoon souji (cleaning) about 10 minutes.

preparation 1-2 hours depending on the day (and whether it is exam time in which case grading). photocopying, popping my head out for various assemblies that might happen, answer students questions (rarely asked), answer J teachers questions (rarely asked), have occassional meetings with native speaking staff, help students study for eiken and prepare speeches for speech competition.

many hours surfing the Internet ... and looking busy until 5:30 pm when the school buses come...

[Jalapeter]

Here's my typical schedule. I work at an international elementary school.

Start at 9am with 2 or 3 45 minute lessons.

Break for lunch at 12.

2 or 3 45 minute lessons in the afternoon, finishing at 3.30.

I take music or ESL lessons after school and am usually finished by 4.30-5, getting home around 5.30 - 6.

[nimaime]

I'd love to work at an Elementary school in Japan! Japan was always my dream, I'm in Korea now because of the job situation. I LOVE my job, kids, coworkers, etc but my heart has always belonged to Japan.

I would love to see the differences in student's behavior, personalities, education system, etc.. but my job is too good to quit and my first job in korea was hell, so it would be a gamble... I doubt I could live as comfortable in Japan and it would be tough to match my current job ANYWHERE!

Maybe if I stay 2 more years or so here and save up more I can do it. I'm 31 now, I guess I still have some time...

Basically, Japan is my end goal. Sorry to go off course a bit here. Your posts just aroused my curiosity about my favorite next door neighbor!

[Shimokitazawa]

[natsume]

[rich45]

[natsume]