Job Discussion Forums

[PatS]

I have 16 years experience teaching in the public schools here in California. To do it well takes 50-65 hours a week, and frankly, I'm exhausted and ready to apply for a 2 year leave of absence, at least.

My husband is ready to retire from his airline job.

I have always had the desire to live in another country. When I was young, I "bummed" around South America for 6 months, and have always dreamt of finding a place very different than home and setting up house for a year. I WOULD want to have time to learn the language and feel like I was a part of the community.

My husband is willing. His retirement would mostly go to pay off our mortgage, so I need to earn an income to support us wherever we end up. (We would probably have $300/mo. from his retirement to help.) I am a good teacher, and I could see me being successful teaching English, after taking a certification course.

BUT, I am tired of working 60 hours a week. I want to have a life in addition to teaching. Is it possible to find work where I would only have to put in, say 30 - 35 hours a week, including planning and grading?

Where? Tell me where!

I loved Mexico, Central, and South America, but think I would also love Asia. Frankly, I would be fine with Africa, but worry about my husband's age/health if we get too far out in the boonies.

Can you make a living wage and still make enough money to eat meals out, working less than 40 hrs/week? Share your experiences!

[lajzar]

Let me get this straight. You want a part time job which pays, by local standards, a full time wage?

Nope, I've never heard of such a thing either.

[august03]

Try China, I only work 10 actual hours (20 classes); I prepare lessons for about 5hrs a week. I work at a Primary School and I always have enough time off to do as I please, although the school would prefer me to be in the office for my non-teaching hours. I know some people working at the local middle school and they work only 11 hrs and are not required to be at school between classes, they also have weekends off. Your pay would begin at 4000RMB and rise depending on your qualifications and negotiation skills. I would say that you could demand almost any pay you want because of your education experience and qualifications.

This money would be enough to support your husband; the school will pay for your (not his) airfare and living accommodation, plus holiday pay, travel allowance etc. If you would like the name of an agency that will place you in a reliable and rewarding position in China, PM me.

Good luck with whatever you choose, remember that you will not have to work 30-40 hrs a week in China, I know of no one that does that unless you work in an International school where the pay is much more 10,000 - 20,000 RMB a month, but you'll work for it.

[denise]

Sure it's doable! A full-time teaching contract could easily be under 20 hours. Even with 20 hours of prep time, you're still working less than in California.

I've only been doing this a few years--not nearly as long as PatS--but I've always gotten full-time salaries and still managed to socialize. With teaching hours, office hours, and prep time combined, I usually do about a 40-hour week. Of course, my 3-minute commute really helps, too.

d

[ls650]

[Glenski]

Hmm, lots of questions spring to mind here in Japan...

What did you teach for 16 years? I suspect it wasn't English just because of what you wrote about certification. You don't need it to teach EFL, and for someone as experienced as you, you shouldn't need it at all unless you are terribly weak with the rules of English grammar.

You want to learn the language, work, and live somewhere for a year. Well, here in Japan, conversation schools hire practically anyone, no experience needed, and this bottom rung of the ladder pays about 250,000 yen/monthfor 25-30 hours/week of classroom time. How much prep time you need depends on their teaching format and your unfamiliarity with teaching EFL. The hours are typically noon to 9pm, and you may not even get two consecutive days off for the weekend. That pretty much ruins many people's idea of learning a language unless you are VERY disciplined with your time. Since you are thinking of coming with your husband, your time is even more limited than that of a single person. Holidays are not something you can just take here. You usually get the standard times off that everyone else in the country does, and at that time, travel and lodging fares double or triple. So, sightseeing is fairly limited unless you are quite adventurous or have some money tucked away. To survive on 250,000 yen/month is easy enough for one person, but it is pushing it for two. Your husband would have to work in order to get over this hurdle. Is he willing/able?

Working at these conversation schools will be a serious step down in teaching, too. Very serious. Is that what you want?

There are university jobs and high school jobs, too, but university jobs require a master's degree plus publications as minimum, and most HS jobs won't hire without teaching experience in Japan, from what I've seen. Most public school jobs are taken up by JET ALTs anyway. And, most FT teachers at private schools (which is where I work now) put in at least 10-12 hours a day. Perhaps a job at an international school would be something closer to your liking, but I doubt that the hours would be what you want.

Yes, this all sounds quite negative, but it's just fact about Japan, so don't think I'm some bitter, disillusioned person. I'm not. I just think that you two would find life here quite miserable with the working situation you want.

[Gonzo]

China fits your criteria. Housing supplied, light hours, and even on a lower end salary you won't have to touch savings. Get the English cert. online in your spare time: you won't need it to land a job, but a good course will certainly help you teach, if you haven't taught EFL before. There are lots of threads around about "which course is best?"

[naturegirl321]

China is about that. You work 20 hours and make decent compared to local salaries. I"m looking at Latin America now, most places you work about 20 to 25 hours and can live decently, but probably not as well as a foreign in China.

[nolefan]

In china, a university job will immediately make you part of the upper-middle class working about 14 hours a week and earning about 4000/month.

You cannot beat that! I was working 70-90 hours in the states and barely making ends meat between the rent, car, utilities, uncle sam, etc..... not to mention I did not have a life....

[struelle]

[PatS]

I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to reply to my query. It sound like that while Japan is a wonderful place, and jobs pay well there, most people have to work long, hard hours.

China sounds interesting. Coincidentally, my husband and I are planning a very short pleasure jaunt to Hong Kong over Easter break! We were in China a decade ago, as members of the US team in a sporting event, to an area (Anyang, Henan) where it must have been unusual for Caucasians to visit because we drew a crowd wherever we went. The kids would answer our "Ni hou's" but the adults just stared. I'm not kidding when I say that if I stopped to look in a store window for a minute, I'd have a crowd of 25 people gathered around me, staring silently. (I felt a little like I were an animal in the zoo!)

So China is a definite possibility. What about Cambodia or Vietnam? Anything in Bali?

To answer Glenski's question, my last 16 years have been spent teaching in the primary grades -- kindergarten through second grade -- in self-contained classrooms, which means I teach reading, writing, maths, science, and so on.

I hold a BA, and have a multiple subject teaching credential. (In California, one must earn a BS or a BA before applying to the school of Ed to enroll in a 1-and-a-half-year long credential program. There's no such thing as a BA in Education.) In California, teachers must also earn a CLAD (Crosscultural Language and Academic Development) certificate, because of the number of ESL kids in our classrooms. I'd still feel more confident if I earned a "real" TEFL certificate -- while I don't want to work long hours, I DO want to do a very good job, wherever we go.

Please, if you have experience making ends meet while working 30-35 hours a week, post and tell about your experiences. Thank you so much!

[Irish Blood English Heart]

Pats you could undoubtedly get a work permit to teach in England, earning around 30k a year in London or 25k a year outside ($55k, $45k). Primary school teachers generally work around 7/8 hours a day. If you lived in London you could also find agency work earning similar amounts but just teaching as a supply teacher for maybe 3 days a week?

On the other hand thoug Britain is a far more expensive country than America, food is probably the same but renting a flat in London would set you back 500 pounds a month at least for 1 bedroom. You might also have a long journey to work as transport here is a nightmare and takes ages.

It is a good way to cut down on your hours and save up a bit with the great exchange rate. I lived in London with 2 teachers (one from New Zealand and one from Australia) both were earning around 30k a year here which they spent only about half off to get by, then when they went back to their homelands after 2/3 years work and saw how many dollars it converted into they realised they were loaded!!

Also culture here isnt that different, we have some of the best services in the world etc.

Keep it in mind anyway.

[PatS]

Hello, Irish Blood, English Heart! I LOVE London! One of the absolute greatest cities on Earth. What is a suppy teacher? (I'm thinking from the context that it might be what we call a substitute teacher -- someone who comes in and works for a regular teacher when s/he is sick?)

Actually, I can't complain about the salary I earn here. I am putting away quite a bit. I am just completely over-stressed and looking for something wonderful and exciting and completely different culturally for at least a couple of years after 16 years of working my butt off. I want to live comfortably, but don't really look to saving money. Mostly I want to want to learn another language, feel like I can get along (more or less) in another culture, and make friends who didn't grow up taking for granted the excesses we have here in America. I want to know how part of the rest of the world lives.

Here, teaching has been completely overrun by politicians and we spend almost as much time testing as we do teaching. Much of the curriculum has been thrown out in order to have time to "teach to the test," and teach the children test taking skills/tricks, so George Bush can say that he has improved the schools. (Yeah, we teach writing stories to 5 year olds now, but they don't get to experience the joys of science, because that's not on the test. I don't see this as an improvement.)

As much as I love London, and would love living there some day, I'd like to experience something a little more different at this stage in my life. Thanks for the information, though, maybe it is something I'd try a couple more years down the line.

[SueH]

[Irish Blood English Heart]

Well good luck Pat, im sure you won't have any problems finding your dream position as you have a lot more to offer than most ESL teachers with your experience. Im off to China in the summer and what I (as a novice teacher) can get looks amazing compared to the UK (not in salary but in quality of life), so for someone with your skills im sure you could find a perfect position that offers all you are after,

Good luck