Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madhatter]

Hey everybody,
I just got back from Korea last winter and at a vocational school for adults in the USA. I've been working here part time for 4 months (20 contact teaching hours per week) but starting next week I will be working 40 contact hours Monday - Thursday (8am - 1pm, 6pm - 11pm). Plus prep. They're two groups of adult students for 5 hours with each group. I'm used to the way things work around here and it's actually a nice school so Im not worried about knowing what to do.

My question is: Have you ever taught 40 contact hours in 4 days? The life saver is the 3 day weekend and the money is too good to refuse. Any tips on prepping with this schedule? Any tips on staying on top of everything (without taking amphetamines?)

I've only been teaching for 1 1/2 years and any help would be great.

[SteveSteve]

This is a lot of teaching hours! To be honest, I think that might burn me out after a couple of months. I would try to plan ahead as far in advance as possible. And do you have multiple sections of the same class? If so, you could reuse and recycle lesson plans and activities.

Thank goodness you have a long weekend and good luck!

[edwardcatflap]

Any school that allows people to teach that many hours in a day is selling a sub standard product to its customers in my opinion. Students in the last couple of hours of the second session will be getting a much worse deal. My tip would be, don't do it for the sake of professionalism, but if I had to give you teaching tips, i'd have to know a bit more about the level and the syllabus first

[Whistleblower]

Dogme style lessons. All you need is some coloured paper, pens and a whiteboard. Follow the students not the lesson plan.

[WadRUG'naDoo]

How many groups altogether? Do you teach the same two groups every day?

Anyway, keep up to date on current events. If you have a book for your curriculum, that's a plus. Being able to teach grammar and explaining it will come in handy. You can just get that with whatever text you may be using.

[Troglodyte]

It might be possible to do it without burning out, but it would depend on the schedule. If you are teaching a bunch of different groups but using the same syllabus and book for each, then you can re-use the same lesson over and over again.

The stress will come with there are problems with the students or their parents. Since you have double the course load, you'll have double the problems, and more likely your boss will be breathing down your neck telling you what a crappy teacher you are and threatening to fire you if you don't please everyone. On top of that, if you have to individualize the lessons... you will have no time to sleep even. You only have to snap once in front of a student, class, co-worker, the boss, etc and you're going to be in a difficult situation for the rest of your stay.

[Son Deureo!]

I'm sure it sounds tempting because you'll have 3 day weekends every week, but those hours sound absolutely horrible. Don't do it.

[madhatter]

Thanks for the feedback.
They're adult classes, so parental issues are not a problem. They are 2 groups of different students. I have each group for 5 hours a day. We have books, curriculum and are not required to make lesson plans. Just follow the books (example: Week 1, Chapter 1)

It's not a lot of prep (thank god). It's just the matter of waking up at the crack of dawn and not getting home till almost midnight. I'll only get about 4-5 hours of sleep each night but its only 4 days. Come Thursday night, Im free.

[WadRUG'naDoo]

[Troglodyte]

[madhatter]

[Troglodyte]

the lump sum of money looks really good, but if you calculate it, it's not that much.

Consider that you'll make 2.3 million Won (1900 USD) on a normal contract with 30 hr/week.

Private classes pay about 40,000 Won/hr. So for your extra 10 hours per week (40hr/month) the school would pay a part-timer 1.6 million Won (1300 USD). Even if you work the standard overtime rate of 20,000-25,000 Won/hr that would be at least 650 USD/month. So you're really only making the standard salary offered by most schools. They are just compressing your classes into 4 days.

For the salary that they are offering, I'd turn them down.

[shl82]

Just do it.
I have worked in adult language institute.
Not so bad once you get adjusted to your schedule.
Plus, you will have 3 day weekend.
Not too many jobs out there with those conditions.
I say it is better than most.

[madhatter]

Yeah, in Korea it wouldn't be that good of a deal. Especially since I'm not getting paid for any prep. But as a young person with only 1 year experience and no form of teaching degree, it's not so bad....especially in America. I think I was kinda lucky to get an ESL job in America with hardly any qualifications.

If I quit, I'd probably end up getting 8 bucks an hour at Wal Mart.

[WadRUG'naDoo]

Yeah, just do it. Don't give them any fuss about the pay. Might turn out to be pretty cool. Don't worry about prep too much. Your teaching 40 hours/week. That's enough work. If they have books, that's great. Three days off is also great.

Break a leg!