Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jizzo T. Clown]

When I first started teaching it took nearly two hours for every classroom hour. Then once I "got the hang of it," it only took about 20 minutes. Then after while I just looked at the material a few minutes before I went into the classroom.

Nowadays, I spend anywhere from 2-4 hours per lesson, since I work at a High School and teach the same lesson at least 6x / week, sometimes 12x.

How much time do you spend prepping?

[the_beaver]

It really depends on what I'm teaching.

For a writing class, 1 hour prep for 1 hour teaching, and grading on top of that.

For reading, about 1 hour prep for 1 hour teaching.

For communication classes, I can plan something that students will be happy with in about 15 minutes. I can make it more intricate and interesting in about 30 minutes. 2 hours prep and I can make a kick-ass lesson that gives everybody a buzz (unfortunately, I don't often have the time).

[ttompatz]

[Jizzo T. Clown]

ttompatz--

Of course it is subjective, which is why I asked the question--what's true for one person isn't always true for everyone.

Do you work in a hagwon? If not, don't tell me you're one of these people who works in a public school and complains about "too much free time."

[thegadfly]

The rule of thumb I always heard from professors in my education classes in college was "once you know what you are doing (i.e. have 10 or more years experience) 20 minutes prep for 1 hour of teaching." That was NOT including any grading or paperwork the school may require, and did not include time to become familiar with the material.

I have a class that is reading 25 pages a week in a novel. I have to read 25 pages that week, too, THEN I can start preparing the actual lesson. Lesson prep time: 20 minutes or so. Reading time: depends on when I read it -- at the end of a long day, I barely focus, so maybe 30 minutes or more. If am fresh and fiesty, maybe I can read it in 10. Oh, then I get to check the chapter summaries, vocabulary exercises, and reading quizzes for the week....

That is one of 23 classes a week for me, about average in my schedule -- neither my highest nor lowest prep class.

[tzechuk]

Depends...

Lecture - an hour

Workshop - 20-30 minutes, these are student led seminars, so all I do is think of something to do, give them the info beforehand and let them run with it.

[Vicissitude]

It totally depends on the number of hours you have to teach the class for that lesson. I taught Business English to ESL students who were nearly fluent in English. The classes lasted for almost six hours a day. The material was very complex. I had to teach about the stock markets and how to complete a graph using the same vocab. as you see in the financial section of the major newspapers. My students studied their chapters for hours every night so they came to class five days a week prepared with lists of questions and discussion topics. If you didn't know your stuff inside and out, they would know and they would get upset. So, if you didn't have a good explanation for words such as dividend, stabilized, Black Monday etc. you'd get some really strange looks from students who did their homework and could probably teach you a lesson or two on the subject. Needless to say, I had a lot of research to do on many topics before I felt comfortable planning such a long lesson and to such bright, motivated students. I�m not complaining. I actually prefer getting this type of challenge, but it took quite a while to prepare good lessons under these circumstances.

[SuperHero]

It depends on the content of the lesson.

I've had great 2 hour lessons that only took 20-30 minutes to prep. But my best lesson ever was for three hours and it took 10 hours to prep. But that involved a lot of going over a tv script and re-encoding video ripped from a DVD.

[postfundie]

[Jizzo T. Clown]

In that case you have to resist the urge to teach Business and teach Business English.

[elliemk]

I'd be interested in hearing from teachers who teach at a hagwon. I have about 50 classes a week (25 minutes per class). If I spent 20 minutes per class, I'd been spending about 18 extra hours a week prepping.


So, for one with this many classes, what to do?

[Demophobe]

I prep 1 hour for each minute of class time. Sure, some say its excessive, but I want to make sure that every moment of my time is absolutely overflowing with pure educational goodness. My students get a lot of sudden nosebleeds, temporary edemas and cranial aneurysms due to the sheer volume and undiluted nature of their learning experience.

[isthisreally]

I work a lot of hours every week at a hagwon. I really don't prep anything. There are already premade lesson plans for me, so usually i just make some copies, maybe look at the lesson plan and wing the rest.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Planning, shmlanning.

[jajdude]

No time for prep, maybe a photocopy or two. Oh I could show up earlier sometimes, but my days are long enough, longer than I'd like.