Korean Job Discussion Forums

[boogiet]

Hi guys,
Thanks for you tips on my last post.
One position that I was considering was from 1:30 to 9:30. 2 hours prep and 6 teaching, more or less.
My question is: in a case where there are 2 hours prep:
1. Does that suck?
2. Are you able to work on lesson plans etc for say 1 hour, and then work on a website/personal work for the other hour? Do they watch you? Do they care?
Thanks again,
Boogs

[Don Gately]

[Milwaukiedave]

I think Don is right. It's also a matter of how organized you are and how you use your prep time. If you wait until the last minute you can really screw yourself and your students.

[Homer]

[Hater Depot]

Or if you work at my school, you are unfortunately not expected to spend any time on lesson planning.

[Zack_in_Korea]

Multi-tasking is key. Even during clas time. lol... anyways at a Poly School where I work coming in 2 hours is standard.. or you have 2 hours between kindy and elem students... but my school specifically says 50 minutes, lets us get away with 30 and even I don't come in that early usually... and only eat during prep time. We just open the book in class and see what we have to do. However, that being said, you have to be a competent, versatile, and likeable teacher to be able to wing it and accomplish sumthing. Also, during the classes I constantly write notes for myself to find a supply, or make an activity later on, during my own time for the next class.. so I do prep, just in my own way. I am always on the ball and that's what matters most, as long as your boss feels you are doing the job in the end.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

At some hogwans what you're supposed to teach is all layed out so prep time may only require 20 miinutes; however, you may still be required to sit at your desk for two hours before lessons start. Sometimes this is just to have you on display for parents coming and going.

At my old hogwan I put in far more prep. time than any of the other FTs. We were supposed to spend from 2.00 to 3.10 doing prep. before lessons started. However, I managed to piss off the boss by coming in right after my late-morning kindy class, spending an hour doing prep. when no one was there and the computer and photocpier were free, and then disappearing til 3.00. So not only was I doing more work than anyone else and demonstrating how crappy some of their material was by coming up with my own, I wasn't on display during the critical 2-3 time slot when mothers would most frequently come by.

If it turns out you like your place of work don't sweat it if you have an hour a day to kill at your desk. Us public school teachers typically have 2-8 hours a day to kill at work.

[jacl]

Prep time? Hmm.

[chinook]

At the Poly School I worked at we could do just about anything during prep time, including leaving the building to run errands, eat, read newspapers, etc, but we could not check email. that was very much verboten. don't know why.