[clivehawkins]

Quote mesmark

To ring me in at... 34 classes/week

That's in the off season. From April to October I have nursing college classes as well. I generally have about 6 a week there to totally do me in.

That's really heavy. Is that normal for where you are or are you just particularly hard-working?

And where the hell did you get the time to do those pumpkin carvings?????

[susan53]

Quote clivehawkins

And where the hell did you get the time to do those pumpkin carvings?????

Not to mention running a couple of websites ... and having a family ...

I'm in Milan, Clive. Which probably means higher prices than in Sardinia - but that works both ways : higher income, but also higher cost of living .... and no beach

[mesmark]

My workload is heavy and I'm bursting at the seems. I'm actually at the breaking point where I might need to hire someone. The problem is I don't really have the facilities for a two teacher operation.

Anyway, I'm saving for a house and for the future. I discuss the whole thing about once a week with my wife. We've sort of come to the conclusion that I'll work hard for a few more years and then back off.

I don't watch TV, and although my time with my kids might only be an hour or two each day, it's time spent playing together, reading books, drawing and whatever. I guess what I want to say is it's how you spend your time that counts.

All of my English school classes are very similar, so I can repeat the prep. The nursing college classes are the same each year. So, now that I'm going into my third year I just need to do a little changing here and there. Take out a few flops from last year and add in a couple new and hopefully better activities.

I do have a few websites but everything I make for my English school classes is what you see on www.mes-english.com or www.mes-games.com and my nursing college classes materials go on www.hospitalenglish.com . Other stuff is just for fun and web activities are sort of a hobby.

I did have to take a few weeks off from a lot of things to get Halloween ready, but it was well worth it. Check out these party pics www.marks-english-school.com/news/ (The party was more work than the pumpkins.)

[livinginkorea]

Interesting topic!

About two years ago I was working at this private institute and since I was too easy then I was walked all over and ended up doing 50 classes a week. Yep 10 classes from Monday to Friday and they wanted me to work Saturday as well. Granted that the pay was good (about 3,500 euros) but I was dying after a while. My classes started to suck big time, I wasn't prepared as I wanted to be and I have little or no free time. At the weekends I could do nothing as I was sleeping all the time.

Then I had to say no. I had to cut back. The managers and owners were major pissed off and didn't care that my teaching wasn't as good as before and I got very annoyed at their indifference and reminded them that my wife also worked at the same school. To make a long story short, the owner threw a computer on the ground and we (wife and I) walked out.

Fast forward to now where I am 10 times happier. Money doesn't mean anything if you don't have time to spend it! I am doing all part time classes, mostly on M, W and Fri and have the afternoons off on T and Thur. If I wanted to work more then I can easily but I have the right balance now. I am just looking for one or two private classes and then I will be more than happy. With the wife teaching too it's definitely easier on both of us to be honest so we can enjoy life more.

[clivehawkins]

Quote livinginkorea

About two years ago I was working at this private institute and since I was too easy then I was walked all over and ended up doing 50 classes a week. Yep 10 classes from Monday to Friday and they wanted me to work Saturday as well.

That's insane! Have the people who run these institutes ever taught? It seems not. You just end up with tired, grumpy resentful teachers.

As teachers we're lucky in some respects that it's fairly simple to work a little extra if you need a little extra money. Private lessons are never hard to come by and you can pretty much pick and choose what you do. It's difficult to do the same if you're a secretary or shop assistant. However, going back to the original point, at some stage 'no' is the only answer. Otherwise you just end up burnt out and another casualty on the TEFL scrapheap.

[Whistleblower]

Quote clivehawkins

However, going back to the original point, at some stage 'no' is the only answer. Otherwise you just end up burnt out and another casualty on the TEFL scrapheap.

Clive you highlighted an interesting area to be honest. My contracted work is 35 hours teaching per week. I don't teach this but I have 28 classes per week, thus 28 hours. At times I get very stressed, and due to a lack of management at my Hagwon, and don't seem to be able think about topics per classes. At other times I get an inspiration for topics. This is further helped by this website.

Furthermore, my wife has some classes in the morning and evening and if my wife is stuck for topics or anything I help out preperation wise.

So I have a pretty heavy workschedule plus the time to look after my son blah blah blah blah clean the apartment blah blah blah blah and cook at times blah blah blah blah.

I would always say "No!" if I had to. It is important for teachers to stand their ground and assert a form of professionalism within the profession or people take advantage of you.

In the ideal world, I would rather be a freelance and pick and choose the schools or classes to teach.

[clivehawkins]

Quote susan53

I'm in Milan, Clive. Which probably means higher prices than in Sardinia - but that works both ways : higher income, but also higher cost of living .... and no beach

Just in case anyone is curious, most teachers in private language schools here in Cagliari get between 15 and 19 euros an hour (gross) depending on experience and qualifications.
Work at the University is paid at 31 gross and there are some government courses that pay a bit more again.

An average teacher will work around 25 hours in the school, so taking home somewhere in the region of 1400 per month. This is October to June. October, December, April are short months ie there are holidays so you'll earn less. Holidays are rarely paid and neither are days off sick.

The average rent for a small appartment is around 400-500 per month plus bills. You can certainly survive but the tough part comes in the summer when most schools are closed - 3 months without a pay cheque is no joke.

Is it the same where you teach? A lot of you are in Korea it seems - how are things there?