Headdesks
Doing the actual math recently made me realize why I always feel like I have no free time in Korea.
A native English teacher is supposed to work 40 hours a week, and teach actual classes for 22 of those hours. (Or rather, teach 22 classes, which are counted as hours but are actually 40-50 minutes, depending.) The rest of the 18 hours are spent planning for those 22 hours of teaching. I teach 30 classes a week, with only 10 hours to plan.
Plus, most native teachers only see their kids once a week. Most of them teach 3 grades, and all the classes in the same grade are taught the same material, so they prepare 3 lesson plans a week, one for each grade. My school is really small, so I see my kids twice or three times a week, depending, so I prepare 8 lesson plans a week. I also have 3 after school classes that I see 3 times a week. Plus a first grade class I teach every Friday.
So most native teachers have to prepare 3 lesson plans per week with the 18 hours of non-teaching work time they have. I have to prepare 8 lesson plans for regular school + 9 for after school + 1 for first grade = 18 lesson plans per week with 10 hours of non-teaching work time. :| :| :| Headdesks forever.
It's also frustrating because I KNOW I can be a better teacher, but I just don't have the time to put more effort into my lesson plans. I hate the feeling of walking into a class with absolutely nothing prepared for the lesson that day, and having to resort to just giving them written work because my co-teacher and I can't think of good games on the spot. But it's just impossible to devote too much time to each individual lesson. I get little enough sleep as it is, and it's a horrible idea to teach on low sleep. :\
A native English teacher is supposed to work 40 hours a week, and teach actual classes for 22 of those hours. (Or rather, teach 22 classes, which are counted as hours but are actually 40-50 minutes, depending.) The rest of the 18 hours are spent planning for those 22 hours of teaching. I teach 30 classes a week, with only 10 hours to plan.
Plus, most native teachers only see their kids once a week. Most of them teach 3 grades, and all the classes in the same grade are taught the same material, so they prepare 3 lesson plans a week, one for each grade. My school is really small, so I see my kids twice or three times a week, depending, so I prepare 8 lesson plans a week. I also have 3 after school classes that I see 3 times a week. Plus a first grade class I teach every Friday.
So most native teachers have to prepare 3 lesson plans per week with the 18 hours of non-teaching work time they have. I have to prepare 8 lesson plans for regular school + 9 for after school + 1 for first grade = 18 lesson plans per week with 10 hours of non-teaching work time. :| :| :| Headdesks forever.
It's also frustrating because I KNOW I can be a better teacher, but I just don't have the time to put more effort into my lesson plans. I hate the feeling of walking into a class with absolutely nothing prepared for the lesson that day, and having to resort to just giving them written work because my co-teacher and I can't think of good games on the spot. But it's just impossible to devote too much time to each individual lesson. I get little enough sleep as it is, and it's a horrible idea to teach on low sleep. :\