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antitravolta
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:35 am
- Location: United States
I'll preface this by saying I haven't yet taught overseas, but your experiences, although a bit more than what I've had in the states, are pretty similar to my experience teaching in a public and a charter school. My mental approach to the school year is that they own me for the time I'm at school and all those days off we have around the year are when I get it back. There's some stretches it's not that bad and I consider that a bonus. I spend a fair amount of time complaining about all the extra commitments myself, but when it gets down to it, most jobs have 3 weeks or so off a year(4 or 5 if you're lucky). Teaching, I have 14 weeks off a year so you know they have to get some of that time out of you during the school year. The other thing I would say is that the extra commitments are usually worse at the beginning of the year and it settles after a while. Good luck!
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teacherguy
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:11 am
Honestly, very little of what you’re being asked to do sounds out of the ordinary to me. When I began teaching overseas I was shocked, and admittedly pleasantly surprised, at how little of my time was required before, during, and after school compared to teaching in America.
A lot of the things you mention, like meeting parents, dinners, and so on, are pretty typical for the international schools I’ve been at. I looked at it like this: I’m being paid very good money at a very good school where parents are paying A LOT of money to send their kids. Of course there are going to be meet and greets, dinners, nighttime assemblies, and so on. It’s part of the job, and it’s part of the international school culture. Grade level meetings, meetings over certain students, staff meetings… are pretty vital to the functioning of a healthy school. Everybody needs to be on the same page.
Its not always fun. But it is what it is.
Weekends are a different matter. I always considered my weekends to be sacred. There were teachers who would be at the school every weekend running clubs and such. They always volunteered for those gigs though. Every once in a while I may be asked to be a chaperone on a sports team trip somewhere, and when I taught AP history I’d have Saturday study sessions as exam time approached. I enjoyed the trips (free!), and was willing to put in a few extra hours so my students would do well on their AP exam. No big deal, and it certainly wasn’t every weekend.
I guess it depends on how you view “free time.â€
A lot of the things you mention, like meeting parents, dinners, and so on, are pretty typical for the international schools I’ve been at. I looked at it like this: I’m being paid very good money at a very good school where parents are paying A LOT of money to send their kids. Of course there are going to be meet and greets, dinners, nighttime assemblies, and so on. It’s part of the job, and it’s part of the international school culture. Grade level meetings, meetings over certain students, staff meetings… are pretty vital to the functioning of a healthy school. Everybody needs to be on the same page.
Its not always fun. But it is what it is.
Weekends are a different matter. I always considered my weekends to be sacred. There were teachers who would be at the school every weekend running clubs and such. They always volunteered for those gigs though. Every once in a while I may be asked to be a chaperone on a sports team trip somewhere, and when I taught AP history I’d have Saturday study sessions as exam time approached. I enjoyed the trips (free!), and was willing to put in a few extra hours so my students would do well on their AP exam. No big deal, and it certainly wasn’t every weekend.
I guess it depends on how you view “free time.â€
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markholmes
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 10:54 pm
Experience
Your conditions as you describe them are very typical of schools in Asia (I see you are in China). In Europe they are the opposite. Generally teachers arrive 30 minutes before and stay 30 minutes after. In Denmark we had graduation and the end of term lunch. At the beginning of the year there are meeting for PD. In Italy, we had 2 activities, plus graduation, and an optional mass at Christmas at the Vatican. Departs meet once a term, ness something really requires a meeting. The leadership team met far more often.
Your just in the wrong region.
Your just in the wrong region.