If you are/were a person who is fairly serious about teaching English, and chose to teach children, what conditions of employment would most attract you to a job? Limited hours/many hours, pay, work conditions (which? class size, Chinese assistant, paid time to grade, classroom type or school location, etc…?) Which would be the most important to you?
I’ve only taught in universities here (and one rather broken-down technical school before that) so I’m interested in how those who have experience in language schools/bushibans feel about all this.
Terry
Hours–40/week–roughly 25 hours teaching and 15 for preparation, grading, and meetings/ongoing training or group discussions
Pay–~$900-1,100/hr starting (assuming sevral years of experience), with merit increases and eventual profit sharing 3-5 years down the road. Taxes paid on top.
PAID VACATION AND SICK LEAVE
Retirement plan (hey, you said “ideal”!)
Class size–12-15 for kindergarten, ~20 for elemetary school-aged kids
Chinese assistant–No, at least not in the classroom.
Location: Da An District
Others:
Collaborative work environment.
Teachers should have an office and each should have a desk. There should be an adequate number of computers in the teachers’ room. Perhaps 1 computer/2 teachers.
Parent involvement strongly encouraged.
Require students to bring a tape recorder to class to help them study pronunciation at home.
When you need specific materials, the school gets them for you rapidly and free of charge, no need to ask twice.
… it’s a detail but it can make a difference. At least, failure to do so can make a have a real negative impact.