Tuesday, February 9, 2010

my job

I have been working for three weeks now and I was waiting to see how it would go before making any public observations. In all honesty, I was stressed and working like crazy the week before I started. I had three classes starting the same week and I had to prepare my classes without any textbooks and with very little knowledge about my students. The first week was difficult and I started to wonder if this job was viable; I am paid for 10 hours, but I was working 40 hours of unpaid time just to get prepared. Once I had my first classes, things fell into place.  It all came back to me and I actually enjoyed the experience, which was somewhat of a surprise for me! I find the teaching experience to be energizing and I have gotten my prep time into perspective. There are still a couple of hours of prep to do before each class, but it's much less than the first week.

I have three classes at the moment, with a fourth starting next week. Two of my current classes, as well as the one starting next week, are groups of two people and they all come from the same company. I'm teaching everyone, from the secretaries and the technicians to the administrative director. I have one other class that is with a retired British woman who is learning French. Yes, you heard it right - I'm teaching French in France!  I think my boss gave me this class because I am anglophone and I can relate things back to English, if needed.

So next week I'll be teaching 12 hours per week. It's still not a full-time job, but what's good about it is that most of my classes are in the late afternoon/early evening, meaning that I have most daytimes to get other things done. I have a couple of auditions coming up that I need to practise for, so I'm happy to have a bit of extra time to myself.

These classes are all contract work and so far I am committed until the end of March, with one class going until May, and I am still waiting to see how things progress before committing to more. If I decide to continue on, we will likely look for another place to live that is closer to the city.

No comments:

Post a Comment