I realised today: At BeiGongDa, each teaching period is 45 minutes. So, 22 “class hours” is actually only 16.5 real hours. That’s right, only 16 and a half hours in actual face to face contact with the students. That’s not so bad. Of course, there’s still preparation and marking and all that, but still….. All of a sudden, my workload doesn’t look so bad.
And it’s a little disturbing, but that programme I worked on for two years is really going to come in handy- I’m going to have to write up an outline for the courses I’m teaching and hand it into the boss. After two years of being forced to do this kind of paperwork (and having all the hows and whys patiently but forcefully explained to me), that’s not going to be too difficult. I’ve already got unit 1 sketched out already, it’s just a matter of sitting down and working through the rest, which
- won’t take too long, and
- will cut down on time spent on paper work drudgery later on
And my colleagues seem like a pretty decent and interesting bunch, too.
So despite a few minor disasters, like losing my watch, then finding my watch only to discover it had stopped, discovering the pen had been stolen off my desk, then arriving late for class this afternoon because I had to interview a prospective student, I’m feeling pretty positive about this job.
