Here are some tips to help you survive your experience, its just common sense!
1. LESSON PLANNING
Where possible, always plan your next lesson as SOON as possible. Try to enter your planning notes into your teacher planner IN the lesson. Try it…. ¾ of the way into your lesson find 2- 3 minutes to write in your planner what you plan to be doing with that class in the NEXT lesson.
2. RESOURCES & SCHEMES OF WORK
Do not reinvent the wheel! Presenting the same information in a different format is usually POINTLESS. The personalisation of the lesson will come from your own individual style of teaching. Do not create work for yourself; you already have enough to do. Use the resources you have been given in their EXISTING format. If your school’s schemes of work are poor and hard to teach from encourage your head of department to source free or buy in quality ready to teach schemes of work/projects.
3. NO WORK AT HOME
Leave your work at school. Set yourself a specific time to end your working day. Remember school finishes at around 3pm and most ‘normal’ jobs do not finish until 5pm anyway. So stay on after 3pm and choose a time to end your working day that works for you and be STRONG…if you have not completed your to do list by your set time STOP. Go home LEAVE your computer at work; leave EVERYTHING, no marking no anything. It CAN wait. Deal with it tomorrow with a fresh mind. By working until 5pm, for example, you will gain 10 hours per week which should be enough time to fit your workload into a standard working week. If you feel you need to get some things done, do it after school, AT school
4. GO OUT MID-WEEK
Break up your week. Go out mid-week... make sure you get out of the house... go to the cinema or to a restaurant... if possible go out with NON-TEACHER friends DON’T talk about teaching/work. There are plenty of like minded people who also want to do the stuff you do. Social media and word of mouth in the expat community in BKK will certainly help you find what you’re looking for.
5. NO WEEKEND WORK
Outside of extracurricular commitments you are NOT PAID to work at the weekend! There is no other profession in the world that ‘expects’ its workforce to work at the weekends for FREE. Unless it is ABSOLUTELY essential DO NOT do it. Take the time to recharge yourself physically and mentally.
6. TAKE YOUR BREAKS
Do not work during your breaks. MOVE away from your computer. Have a proper BREAK.
If possible, or relevant, set pupil detentions for after school NOT during morning break or lunchtimes.
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