Desk Warming

What is Desk Warming?

To put it simply it means that when the students are away on school holiday, and the school is closed, many native English teachers are still required to come to school and sit at their desks. You are generally required to be there for the same number of hours that would be at school normally, for some that is 9-5, for others that is 8:30-4:30.

On the positive side you have access to a computer and the internet but there are no students to teach and there is only so much preparation that you can do. Many teachers like to sit and watch movies or streamed television and facebook becomes your best friend! Some people alos use this time to study - online courses are a great idea - and there is plenty of down-time the rest of the year so you will never feel under pressure!

This is not a formal policy so at some schools they will allow the teachers to have the time at home but for other teachers, like myself, we are required to be at school for every minute of our contracted hours.

Most of the Korean teachers get most or all of this time off, which is fair when you think about the hours that they put in during the rest of the year, and how hard they are working all the time. Really when you think about it desk warming is just getting paid to sit and do whatever you want for 8 hours a day... but I would still rather be at school where they keep paying me and let me spend the time "working" from home!

How Long Do You have to Desk Warm For?

Again this really depends on your school. Winter holidays are the longest running from the end of December through until February. Some schools will run a "winter camp" during this time, which is really just extra classes still held at school, but I believe those are voluntary and the parent have to pay extra for that so sometimes class numbers can be low.

Of the teachers I know the winter camp length seems to vary from 1 week right up to 4 weeks and the numbers of hours taught per day vary as well. The other variable is your annual leave time. You get 20 days of holiday per 12 month contract and you can divide that between Summer and Winter Holidays. The days where you are not teaching winter camp and where you are not on annual leave will be desk Warming days.

My schedule this year is a good example of this. The students left school on the 28th of December and I warmed my desk on the 29th and 30th. I then had 5 days of annual leave. After that a week of desk warming, followed by 2 weeks of winter camp and then another week of desk warming. Then I am fairly certain we have Chinese New Year holidays (3 days of public holiday plus weekend) and soon after that 2 weeks of spring vacation which I am assuming I will be desk warming during as well.

Can't complain too much though...I am amusing myself and the money is really good!