Hello my Dear Hivers, Greetings from the Philippines, and since power is finally back, thankfully ✨ today, I will share with you my work routine as an ESL teacher, there are still sequences of outages once in a while, but I am really thankful that my students understood my situation, maybe because we already developed a mutual respect, I blurred out their pictures for their privacies, for each classes, I use, either, Classin and Tencent Conference (Voov) and they look like this
Classin Application
Tencent Meeting (Voov) similar to Zoom.
Classin comes with free 20 classes and renews every month, Tencent Room is free for at least 100 meeting rooms in a year, and you can get it from Apple and Google store, I also installed these applications on my mobile phone so just in case of power and internet outages, I can still communicate with them or continue the class if it is still convenient.
Also, I keep records of each students and the lessons, some of my co teachers said it maybe a little pricey to buy a record book for each students, especially if you have a lot, but any record book, notebook will do, mine, is actually binder fillers, like this, It's economical, I like writing down important information such as the needs of the student, their birthdays, their real names, really, they appreciate it when you take an extra time and effort to remember the information about them, this also serves as my payment record.
(Please excuse my handwritten as I write like a chicken when I'm lazy 😅)
Binder Fillers $1.37 or Php80.00 for 5 fillers
Aside from my student's record, I also use a separate book as my desk calendar, I am not really a techy person, I know majority of us are already using excels and calendars online, but I still like it this way, this is most specially useful when there isn't any electricity, you can still go over the class records. I usually write my weekly schedule, like this.
On normal school days, my duty usually starts at 5:30pm until 9:30pm,during holidays some students prefer to have classes in the morning and more frequently, I always prepare ahead, I usually start at 3:00 or 4:00pm, I check the books (lesson materials) activities and the homework. Parents do appreciate if you give the children homework, because classes usually takes only 25 minutes, ones or thrice a week, it is not really enough for some children to learn the lessons, so homework and exercises are necessary.
Show time 😀 class time, some would say, this is the easiest job, you will just read, say hi, hello, and that's it, but little did they know, you're basically a "showgirl", nah, you're not dancing and singing, but you are actually performing, and you are expected to be at your best, all the time, no matter what you are going through, you smile through your sadness, sickness and tiredness, just like a showgirl, sometimes, you get disrespected, because admit it, in any job, some clients would think their payment is also their token to step down on someone, you have to swallow your pride, because you need this job, but thankfully, I seldom, seldom meet students like these people
This is an example class of where my student is doing other things, I tried to catch her attention but it doesn't work, and when she was caught by her Mom, she even have the face to say, "She can't hear me and that my internet is bad", so instead of getting angry, I just swallowed my pride, apologizes and said, "Alright, let me restart my internet then" it also buys me time to breathe.
Choose your battles, remember that, it is your word, versus the word of their own child, and you knew exactly who they would listen to, right?
Also, I give feedback, but I don't really include the behavior, I tried to be more professional, highlight words, pronunciation and grammar mistakes and report it to their parents for transparency, for the behavior, I ignore it, I am not in the right position for discipline, although I would definitely draw the line if ever there's a student who would shout or say bad words to me.
It is really hard to find a good paying job, given the competition nowadays, so I would always remind myself to be grateful, especially this job get through my family during the Covid pandemic, where everyone is expected to stay at home, we can still work and earn for our everyday expenses, also, majority of my students are respectful and fun to be with, with that, I am extremely grateful.
If you are an aspiring ESL Teacher, go for it, don't be scared, there are companies nowadays that accept beginners such as Acadsoc, 51 Talk, Panda English and so on. Don't be scared, and remember to bring with you tons of patience, It's worth it though, I know because I was once a beginner,and I know, you can do it too! 🫡
Thank you for reading my post until this part, your support means so much to me.
All the pictures taken are from my computer and mobile phone, enhanced by 