Life of an Online ESL Teacher | TEACHER BURNOUT
Being an online English teach is not an easy task or job to do. It is fun, but sometimes we can have the so-called "teacher burnout".
Nowadays, teaching online is one of the satisfying job in the Philippines but some of the teachers say that they are undervalued and overworked. This reason may lead to what we call teacher burnout.
As an English teacher you should have the patience and skills to stay calm for teaching beginner students such as Japanese , Korean and etc . They don't use English as their mother tongue and they only learned basic English grammar since junior high school and they don't use English in everyday conversation. As a result, they find it hard to communicate with foreigners. Our advanced technology has found a way to solve this problem ONLINE ENGLISH LESSONS. Using Skype app, students can have a class for 25 minutes or so to learn English. It has become a convenient world to study English everyday. Because of this there are a lot of demands for online ESL teachers in the Philippines.
I have been an online teacher for almost 4 years now.
There are a lot of factors to stay being an online teacher even though we were undervalued .
Pros
FLEXIBLE TIME
You can choose your own schedule when it comes to working. The company I am working in offers 24 hour service so you can choose the time you would want to work.GOOD SALARY
They give you a very good sum of salary for your classes but it depends on the classes you have conducted. In a month, you can get an estimation of the salary for about 20,000 to 25,000 pesos. Isn't it a big amount of money? You can save a lot of money with this kind of job. :)NO TRAFFIC
Working at home can reduce the time of commuting time. You don't need to fight the traffic in Cebu. Traffic is a big problem for employers. It may take an hour for them to get to their offices. If you work at home, you just need to take a bath and put make up. It's very easy it would not take an hour to do all those stuffs. Less commuting time is much better.NO NEED FOR A FANCY UNIFORM OR CLOTHES
Some of the company needed uniform for their classes, but being an online ESL teacher doesn't require any uniform. All you need to do is yourself. You can choose any decent upper clothing because it can only be seen on the camera. In the lower part, wearing shorts is comfortable. ^_^
CONS
TECH ISSUES
The first problem would be technical issues such as internet connections or laptop problems. Sometimes the internet connection becomes slow or your laptop needed some updates and it will take a little time to fix it. This can cause cancellation of classes and of course you can pay a penalty for it.POWER OUTAGE
Some areas can experience a sudden outage for an hour or so . It can't be avoided even if you check the scheduled outage . There are some sudden trouble with the electricity . :( Sometimes , some companies may consider if you will give them some proof of evidence.
- UNMOTIVATED
Being a teacher for a long will make you feel unmotivated , some of the companies may forget that teacher can be burnout . They will need some motivation such as incentives , outing or some appreciation from the company . It would be a good idea if they will find a ways to keep their teacher from being motivated . Unmotivated teachers can lead to laziness . Laziness means not conducting classes regularly .
I know there are many factors to stay or quit in this kind of job, but I consider myself lucky to have these convenient job. I know some people don't have any high paying jobs so for now I would continue more in teaching and keep myself on being motivated. Its not that easy, but I will try my best.
I'm satisfied with my work right now. I guess we need to love our job para magdugaay :) nice article @joancabz! Keep it up!
I'm glad to hear that @brokenmancode. I agree we should love our job jud para magdugay nya dli mapul an. :) Thank you for reading my article :) I appreciate your comment .
Your welcome @joancabz I'll keep in touch :)
I can relate sa unmotivated na part jud! If wala ta mo na meet ni @honeyletsgo, dili sad ko ma-motivate na mag-15 classes per day. Haha! Pioneer teacher pud ba ka, @joancabz?
Heheh super unmotivated @thegaillery .hihi nakainfluence diay mi nmo ug work 15 classes hahha ..uu one of the pioneer teacher mn cguro ko hihi
I can imagine. But I think everyone must have felt burnout at some point of whatever work they have. Reminds me of how I exactly feel from spending hours editing YouTube videos from publishing 3 and sometomes 4 a week. So right now I'm taking it slow. Maybe a little break would help and keep you motivated and of course the much needed energy as well. 🙂 Do you leave your students assignments or home works and make lesson plans? That must have been hard as well keeping the mind active of what's next. 🙂
Hi @happyfree I think everyone can be burnout if you only focus with work . It can't be prevented so we need some time for ourselves . You should take it slow and try to travel if you have free time . I always do that if I feel burnout with work . I also try to do the things I love to do . :) Hmmm .. honestly I don't need to give my students assignment because I have different students everyday . I just need to read the latest article on the web to keep our conversation going . ^_^ Thank you for reading and taking time to comment in my article :)
I can so relate to this post - I am also an online teacher - it sure takes it toll some times, but not driving, getting dressed up and wearing make up is a great incentive hahaaha
Hi @anneke .:) thank you so much for reading my post and I am glad you can relate in my post. :) I salute you for being an online teacher. How long have you been a online teacher ?
It has now been 5 years and before that at a government school for many many years
Hala nindota gud diay ani, homebased. akong ate ESL teacher pero adto sa talamban nya layu kaayo amoa, sa mingla. mura rag gaduwa2 pang plete rang sweldo hahahaha
unsaon pag apply ani jo?
uu nindot btaw kaau magsend ko nmu ug link sa imo fb later Shiela :) Dali ra mn mangaplay hihi
I can relate to this kapoy bitaw pero convenient man sad sa atong part kay flexible sched:)
Lgeh I agree @orhem .we are just lucky to have this kind of job .I love jud nato bsan usahay kapui pero okay ra mada ra ug smile.
I can relate this much, it will be my 6 years teachin as an ESL instructor. We have advantages and disadvantages of being an ESL instructor. As long as we always think about students’ learning progress and also ourself being a teacher. Will re-steemed this.
I agree ate :) Being an ESL tutor is such an honor so we should be always thankful of our job . ^_^ Thinking about our student's improvement is such a joy to us all . :) Thank you for resteeming mwaaah :*
yes @joancabz, for the students. If there is an improvement seems like it is we're in the clooud9 , happy teacher. :) you are always welcome too :) bonding soon