Tuesday, March 27, 2007

my online class

For more than 3 years, I have been teaching ESL to foreign students. It was both challenging and nerve-racking at the same time. One day, my student told me that when she goes back to her country, she feared that her skills in English would disappear. Somewhat upset about what she said, I realized that perhaps, people like her have no avenues to speak English or to talk to a foreigner in English and that sooner or later, all her efforts and money spent for studying would all end up futile.
So then I came up with an on-line class that primarily aims to help them maintain their level and apply the things that they have learned or acquired. I hope to help them improve as well but definitely, the most important thing for me is to let them practice. In addition, I want to earn as well.
My fee is just from P180-200(philippine peso) per hour so it's around US4.00. I don't want to charge that much coz it's not my call. People might say that I'm degrading and depriving myself of the worth that I deserve. For me, establishing trust is more difficult to deal with than talking about money.
If anyone of you wants to inquire or has something to say about on-line teaching or just teaching, you can post it here.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

from something new...to something else..

Having graduated from my university some time ago, I had a sentiment but I didn't fully expect that life was meant to be difficult once you move out from your comfort zone (you know...asking money from your parents...yadda, yadda, yadda) into a world where Darwin is the famous scientist. I landed into a job that I have some skills on but was far from my major. To add more challenges, I handled foreigners who , by the way, made me like kimchi...you know who i mean? My first teaching experience was a mess! Besides the feeling of being underpaid, I couldn't accept the fact that they weren't taking a bath (hey, i'm not trying to generalize my statement ok). My next job(still the same task) made me feel more comfortable with handling money...I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to take my post-graduate plan seriuosly. I made a lot of improvements regarding teaching though. Whenever I teach, I have this uncontrollable need to feel better than my students and thus, the only way to do that is to study, study, study...the thing that I've never intended to master and teach. Before I knew it, I was thinking about better ways to improve and earn money. I guess, I can say I'm satisfied although not happy.