Teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) has been an infamous career in the Philippines. Numerous online and offline schools and academies can be found in various parts of the country. The industry has been running for quite some years now, and lots students – may they be Asians (varying mainly from Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese) or Europeans – go here or study online to hone their communications skills and learn the universal language of the world – English.
Teaching is a passion as a lot of people say while for others it is their source of living. Everyday, ESL instructors meet their students person-to-person or via the Internet to conduct lessons. And, with these lessons comes sharing experiences as well. As our career as instructors, we certainly and apparently have to take things seriously. Nonetheless, teaching can also be synonymous to having fun, too.
Sometimes, there will be students who can definitely make your day. There are those who praise you in everything you do. They say good things about you, and even recommend you to their friends and other family members. They are the ones who show a lot how much they appreciate the aid you are doing for them. One time, there was this student who said “Thank you” in not less than 20 times (as I can remember) during the 25-minute class that we had for that night. She said she was really grateful to her teachers who have been really supportive to her polishing her skills in English. Having this kind of student can really boost your confidence in teaching, knowing that you are appreciated and helping others improve.
But then of course, there are some students who will challenge the patience in you, those who are indeed forcing you to go in the verge of quitting the job and find your luck somewhere else. For instance is a student who has been residing here in Manila for some years. He has been really influenced badly by some of his classmates in his university. He smoked a lot (even inside the academy) did not do his homework, and even skipped classes which had almost made his instructors lose it. Fortunately, in this career, there are more numerous reasons to keep the ball rolling.
Some may also be really slow in coping with the lessons you have. Those are the ones who have always have a hard time comprehending terminologies and grammatical rules. They could also test your patience, but what is more tested here is your passion in doing the job, your enthusiasm. Making them improve even a bit can really be a rewarding thing.
Still, one of the most fascinating kinds of students are the ones who can always make you laugh. Those students who knows how to crack jokes, or even those who can really be funny unintentionally. Lots of these cases involve kids. More than half of the number of students are the young ones, for their parents often like them to be fluent in the language. For example are those in ages below 10. One time, in a toddlers’ class, one student said she did not have her crayons with her, so she cried so hard and had to go home only to escape the arduous task of the day in the class – reciting the English alphabet and singing a nursery rhyme in English. (Her mom told her teacher the real reason the next day.) Also, another example was a student using Skype as his medium of his studies. He insisted for almost an hour that the Philippines is in Africa and not in Asia. One more is a student in his early twenty’s. He attended the class in his boxer shorts only. He said he was in a hurry, so he forgot to change clothes. (He lived in the same building as the academy.)
Unquestionably, there are lots of divergent personalities one can encounter in the field of teaching. Lots of incongruous cultures you can learn from, too. Being an ESL instructor is posolutely a rewarding experience. You do not only help and touch other people’s lives, but you also gain a lot from your students – experiences which can aid you grow professionally and even personally. Thus, teaching does not really count as a job but more of a calling – a calling to assist others using your skills and to ameliorate yourself into becoming a better person.
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