ESL Online Teaching Experience

Being able to teach the English language online with 2 kids from South Korea was somehow fulfilling. I may not have the degree in teaching nor I had experience in online teaching at that time, but somehow, I was able to provide the necessary steps in mentoring these 2 kids who were learning English assecond language. 

Joy was only 9 years old and Kim was 13, way back almost 3 years ago when I was asked by my Russian boss to teach ESL online. I never had the chance to decline because these 2 kids were already ready to study English online and there were no available ESL teachers yet. I was challenged because it was my first time to teach online with foreign students yet I was excited.

Our 30 minutes online classes were scheduled every 7:30 in the evening for Joy and every 8:30 in the evening for Kim in Philippine time. I can’t exactly remember but our classes were mostly held between Mondays and Fridays only. It went for only a couple of months I guess. I can’t also forget Ann who was my amiable and very sexy assistant.

Joy was such a very sweet girl and a very diligent student. She doesn’t want to miss our session every night unless she has a very important occasion to attend to, or if she has major exams in her school. I admired her for aiming high with her dream that she would be a proficient English speaker someday. She was eager to learn many things in our English class but she was also worried at the same time because she thought her parents might have high expectations on her and she doesn’t want to fail them. I gave her encouraging words. Surprisingly, Joy is currently enjoying her life now in Chicago, USA, still studying English language course.

Kim was the exact opposite of Joy. He hated to study English and he wasn’t attentive to our online class. It was his parents who forced him to study English. He was really a pain-in-the-neck and almost always kept my temper on fire. When his parents were around behind the webcam, he would pay attention to me. But when they were gone out to bed or somewhere, he would turn the webcam either towards their ceiling or to the wall so I won’t be able to see what he was doing. I didn’t want to waste his time nor end up our session earlier than the usual time because I was being paid. Two days before our session would end, he didn’t show up anymore.

Despite his attitude, I was able to impart a little knowledge and made him speak clearly. Koreans find it difficult to pronounce the letter L, so I made him speak words with letter L and I let him practice tongue twisting all the time. Kim can already read and writeEnglish before I was his online teacher. So I was just there to let him improve his English speaking skills.

How I Improved my English Communication Skills

I don’t often use the English language in my daily conversation with people. It’s not because I’m a native Filipino but because I’m still proud of my native tongue. It is also not because I don’t know how to speak English, as a matter of fact, it’s what I do everyday in my work, write English articles and blogs. 

I only converse in English when I need to, such as talking to my Vietnamese boss, to my foreign colleagues in the office, or to foreign students enrolled at Cleverlearn who are learning English as second language. But I'm teaching mono-syllabic English words to my daughter now that she's 15 months old. I want to ensure she can speak English proficiently when she grows older because I definitely believe she can have a brighter future with that. Believe me!

I grew up with the English language, and until now majority of my day spent is reading and writing in English. I am not a grammarian nor I am an English expert, but I am confident I have a good grasp of English (developed through my passion in writing), and I can certainly speak to Americans, British, or Australian. I have previously worked with 3 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies owned by foreign nationalities from these 3 powerful nations. Being able to work with foreign companies made me even more confident that my English language skills have improved.

I must admit that I graduated from high school with a feeling of inferiority because of my not-so-good grades in Science, Mathematics, and English subject. It was because I wasn’t a very hardworking student way back then. I enjoyed playing with my childhood friends and classmates every after school and during weekends, and I realized that studying was a very difficult task. Because of financial insufficiency and strong determination, I became diligent in college and was able to finish my bachelor's degree in Architecture. Now you think it’s ironic because I’m supposed to build buildings instead of writing articles.

Well, my first love was news casting, so I wanted to become a journalist. I was confused if I could make it way back then because of my erroneous English grammars. Yet, I believed it will be developed along the way, and perhaps I will study English further because the wide coverage of media is in English. Still, financial insufficiency was the reason behind that led me to where I am now. Had it not because of poverty, perhaps I am one of those newscasters you see on television news daily.

I remember 3 years ago when I was a part-time kindergarten teacher at a certain preparatory school in our neighborhood. It was my first time being a teacher in an accredited learning center. Handling children as young as 3 years old was very tough, I knew it. That was a challenge. But working with licensed and experienced teachers was even more challenging. But I didn’t have to compete myself with them because I was far behind their teaching experience, besides, teaching 3 or 4 year old kids was apparently manageable and facile, I thought. The most difficult part was handling these hyperactive kids, keeping their patience during discussions, and controlling my temper.

In my first few days of working as a part-time teacher, I was just working on my own without so much asking help from my co-teachers because I was shy and hesitant. I did my very best and it was like I went back to my elementary years. And because I wasn’t talking so much with my co-teachers and to the parents of these kids, their impression was, “Is she a good teacher?”

School’s sports festival came and I was asked to co-host the program. I have already hosted quite a few programs especially weddings but they were my friends’ special occasion where most of the guests were familiar to me. But a school’s crowd is different and larger. My very first hosting experience though was in my first year in college during our acquaintance party. But there were 4 of us hosting the party for such a big crowd of Architecture students, so it was controllable. 

Co-hosting the learning center’s sports festival was another challenge because I will be facing not just the kids and my co-teachers, but the parents of these kids as well. But I was flattered because they were all surprised I could do such hosting skill. Since then they were intimidated about my capability. But still, I did not take it as a competition because teaching is a dedication and not just as an obligation.

Why Must We Need to Study English Language Course

Imagine yourself in a foreign land where people speak a language you just heard of for the very first time. How will you survive if you have not learned a second language where almost everybody knows how to speak? Why would you step on a strange land on the first place if you don’t know how to speak their native language? Or much worse, you don’t know how to speak the international language that is the English? Perhaps you won a raffle ticket that offers a free round trip ticket to India and it is the least country that comes to your mind for spending a vacation. 

At some point of our life there will be great changes due to better opportunities. Some people are being sent to other countries for business purposes as a nature of their job. Other couples find it better to migrate to other countries together with their children because they believe a good future for their children can be definitely found in such place. Other professionals decide to work outside their own native land because a very good job offer is waiting. Most often, wealthy people, or even common individuals, travel abroad for pleasure or to enjoy a breathtaking vacation.

Again, imagine yourself you won a hundred million in a lottery. Wouldn’t you consider a luxury cruise on your next vacation? Or perhaps amuse yourself in Las Vegas? I’m sure you know how to converse with foreign people using simple English, but since you already have millions, why not study English course at English language school for your language adequacy? Learning English as second language doesn't cost you much. Isn’t it atrocious when you have millions but your spoken English language is abominable? Try to think about it.

Some countries like China, there are still native people who are frightened when they hear foreign people specifically Americans who are speaking the English language. A former boss of mine from my previous job spent a vacation to China together with her American husband. They went around shopping and when they decided to buy something her husband spoke to the Chinese vendor (of course in English language) but to their surprise the Chinese vendor got scared and ran away. It was really funny they thought. It was then her husband decided to settle in China and teach (since he was a retired teacher) because he wanted to help these poor people.  

I remember myself when I was like 6 or 7 years old. We used to live in a big island where my father worked at a big nickel refinery plant. With the economy that was booming, foreign investors used to come and go. I always startled whenever I saw white people walking around. I wasn’t scared because of their different looks, I was scared because of their big voice and their strange dialect. And that was like 30 years ago. Now, I have worked with different foreign companies and talking to English speaking people and writing English articles became my cup-of-tea. 

When I was in grade school my sister used to tease me with my erroneous English grammars. I wasn’t as hardworking student as she was. She excelled in the academics all throughout our schools years, and I was always contented with a grade of a few more percent below the passing line is already failure. And that became a challenge. Until one day I was asked by a friend of mine to host her wedding reception. The official photographer of her wedding was a member of an elite society that is the Toastmaster Club. He then invited me to join because he believed I could be a great speaker. I was very flattered. 

I accepted his invitation though I was skeptical. The second time I joined their gathering I was asked to speak in front of a considerable number of people after the heavy dinner and talk about my experience. Astounded with what to say, I stood up in front anxiously and started my speech with, “I honestly don’t know how to start,” and gave them my genuine smile. I heard someone from the crowd, “that is fine, you can do it!” and she smiled back at me. A gentle smile that shows like how a mother assures her child that everything will be fine. After a very few moments, I was already talking intermittently and I realized I only had few minutes to speak. I was really ecstatic with their positive reaction.

Thanks to the San Miguel Corporation Toastmaster Club of Cebu for my wonderful experience. Well, I did not register as a member because I can barely afford their monthly fee.  I was just a fresh college graduate then and was looking for a job when that experience happened. But it was indeed a great chance for me to develop my English language skills and since then, I gained more confidence and was able to develop my English proficiency.