I am an 18-year-old Bachelor of Science in Architecture student at a university here in Cebu City.
As a teenager, I go to school and study hard then try to have fun when I can. At the end of one semester, before the summer break started, my sister suggested that I try applying for a job with 51Talk.
I felt excited. I had tried in the past to look for online jobs to earn extra cash.
I did not think I would be hired, but thank God I got the job with 51Talk.
It was my first serious job and I was so grateful to be accepted.
My journey started on April 10. As I was also taking summer classes, I was a “student in the morning and teacher in the evening.”
At first, I had a hard time adjusting and managing my time. My summer classes were from 8 a.m. to
6 p.m. I opened lesson slots from 7:30 to 11 p.m.
I only had an hour and 30 minutes to go home and have dinner before starting work as a teacher. Since I would go home during the rush hour, I sometimes got stuck in traffic and had to skip dinner.
On those occasions, I felt so physically drained. I could not keep from dozing off during my morning classes. To complicate the situation, plates and homework would pile up.
Though physically exhausted, I never let my students know how tired I was.
I always put my heart into my teaching since I knew how it felt to have a passion for learning but have an awful teacher.
PONCE is enjoying online teaching.
Happily, most 51Talk students I handled were attentive, enthusiastic and respectful. Some students were so nice they booked me for lessons more than once.
But I have also had students who would test anyone’s patience. I just kept calm and tried to understand them. After all, we cannot please everybody.
Being a home-based educator challenged me to become more responsible and to organize my time better. It made me more aware of how tough it is to earn a living and how our loved ones sacrifice so much to make it possible for us to do what we want to do.
Talking to different Chinese individuals made me feel like I was also living in China. I had fun meeting different types of people of different ages. Some of them were kind enough to say “Welcome to China.” They also taught me some Chinese words.
No matter how young or old you are, it is an honor to share knowledge with other people. What really matters most is when you are able to inspire and to touch their hearts by helping them, with love and perseverance, learn English.