My Journey as an Online English Teacher

Oh, I look so cute in that photo! (self-proclaimed) 😂😂😂 It's been 282 days since I've been teaching as an online English teacher in DMM Eikaiwa. I never thought that I would become a teacher. I never thought that it was possible for me to work from home. I never thought that I would survive the COVID-19 pandemic financially. 🙏🙏🙏

I bought my laptop in a second-hand store. Around January 2020, I was having thoughts of working from home, but I don't know-how. I don't have any idea of what to do, but part of me wanted to leave the company because of proximity reasons. I always commute up to three and a half hours back and forth. Plus, my job as an Engagement Specialist is a roller coaster.

Covid-19 started to become an extreme situation in the Philippines that's why my job is also affected. SInce IATF is not allowing companies to create parties, we were gradually losing our events in the company as well and I am becoming ineffective in my job till lockdown, which started in the Philippines last March 15. I was able to manage to go to work last March 16, 2020, but I never thought that it would be my last day in my previous BPO company. The following day, My sisters and I were just staying at home, waiting for an update from our work but we already accepted that we will end up staying at home for a long time.

April came, our savings were already being gradually used because we are not getting any salary anymore. I was so worried that this will continue for a long period of time, that is why I decided to apply for work from jobs. I didn't realize that the competition could be this challenging, I also didn't know how to apply for work from home jobs.

I saw a Facebook post from a guy named Melvin, he was referring people to apply as an Online English Teacher. I was a little hesitant because I don't know if I can do it or not. However, what's good about him was he tried his best to focus on each applicant and gave us tips on how to pass the teaching presentation part. He was very helpful that I owe everything to him.

The time came and I started teaching in DMM Eikaiwa last May 21, 2020. It was funny because I opened my schedule from 12:00 midnight to 06:00 PM. After two hours, I came back and checked if anyone booked my class, and surprisingly I had 24 classes in total!!! 😂😂😂 So I decided to close the rest of my opened bookings because I know I won't be able to handle more than 24 classes at all.

I learned how to manage my schedule as time goes by, choose the right spot in my room, fix my lightning and organize the fastest way for me to put on makeup, and see how much time I need to prepare for work.

I was a little scared of how people would accept transgender teachers. I am irritated with how my voice sounds like. As a transgender, it would be surprising for my students to hear me talking like a man. In Japan, LGBTQ community awareness is still on its way to accept the third gender. Sometimes, they are surprised that I am not a real girl. Sometimes they would ask why my gender on my profile is male when in fact I look like a girl. Thankfully it's my way of building rapport with my students. But of course, 2 out of 10 would still not accept me for who I am. Some would ask off questions about my body which is a little unprofessional in class.

What I love about the company is that the higher rating you have, the more chances you will get more students. I maintained my rating from 4.95 up so that I would always get a lot of students. I started teaching 20 students then it became 16 students. Now I am only reaching 13 to 14 students per day so that my energy would be effective for each of my students.

The company helped me financially because I am earning while waiting for the status at my previous job. There are times that students could be challenging, but of course, it's our job to pacify the situation. But 95% of my students are nice and respectful which is giving me more energy to continue to go to work. ❤❤❤😍

Aside from rating the teacher, you will also have the opportunity to read their comments about you. I am not trying to brag but I would say, comments about me are amazing. Here are some of them.

Of course, there are a few bad comments as well. There was a time that I was told that I look different in the photo because I am not wearing bangs anymore. One time I braid my hair and another student said that I look different because my hair was not braided on my profile photo. Also, some would enjoy your class but ended up giving you a bad comment for no reason at all. 😂😂😂 I learned so much about that bad feedback and because of that I gained more students who trusted me to be their English teacher.

One special thing about being an English teacher is that they are booking your class because they wanted to ask for personal advice. It is such an opportunity to be fully trusted by your students about their personal problems because it feels like you are already their close friend. ❤❤❤

Now that I have a new job, I am not sure "yet" if I could manage to be an English teacher as a part-time job because I don't know the rules of my new workplace yet. I would definitely miss my students but I will try my best to open a class when I am free. I just hope that they would be able to find many teachers who are passionate about their job.