I Wasn’t Told English Was This Hard

Dear Reader,

Sit still, grab a snack cause I’m about to tell you the story of my life. LOL.

Life’s the sweetest cake, I have to agree. But as a student who needs to support her studies, it should first be bittersweet before you completely enjoy it.

Being a scholar isn’t enough. I’ve tried applying as a crew in a fast food chain but unfortunately, they didn’t call me back (haha) so I became an assistant of a photocopy machine owner in our school but it’s not enough, obviously.

The adventure continued when I heard from a relative that there’s a company near our school looking for online teachers. Uh oh. English teachers! Yeah that’s one of my favorite subjects but hey! I need to pass an interview with dehydrating questions and I’m sure the interviewer will throw highfalutin words to test me.

I was 19 back then but I still pushed through and tried. With a short self-practice, a copy of my resume and a little confidence from God (since I prayed before going there), I walked through that glass door and gave them a weird smile. After finishing the exam and the interview, I went home.

Guess what? I passed! They sent a message asking if I could come back and proceed with the training. It wasn’t easy like what I’ve expected. I was with professional, licensed and experienced teachers. I’m definitely the underdog but quitting will never be an option. My trainer believed in me and gave lots of advices.

I followed them all but the final demo’s approaching and I don’t think I had enough time. After watching educational videos, hollywood films, exagerrating reading words with “th” sounds (my ultimate weakness before) reading a bunch of articles and books, I looked at the mirror and said, “You’ll pass.”

And the big day came. My voice was shaking while having the mock demo. They can feel it. I even said ‘helo’ (hello) instead of ‘helow’. The HR manager talked to me and said that they’ll call me if i passed but I saw one of them frowning and that gave me a sign that I didn’t make it. Ooops. Time to go home haha.

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Sometimes, things happen not the way you expect them. They called me and said that I’m ready to report for work by Monday! Like what? I really did it? Wooah.

I started teaching Chinese students. Usually, if you’re new, you’ll have few classes but if a particular school likes you, it would buy out your full time/schedule. As everyone would expect, no school would want to buy out my time! I know, I had a terrible accent and that’s sad. That’s the time I realized my training wasn’t done yet.

Oh yeah, you’re right. Running from school to work, I started juggling my academic requirements as an accounting student and these stuff. I continued watching online. I’ve read deep novels and honestly, I wasn’t able to go through a half page without a dictionary.

By surrounding myself with as much English as possible, I started hearing how different people pronounce certain words and I felt more confident in practicing the exact way to do so.

I practiced and practiced and practiced. I started talking in English with my family members though some of them were laughing. Haha But the most important thing I realized is that, I’m still a teacher, bough out or not, I have to give my best and my whole heart in it. And that’s what I did in every class.

One day, I received an email stating that I’m gonna be a bought out teacher of a new client/school. That moved me dude! Other teachers need to do another demo to get a school’s “yes” but they just observed my live classes and picked me. I was one of the pioneer online teachers of that school. Time went by and would you believe this?

I became the top trial teacher of that school. I received different awards and certificates, once became a top earner, was able to make lots of students enroll in our classes and was able to shoot a video interview containing answers on how to be an effective teacher. I can’t even see myself giving those advices to the teachers I know better than me.

But what I’ve learned is that you have to be your own competition. If you’ll be better than what you were yesterday, you’ll keep surprising everyone with what you can offer.

While celebrating our company’s anniversary, one of my trainers approached me and what he said shocked me! Little did I know that I didn’t really pass the mock demo. I got a failed average but they decided to give me a chance cause they saw the potential in me. That gave me goosebumps bud!

One thing’s for sure, never limit yourself. Life isn’t here to live it averagely. Put colors in it. The things you wanna try aren’t scary, they’re challenging and exciting! If you think it’s too late to learn how to speak English, you are a hundred percent wrong. Inaction breeds doubt and fear as what Dale Carnegie said.

Sincerely,

Teacher Nica.

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