POUR OUT YOUR MIND IN ENGLISH

When non-English majors teach English in call centers

By vinzvonvan

This is such a very informative site. I didn’t even know that I have fellow Filipinos who share their exceptional ideas in English on the web. Maybe most of us know about business process outsourcing, which gave birth to call center agents and online teachers. Indeed, BPO companies provide employment for many Filipinos and I am one of them. In reality, I am a licensed Social Studies major but as of the moment, I am an online English teacher.

“Why are you not teaching in a regular school?” This is a question I would often hear from some of my young colleagues and former Education classmates. I would tell them that there wasn’t an available item for a Social Studies major in government schools. Actually, I have applied twice for a teaching position in government schools but I wasn’t fortunate enough to get the most coveted item. Also, I began to dislike teaching the subject because there are so many Social Studies teachers but few items available in public schools. I therefore decided to shift by applying [for a job] with an online company and, consequently, teach English.

My love for the language was rekindled, and I began to discover that my knowledge in English was so insufficient to teach the subject to foreigners. Luckily, online companies give free training in grammar, accent, and pronunciation to satisfy the needs of learners. Because of these trainings, I was able to figure out the difference between a classroom English teacher and an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor. Based on my experience in primary and secondary school, classroom teachers focus on the rules without putting into practice what they are teaching. This is maybe because people will find those who speak in English OA [overacting] when they do so while others converse in their native tongue. Also, as anyone familiar with teen talk will attest, students are more comfortable speaking in their own language.

Teaching Koreans was never my dream but it just happened. I developed my communication skills and embraced the technology to conduct English classes for them. But I got weary because in an online company, a teaching license and even a degree in Education aren’t very important for as long as an applicant has a college diploma and is trainable (though some of these “teachers” can speak fluently). We make grammar mistakes in our sentences, however, so we continuously study to master this aspect of English.

But I have some concerns about online English teaching:

1.   Online companies are here for business. Until when are they going to invest in the Philippines? I heard some just declare bankruptcy leaving their employees’ jobless.
2.   If non-English majors like me can develop their communication skills with a good accent, shouldn’t our own English teachers undergo similar training, too?
3.   Is there a program/curriculum in school that intensifies the learning of English as our second language?
4.   Is it justifiable that we, non-English majors, teach English?

To sum it all up, online teaching is good even if it isn’t comparable to classroom teaching. Talking to real students and teaching your fellowmen online is honorable work. As for me, combining English with Social Studies is quite a challenge but I believe that it helps make me more versatile.

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