Catalina Luján Gómez
Nivel 11 – Centro Colombo Americano
Project
I
have been a virtual English teacher for 4 years and it has been an amazing
experience. Technology has changed the way I was used to teach, learn, live and
of course, the way I interact with people. At the beginning it was a challenge and
it was difficult for me to understand that online education was possible but
then I realized that it is possible and, in fact, it can be better.
To
be a successful virtual student or teacher you have to be even more
disciplined, engaged, responsible and constant because you also have more
freedom so you must be able to control your time strictly. You have to be
honest, too.
Since
you can work at home, there are many things that can catch your attention; you
might want to take a nap or maybe you could get another job and earn more money,
but if you did, then you wouldn’t do your job well and you would also fail in
each activity you did.
People
usually think that what I do for a living is a piece of cake, that I earn money
for doing nothing; If I could earn money for doing nothing, I would be the
happiest person in the world. I could spend my time rescuing stray dogs,
travelling, being with my friends and family, and taking care of my body, hair,
skin; among other things that I actually cannot do because of my job.
As
everything in life, my job has pros and cons; I am happy with it, but I have to
admit that I have forgotten about many other important things such as my family
and best friends; I am always so focused on my things that I have lost touch
with them, I don’t use the phone anymore, I never talk to anybody, I only chat.
When they want to go out and invite me, I always have an excuse and lots of
things to do, so I have already had trouble with the people that I love the
most. Sometimes my time is not long enough so I cannot exercise, I do not
respect mealtimes, I do not rest on weekends…
I
try to distribute my time between being a good housewife (well… I am not
married but I have to do the housekeeping chores, cooking, taking care of my pets)
and, of course, being a good teacher.
I
have many students so checking their assignments is exhausting.
Sometimes
I have to be an informatics teacher instead of being an English teacher as I am
supposed to be. It is a negative aspect but also a positive one, because I am
proud and happy about being able to help people learn English and at the same
time, I get them to know internet and the thousands of possibilities and tools
that the web gives us.
Being
a virtual teacher has given me experience and time to prepare myself to become
a regular teacher, I have strengthen my patience and my skills to transmit my
knowledge, and now I can do both jobs, although as a regular teacher, I feel a
little insecure and I need to improve my pronunciation, vocabulary and
fluency.
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