Your free time is as flexible as your responsibilities as a teacher go. Sometimes your students would want to reschedule their classes to another time, which might be in the late evening or GOD FORBID in the very early morning.
2) Weekends. Most likely you will be asked to work on Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah, I know, it sounds frustrating. Your friends will be chilling in the bars or taking countryside trips whereas you will be stuck in the classroom.
However, it gives you the benefit of being able to have lots of free time during some of the weekdays. So you might as well do a haircut, go shopping or arrange a doctor’s appointment, say, on Tuesday in the afternoon without having to stand in the lines.
3) Absence of energy. This job will definitely suck all your energy out. Trust me, 9 hours in the office are not as effort-consuming as 5 classes 40 minutes each.
By the time you get home the only thing you would want to do is to just be a zombie-like coach potato and stare into the screen of your laptop.
4) Annoying parents. Don’t get me wrong, there are moms and dads that I just adore because they do help you a lot revising all necessary vocabulary, making their children do their homework and explaining what kind of behaviour is expected from their kids in the classroom.
BUT from time to time you meet parents who demand too much from you without doing anything themselves at home. It seems that they just want you to transfer your brain into their kids’ skull and be done with it. So over and over again you will have to persuade them to be a part of English learning process.
5) Leaving students. Eventually you will have to change your workplaces and proceed to the next location or company. That leaves you with a necessity of abandoning your beloved students who you have been teaching for such a long time, who you have achieved such good results with, who you have established such a great relationship with.
It will break your heart a little every time you say goodbye to them.
6) Extra work. Cutting out flashcards, printing out material, writing lesson plans, talking to parents, grading tests are usually not included in your paid working hours.
So sometimes instead of relaxing after 8 classes you have to stay and do something extra.
7) Following the books. Some books are ABSOLUTELY useless but as schools/principles/head teachers/etc say we have to follow them as it gives you a structure.
Frankly speaking, I barely use those paper horrors but it does cause you to use much more imagination, extra materials and, of course, your own time.
8) No excuses. Whatever mood you have you need to be at your best. No matter how exhausted you are you have to perform with all of your energy and enthusiasm.
Don’t mind being sick and come for classes full of positivity and strength. There are moments though when your students get you to forget about all the negativity and feel much better by the end of the class.
Having said all of that, I feel like I have to admit that I still absolutely LOVE this job!
