Hello all,
I'm currently working as an independent contractor from home. I teach English to adult professionals, 1:1. All of my classes are online.
I get paid per class, not a fixed salary. I get zero paid holidays, zero benefits, zero sick days. If I want time off I have to reschedule all my classes and teach them at an alternative time myself.
There are also huge gaps in my schedule. I usually work from 6 am until 9am, then 12:30 until about 5pm. After 5pm, and during my morning break, I do paperwork, answer and write emails, send out student homework, etc ( all unpaid – I only get paid for actual teaching time). I also tend to nap during the day because getting up at 5:30am doesn't exactly come naturally to me and I am exhausted by the time 10am rolls around.
I have a large amount of students each week due to the fact that my classes are only 1/2 hour each. I also have a lot of unpaid paperwork to do for almost every class.
I really wanted this job because I wanted to get away from teaching kids, which I find demotivating and draining (since a lot of them aren't really interested in English and/or fool around/disrupt classes). Honestly, teaching adults 1:1 is my dream job. (I was working at eikaiwas before, teaching a mixture of kids and adults).
However, I find WFH to be really depressing and isolating.
Because I work such long hours and have so much paperwork to do, I find it nearly impossible to get out of the house during the day. At about 6 or 7 pm I usually go to the store and then go back to my apartment to cook dinner. By the time it's done and cleaned up, I try to get back outside for a bit but there's just not that much time before I have to start winding down and get ready for bed. (5:30am comes early and I try to be in bed by 10-10:30pm). I just don't have enough time in the evenings to join a class/engage in hobbies/ do a lot of socializing.
I live alone here and I really miss the routine of going to an actual school, interacting with the other teachers, and teaching students face-to-face.
I really don't want to go back to working at an eikaiwa, but I feel very isolated and overworked at this WFH job.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Any recommendations as far as other in-person schools that actually treat teachers well? Or any other recommendations for teaching adult WFH type jobs that have reasonable hours?
Please don't tell me I should get out of teaching, or be grateful to be WFH. I'm looking for constructive comments only, please. Thank you.
TL,DR; I find my WFH teaching job isolating and depressing and I need suggestions.
by Sakurafan987