ESL Blogs

In the Philippines, we believe that education is extremely important.  Every family wants their children to attend college and get a degree.  Parents do everything they can to support their children's education.  They believe their status in life will improve when their children graduate from college and get a good job.  Hardship doesn't end after graduation...the truth is...it's only the beginning...graduates have to face another crucial stage of  life: getting a good-paying and stable job. 

I got degrees in Hotel and Restaurant Management and Mass Communication in Broadcasting. Then after I graduated I couldn't find a job related to either of my degrees.  Then, I got another degree: Methods of Teaching in English.  I passed the board exam and got my license.  Being a licensed teacher is not a guarantee to get hired as a permanent teacher, however. Teachers need to undergo what the government calls ranking, where we have to submit all our credentials, take an examination and do a demonstration. After that, we have to wait for the schedule of orientation, then another long wait for the call regarding when and where to report.  Sometimes if there is a vacancy an applicant can get a permanent teaching position quickly. But if there is no vacancy we can work as volunteers (locally-funded teachers) and we only receive an honorarium, which is not sufficient to pay for transportation and other living expenses. But doing this does add to your experience and resume which increases your chances of getting a permanent job later on.

In my first job, I taught at a private school as a high school and elementary teacher. I worked a full schedule but my salary was only 6 thousand pesos a month.  But they deducted for holidays and days off due to typhoons, so I took home only about 4 thousand pesos. 

In my second job, as a public high school teacher, I received only 3 thousand pesos a month because I was not yet a permanent teacher. Here, you are only considered a permanent teacher if the government appoints you.

In my third job, I worked as a part-time on-line teacher with a 10 thousand pesos monthly salary. We taught Koreans on-line for 10-20 minutes each. Then, I worked as an outbound call center agent.  This job paid well but I found it boring.

Next, I worked as an English language teacher to Korean students and professionals here in the Philippines. I worked in a Korean company but since I had already developed experience to this field, I became a freelancer and got many students by myself. For every student, I earned 150-200 pesos per hour. With one student, I had 2-3 hours of one-on-one tutorial. I earned about 600 hundred pesos per student per day. I had an average of 5 Korean students a day. I earned approximately 30 thousand pesos a month from this job. But I didn’t feel my salary was sufficient because I lived in Makati City which has a high cost of living.

 I was also really bored due to homesickness so I went home to my family's province. In the province, I worked as a substitute teacher in public high school and earned 2 thousand pesos a month. 

Fortunately, I became a permanent teacher in a government school on March 23, 2011. A permanent teacher has a basic salary of more than 15 thousand pesos per month. This isn't a lot of money but it is nice to have a stable job and being government employee offers job security.

It is better to have a job with a small salary than to be jobless and have no income. So, appreciate your job and whatever you earn from it. It may be a first step towards a good career and better pay.