Before I decided to do freelance work, I started in the industry working for a Korean-owned company. It is the biggest online teaching company in Korea, I remember the trainer said. It was good enough for me to stay.
I taught at least 20 students per day, mostly 10-minute classes each. These are Korean students who came from all walks of life. Some are office workers who I constantly rang during their break, others are homemakers who took classes when their children are busy at school.
I also had lots of young learners. I hated those with zero knowledge of the language. It literally blew me away. How could you possibly teach someone who can't understand you, who can't see you, and who you can't see? I felt that our training wasn't enough. But over time, you'll develop your own strategies.
I miss those days.
I miss my co-workers who would go irate with their students. I miss pressing my IP phone's "mute" button just so the student won't hear me say "stupid" -- yup, talk about professionalism. But it happens sometimes, even to the best people.
I miss our team-building activities. In many of these activities, we went swimming. The other teams whose head teacher likes to eat would treat his / her team to dinner. The others who love to drink would gather in one place (a bar or a house) and drink until the morning.
Thinking about it, now that I have another job which is more challenging, I miss the light work load. Teaching online is stress-free compared with what I do now. Yes, you'll encounter zero-English students from time to time. But after the 10-minute class is over, everything is back to normal. The best part is, I never "took home" any of my tasks.
