[openmind]

Hello everybody, how are things you today? For those of you who teach English either part time or to earn a living - what do you think are the advantages of doing this freelance as opposed to be employed? What do you think about the various forms of employement in general? As I see it, the vast majority of ESL teachers are self-employed or they have temporary contracts. The advantage of this is that you have more freedom and a larger exposure to different enviornments, corporate cultures and students. The disadvantage is that might be more difficult to support a family if you work freelance and you constantly have to look for new jobs. Also, as you get older you want more security and stability which might be harder to achieve as a freelancer. What is your take on this?
Regards
Torsten

[mrcards]

Personally, I'd like to be employed. Mind you, have an open schedule is very nice as well. Okay, I'd like to be employed (with a contract) and to have a flexible schedule. That's my final answer.

I can understand why people would like both options as both options have good things going for them. If you're in a situation where this question directly affects you, then I suggest you look at your own case and weigh the positives and negatives as they affect you.

Good luck with whatever you choose, people!

[livinginkorea]

This is an interesting topic. Many times I think that I would be better off if I worked as a freelance teacher in different companies or schools but I am working full time now in an elementary school.

My girl is a freelance teacher and the money that she makes for the little hours that she does makes me green with jealously!! She is very highly qualified and has been teaching English for 8 years in Korea. She works only in companies now and can pick where she wants to work. She gets a lot of calls every week from different agencies but most of them she turns down as she is working at that specified time or she's not interested. It's a great advantage to be like this. However she is careful when she gets a job and won't accept one unless there is a contract. Most of her companies last 6 months to a year so the security is fairly good. However it really is hit and miss with them. A guy I knew before (who was a useless teacher and very very boring) was let go from a company after the first week! So it takes a special type of person to take these jobs.

As for me, I am working full time as I said earlier and sometimes it has it's up and downs like everything else. I like the job security and the pay is good enough and I don't have to pay for anything but it can become monotonous at times with too many extra things to do. The big problem at my school is that they love volleyball, even more than teaching it seems sometimes. My prep is very fast sometimes on account of this and it leaves me slightly annoyed at times.

That's just from my experience personally. I did teach companies before and will eventually go back to them I think but it will be difficult to leave my kids behind when I do!!

[Rabinoshka]

I do both. I'm employed and I do freelancing in my free time. Both have their advantages, I suppose. Freelancing is much more financially rewarding - believe it or not, I can get my monthly salary with just 5 "private classes" (as we normally call them here, in Russia)! Well, that's mostly because salaries in Russia are quite low in general... Doing freelancing also enables me to meet all sorts of people and practice my teaching skills with pre-school kids, adult professionals, Harry Potter teen fans, well, anyone... Having done this for several years, I think I'm now ready for almost every student that chances to come my way...
Teaching university students has its good points as well. They are usually linguistically minded and interested in exploring every interesting point in depth. Moreover, they have enough special knowledge to be able to do this. Most of my non-university students need English for practical purposes and are not concerned with subtleties.

[emile]

If only I could do freelance work... but I need that work permit. I'm sure I could get a lot more $$$ freelancing, though.

[Rabinoshka]

Emile, do you need a work permit to do freelancing in your country?

[emile]

Err... I should clarify ...I don't live in my own country. I've been in Malaysia for almost ten years now.

[livinginkorea]

I just got a small job from the missus to teach one kid during the weekend as he has an exam next Tuesday or so. It's 50,000 won an hour which is frigging great! I want more of this!!