What side are you on?

Working Solo or for the company - for teachers; Study alone or in a group - for students; Personal Experience - Zamira Erkinova

Oct 4, 2021

WORKING SOLO OR FOR A COMPANY

There are many stereotypes about freelancers who start their workday when they want, have enough time for hobbies and social life and are generally much happier people than office workers. Same can be said about teachers working from home with their own students - you can be wearing a bathrobe, give students a task and go get yourself a tea and sandwich while they are at it. This is as far from truth as London from Tokio, of course.

Working freelance

Teachers who work freelance have complete control of their schedule and workday. However, it is easy to fall prey to your own greed and get more students than you can manage. On the other side of the spectrum is where to find them. Some start their personal blogs on Instagram and gain a substantial following, from whence they can pluck their students. But being a blogger is a job all of its own, and demands a lot of your time and attention. More than that, creating content can be harder than creating lesson plans, and not everyone has been blessed with such outgoing personality and inexhaustible creativity.

Another side of working freelance is taxation - you will have to deal with it on your own. Every country has their own legislation, so you will burrow your head into work legislation if you want to avoid accusations of tax evasion. Once you have done that, though, paying taxes can become a part of your monthly routine that you do not even give a second thought to.

On the positive side, working freelance teachers are able to set their own rates. Here you can set the price as high as your conscience allows you to, based on your experience, qualifications and self-confidence.

Working with a school

Schools have to pay rent, management salaries as well as keep other staff on their payroll. That is why they set fixed rates for teachers which are generally lower than what you could have earned working solo. However, you can see this as having a personal assistant who you pay and who does all the dirty work for you - you only need to focus on the curriculum.

The latter may also be regulated by the school. They can dictate what books and materials you are allowed to use, how fast you must progress and when is the deadline for the end-of-course test. But not all schools do that and some actually allow moderate freedom in this area, so the teachers have space to channel their creativity.

Another argument in favour of schools is the community. Having space to share your experience with colleagues, having regular training and teachers’ meetings, and learning from your more experienced colleagues can prevent burnout and professional stagnation. Schools that provide these are worth their weight in gold and may improve your teaching experience tremendously.

Moreover, signing a contract with a school relieves you of the necessity to pay your own taxes and may provide even more benefits like sick leave and paid holiday.

It is your own decision which way to work, the choice should depend only on personal preferences. What do you prefer - solo or with a company? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Study Alone vs. Group Study

As we all enter into college, or have been here for a couple semesters, studying still stands as something that can constantly be improved upon. Heading into every single quiz, exam, or project it is always impertinent that you study before hand to be as prepared as possible. However, what is the best way to study? Do I go sit in the deep gallows of the stacks, completely isolated, or do I gather with a few of my friends who are also studying?

Studying Alone

Studying alone can also have many different parameters, from being completely isolated from all civilization in the stacks, to simply being a table by yourself with your headphones in. This strategy absolutely comes with different advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages to studying alone are that it minimizes distraction, allows you to pace yourself, and can improve your focus. When you are by yourself, distraction is minimized due to the lack of other interaction you have other than with your schoolwork. You can take breaks whenever you feel overwhelmed, or even read at a speed that suits you. This pacing of your own work can be extremely beneficial to you, for no one knows you better than yourself. Lastly, the improvement of focus that comes with studying alone is crucial. This lets you have the flexibility to learn different sections that you personally need improvement on as well as leave less stress on aspects you may have already mastered.

Disadvantages to studying alone is not having your peers and friends around you to push you to study if you become off task. Even the best of studiers can sometimes become off task for hours without even realizing it. Having that group around you will allow you to push to maximize the time you spend studying.

Group Studying

When you study in a group of people, like studying alone, will come with advantages and disadvantages. Group studying typically involves anywhere from one to four other people that will studying either the same, or different, material that you are. Some advantages to this study technique are it can increase retention, expand access to information, and boost motivation to study. This increased retention will come from the ability to vocalize ideas you may have to someone else, a technique that is proven to allow you to remember information better. Along with this will come the knowledge not just that you have, but the knowledge from everyone else around the table. The biggest advantage will come from the increased motivation that comes from a group study. Having others around you that are also studying, will prevent distraction and allow you to maximize this study effort.

Disadvantage that accompany studying in a group is that you can only be as productive as the group’s weakest link. This means that if there is one person that is extremely distracted, too loud, or constantly being outlandish it can be detrimental to the group as a whole. If that one person is off, every single member of the group can suffer for his or her actions.

Experiment?

I think that one way in which this could be decided is through a study. This study could gather random people that are separated into random group. Then each group will either study individually or within a group, and given an exam to see who scores better. Obviously there will be a large amount of confounding variables such as previous intelligence and an individual’s habits. This is just an idea that could be purposed in order to determine which study method yields better school performance.

Conclusion

Every single person studies and performs in different ways, whether that be with a group of friends or independently. Studying is no different. In order to succeed you must try each option and stick to what works. Personally, I enjoy studying with groups because I feel less stress and feel like they keep me on task more often. When I am studying alone I can sometimes catch myself an hour into random videos on YouTube. Each method has several different advantages and disadvantages, it is up to you to decide which method will yield the best results.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Hi there! My name’s Zamira and I’ve been teaching English for the past seven years. I enjoy meeting new and interesting people. I started tutoring in my student years and since then worked both with groups and individuals, as well as offline and online. I can still remember my very first class with primary school students, how we sang ABC songs and how nervous I was. But now, I prefer working with adults because we can discuss more things and have more in common.

With Fast&Easy I’m working for about two months now and can only see the advantages. First of all, very friendly, professional and helpful staff, who always help and explain to you what to do. If you visit the office you might even get some delicious coffee with a cake. ) Also everyone is working officially which is a big plus too.

Secondly, there is no need to search for new students, spending a lot of money and time. The school presents the students to you in your free slots. Advertising can be pretty pricey nowadays. And the students are very friendly, interesting and motivated. We have a lot of fun with them.

Thirdly, the school provides classes for the teachers with native speakers. In fact, I still can be a student from time to time either. It was one of the most important things for me when choosing a school. Maybe now I’ll be able to prepare and finally pass that C2 level exam Also it’s a good opportunity to chat with colleagues, which I was missing since started working online. And last but not least, school is developing their platform. It might be not the perfect one, but Rome also wasn’t built in a day. The most important is that they’re working and developing it and hopefully we’ll get every feature needed very soon. In general, I’m pleased with my experience.

That’s all for now!
Stay amazing ♥

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