I have often frowned upon the idea of getting into the call center industry. I have graduated without even a thought of becoming a call center newbie. It was perhaps the idea that such industry is meant for the unemployed, and I didn’t want to be included therewith. I earned my degree, and it’s something that I have to make use of in my future career. Having known that the minimum requirement to be in the call center workforce was just two years in college, I didn’t want to be part not only of the ‘unemployed’ but of the ‘underemployed’.
I have most times heard of the ongoings in call centers, and I didn’t want to be in it. During my job search, my frustration grew that I was pushed to resorting to applications at 3 call centers. But with much diligence for online job searching, out in surprise, I found two jobs that sounded promising. The first one, which was my first option, was working at an online advertising company for copyright. And the other one was at one company catering to online English instruction. I was utterly new to both, but I had opted for the first one. However, terms seemed to be not as expected, so taking the second one was rather the only option.
Getting into online English teaching was much of a dilemma, quite accidental, to say the least. There was some speck of doubt as it was no different from the call center given the shifts and early morning and late night schedules. The only consolation I got was first, one has to earn a bachelor’s degree, and second, employees teach. It’s better to say teachers rather than employees even. There was ascendancy in this industry. “I am now a teacher,” I did say to myself then. But still, there was something holding back.
I took the training. I had some test calls. And next I knew, I was already working, teaching Koreans to speak in the language that I very well know of. And now, I have been working for more than a couple of months, and it’s going well I may say.
During the first days of online teaching, it wasn’t like the call center, well, based on testimonies by some colleagues outside the company, who were call center agents. The shifts were set, like the usual classes in regular schools. There were books and manuals to use. Everything was structured like lesson plans, and yes, like in regular schools. It was a whole different industry, or rather story. It was modern day education. It wasn’t business or sales; it was rather imparting something to the students, not so much on profiteering.
It may be too soon for me to give testimony to what this modern education is, but I think my encounters would serve to be the very essence of it, the reason why it was put up in the first place.
In this online teaching, there is that element of encouragement for the student. Not all can be propelled to learn a new language, but encouraging one is more than just any reward or incentive. One student thanked me one time, not for teaching her, but for letting out that interest in her, for encouraging her. And that was my first encounter, thereby making me stay longer. It was beyond anything that we receive as employees. It was different.
My second encounter involved a student who can talk about different issues. After taking up one module, and with some minor conflict with the academy in Korea concerning about change of modules, it was arranged that her class be based on news columns and articles online. And that was where our classes revolved. One thing I gained here was being able to let out the best in every student. My student could talk so much an issue. She expanded topics from family to society, from economy to politics. She had a lot in mind. She took the class seriously. It was the first time that the company had such case. But all in all, seeing the student go beyond horizons and boundaries was just everything.
Lastly, talking to different students of different backgrounds was more than any fulfillment especially for those in the online instruction and modern day education and for those still aspiring to be in it. Trying to let the students talk about their lives in the language they are less adept with was just more than fulfilling. Entrusting the events in their every day lives, letting out their frustrations, and sharing their joys and achievements were the things that set online teaching apart from the rest in almost the same line of industry. I have taught and known mothers, businessmen, teenagers, office workers, fathers, artists, and I can even have a long list of who my students were. There was some human sense here along with teaching.
It wasn’t so much getting something out of every month in pay rolls or incentives. It was that intangible exchange in the form of what we give to every student. Being pushed, being brought out in the open, and being made to open up about their lives couldn’t be commensurate to what we have been paid with. A simple appreciation, that assertion in class during discussions on different relevant issues, and the many faces and lives being spoken by every student are the things that couldn’t be paid in pecuniary means.
Getting into the call center was one idea I would say an option for those who couldn’t find the right job. But sometimes, taking some time to think, look, and search over is all worth it. Online English teaching wasn’t the first job I had in mind. I do still want to make use of my degree. But now, seeing and understanding its purpose and essence, with my experience with different students, I have to say that it’s not any business-related and profiteering industry. There is that “human” in it. The interaction, the appreciation, the encouragement, the growth in every student, the boost to even teach more students every day, and that idea that it’s not just any call center make this “story” or modern day means of educating utterly unique and lasting. After all, we don’t happen to be employees or call center agents. We are teachers.
