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Hello!

Newbie from Athens, Greece here! I've already posted something on the forum, but I thought I should introduce myself properly! I'm Marina, 26, and I'm an English teacher, but I really suck at it because I just can't seem to be able to say "no" to those cute little mosters, so I decided to stay away from them for the moment! Instead, I spend my time writing and trying to become better at it, and learning Swedish and Spanish. I'm really excited to be here! Let's hope I'll stay too!

Kalispera! Welcome aboard.

Greetings to Greek writer from an experienced teacher. Welcome to the wonderful world of writing.

Just a thought (forgive me for dropping in a piece of unasked for advice): if you love teaching itself, tutoring a student one-on-one is a different dynamic. Easier to maintain discipline and order. Maybe. Not sure if it interests you or not, of course.

Best of luck here at CC.

Hello undercoverwaitress! Nice to meet you! Advive is always welcome!

I've tried tutoring for a few years and it was indeed a completely different experience. However, one my biggest problems in this field is my inherent lack of internal structure. In other words, I'm a complete mess without a rigid schedule, so getting prepared for my lessons took so long that, at some point, it became daunting. I don't exclude myself from teaching in the future and I try to keep up with the trends and methods, but for now I'm just exploring alternatives.

I understand, teaching is an incredible amount of planning plus the energy required in the classroom. Most of my teaching "career" I have taught part-time.

I hated teaching, partly for the reasons you both point out. There is no such thing as a teacher who is paid well enough for what they do, I suspect.

Ahhh jellygator, you pulled such a sensitive string there! In my country, most teachers who are not working in public schools (which is a pain-in-the-you-know-what for entirely different reasons!) gets paid by the hour, often uninsured, so you end up working for as low as 6-7 dollars per hour. That sucks because, one one hand, the money is not even close to being enough to cover your expenses and, on the other hand, you get disappointed by the sheer volume of work you have to do for such little money.

At the end of the day, it's just not worth it. I'd much rather be teaching for free, knowing that I'm doing it as a hobby, rather than feel like I'm being taken advantage of.

It's a shame, in my opinion. But I will stop there, because I could go on and on about education and what is happening to it.