Pros
I think you have to be a real, certified teacher to truly appreciate this job. There are so many Pros, compared to teaching in a public school classroom! 1. Small class sizes. You can't beat teaching one student at a time! Even teaching public school online (virtually) I have 34+ students in a class. 23-38 inner-city public school students in one class! There is no way to teach this many students at one time! Having private classes with only one student is an unheard of luxury! 2. No commute. No car expenses! Heck, you don't even need to own a vehicle! No sitting in traffic. No stopping for gas. No oil changes or purchasing new tires. You can save, literally thousands of dollars per year by teaching online with EF. 3. No teacher wardrobe needed. No more purchasing "professional dress." Clothing is expensive! If you teach in-person you will be expected to dress professionally. No athletic shoes... no jeans... You are expected to keep up your wardrobe. With English First, you don't have that constant need to upgrade your wardrobe. You can teach in your slippers... or even barefoot, if you like. Every day is Jeans Day! Or, pajama bottoms day... Just purchase one collared polo shirt, and your wardrobe is complete! 4. No being on your feet all day. In public school it is expected that you will remain standing for much -if not all- of the class period. "Once a teacher sits down, she stops being a good teacher." It's hard to be on your feet, class period after class period. Administration can drop in at any time, and Lord-help-you if you're caught sitting at your desk! At English First, the teacher can sit down... or stand up. You have the freedom to choose. You are not told "how" to teach. Buy a cushioned chair... Put your feet up! If you are an experienced brick-and-mortar teacher, you will quickly realize what a wonderful teaching opportunity this is! The Pros are endless; I could go on and on... So, if you come across any bad reviews of EF, I can almost guarantee you they are coming from people with no real teaching experience. This is an amazing job for teachers! Especially if you're wanting to get out of the traditional classroom. 5. I almost forgot to mention...No Lesson Planning! No hours of planning.. No having a deadline each week to submit your plans. No one yapping about what you need to start including. The last year I taught pre-k, we had 12 pages of plans each week. And the plans were never complete enough. The principal would always find something wrong with the lesson plans; they were never detailed enough. "Why didn't you include the title of your read-aloud?" "You didn't include how you will be differentiating your assignments for your English Language Learners"... 12 pages of lesson plans each week for teaching 4- and 5-year-olds!!
Cons
Early morning hours. That's it. But when I was teaching in person at my last school, we had to pick up our students outside from the bus at 7:20am, so I was getting up early then, too, to take a shower, fix my lunch, and drive the 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic.