Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
Does anyone here really enjoy working from home and if so what do you do ?
It really hit home to me, whilst out having an early morning walk today by the river, that I would be much happier working from home. I have worked a physical job most of my life and have known a change was long overdue, for years actually. I've realised this is causing me more stress than what it's worth and I'm in the process of minimising as much stress as I can, even if it may involve a loss of income.
I've looked around at some of the most common jobs people are doing from home but don't really interest me, like corporate companies, data-entry, sales and so on. They're just not my cup of tea. I'd much more prefer to be helpful or creative or contribute something positive in some way. I'm just wondering how to go about finding work I could do from home that could be interesting or maybe even meaningful ?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
i love it , i can control my environment eg brightness temperature and turn on music or white noise or both
I work in IT ( software tester ) so we all took our laptops home and log into the network via a VPN and a security key thingy so that no one can intercept our valuable data.
all meetings are via microsoft Teams I turn off my camera for most meetings.
I work with 5 very busy developers and a project manager.
Yeah, I would probably do that too. The thought of using Zoom or whatever does not appeal to me. It just sounds weird. I've never been one to post or send photos even. I can't imagine what an interview on camera would be like.
Thanks for that Michael. That's useful to know.
If you mean the TEFL/ESOL courses, then, no, they are not very useful unless you want to teach abroad or as a way of demonstrating an extra layer of expertise in teaching English to foreign learners abroad or foreign learners in the UK.
They are designed specifically as top-ups for already qualified teachers who have no experience in language teaching. You may find a few countries that will accept them on their own, but not many. For UK colleges, though, they are no use at all. UK colleges require a Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training and these are the only teaching qualifications (outside of degree) for the post-16 sector that are recognised.
I imagine with those methods it provides variety for you both and before you know it the lesson is over. Are those Cambridge, 4 week intensives any use for working from home ?
Both, Turtle. I use film, audio, a whiteboard, powerpoint and any other audio-visual aid that stimulates learners and/or enhances a teaching moment. In the profession, they call it blended learning. All the terms are meaningless, though, it's just about finding a variety of resources to engage learners in the topic. The stand and preach method of teaching you're referring to (talking at the camera/students) is considered as poor teaching way of teaching nowadays. Not everyone is a purely auditory learner.
It's still quite prevalent in the domain of lecturing, but even lecturers have started to move away from it and introduce more varied approaches with the advent of technology. Most lecturers will now at the very least plant themselves in front of a powerpoint presentation. The best lecturers will also introduce physical props into their lectures to cater for different learning styles.
Do you teach on or off camera or do you have a preference ?
You are not obliged to have your camera switched on during online meetings unless it is absolutely essential to the work.