A Guide to Becoming an Online English Teacher
Tips to get started teaching English online in the next few weeks
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Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of people working remotely all over the world. This has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic which impacted our economies, increased unemployment, and produced a greater number of online work opportunities.
This has led to an understanding that remote work will soon be the norm.
While 2020 may be considered the year of remote work, it is just the beginning as we see the trend continuing in 2021.
Whether it's the global pandemic, a need for additional income, or the desire to have more flexibility in our work, remote work opportunities are very appealing to most of us.
And online English teaching is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get into remote work.
Why Online English Teaching?
If you’re reading this, the thought of becoming an online English teacher has probably crossed your mind.
I first considered switching from working as an administrative assistant to an online English teacher in February 2019.
Though I had very little experience teaching English offline, and no experience teaching online, I knew that starting a career as an online English teacher WAS possible.
Not only that, but it would also afford me the flexibility and income to develop my interests further, and figure out what I wanted to do as a career.
Your reasons for considering online English teaching might be similar to or different from mine.
Certainly, many positives to teaching English online make it an option worth considering.
A Source of Extra Income
Teaching English online is not the most lucrative career, especially in the beginning.
Most companies start paying between $10 and $15 per hour.
If you’re looking for extra income to help pay your bills or to save up for that trip abroad or future purchase, this is a great option.
Also, if you’re living outside of the U.S. or Europe, this pay rate might be sufficient for you to live comfortably.
An increase in your income further down the line is possible. Specializing in a specific area (exam prep, pronunciation, etc.), or having more years of online English teaching under your belt, will influence this.
FYI — Many of these companies pay monthly, though you might find some paying weekly or biweekly.
Flexibility
One of the best things about teaching English online is the flexibility to work whenever, wherever you want.
If you’ve ever searched for an extra job on indeed.com or saw a post on Facebook for a position, it normally requires you to work a fixed number of hours or from a specific place.
If you’re looking to supplement your income, though, you might not have the option of working an additional 20 hours, or of being somewhere between 9 am and 3 pm when you already have a regular job.
With online English teaching, you have more options.
Most online English teaching companies serve students from all over the world. Some of the most popular companies serve Chinese children, whose parents are looking for classes from 6 pm to 8 pm Beijing time (VIPKID is one of the most popular ones).
That means you can work a couple of hours in the morning, say 6 to 8 am EST, before getting to your full-time job at 9 or 10 am.
Depending on where you’re living, you’ll need to find companies that work with students from all over the world, or from a time zone that works well with yours.
Another great aspect is that you’re not required to teach a specific amount of hours (for most companies), and you can set your schedule — teaching as much or as little as you want to, depending on demand.
More importantly, in most cases, you can take a break from teaching and come back. You might lose a couple of students, but if you plan this well, you’ll be able to pick it up as soon as you’re ready to.
Low Barrier to Entry
If you’re a native English speaker from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and even South Africa, you’re already a great candidate for online English teaching companies.
Because most students learning English want to speak and learn with native speakers, this puts you at an advantage.
Additionally, having some teaching experience will certainly help. And a B.A. is also a common requirement for online English teachers.
Don’t let this dissuade you, though.
If you don’t have formal English teaching experience, you can leverage your experience as a tutor or as some other type of instructor.
Having a teaching certificate like a CELTA or TEFL can put you at an advantage, opening up further opportunities for you.
A teaching license from your state will also help if you don’t have a TELF certificate.
Still, you’ll find many online teaching companies and platforms where being a native English speaker is the most important qualification, with additional experience and training being an added bonus.
Learning New Skills
While working as an online English teacher can be tedious and monotonous at times, it is a job that teaches many skills that you can use in other jobs.
Marketing —Because of the low barrier to entry in online English teaching, you’ll face plenty of competition. Getting hired as a teacher, or getting students to sign up for your classes, then, will require that you learn to market yourself and your services well.
Technology — From editing introduction videos to learning how to use online platforms with whiteboards, Zoom, and Skype, teaching English online will expose you to new software and tasks that require you to develop your technical skills.
English and Grammar — Being an online English teacher might seem intimidating if you don’t know how to explain the difference between the present progressive and the past perfect.
Sure, it sounds dull. And sites like Grammarly make learning English grammar seem unnecessary. But if your dream job involves writing or speaking, a more advanced understanding of the language will give you an edge.
Time Management — When you’re an online English teacher, you’ll have to learn to plan lessons efficiently, and to satisfactorily conduct a class within the allotted time while covering the material.
These are only a handful of skills you’ll learn throughout your time as an online English teacher.
Meeting Interesting Students and Teachers
During your time as an online English teacher, you’ll not only gain great skills. You’re perspective about people and the world will grow as well.
You will learn how to interact with people from different cultures and languages, and you’ll often be fascinated by your students’ backgrounds and inspired by their motivation.
You might also be able to interact with other teachers within the same teaching company.
You’ll share tips, stories, and discuss both the good and the bad of online English teaching with them. You might also build life-long connections with fellow teachers.
Getting Started with Online English Teaching
So far, we’ve covered some of the reasons why online English teaching might be an appealing side gig or new career.
If you’re ready to start teaching English online, follow the steps below to get started.
Search for Teaching Opportunities
The first step is to see what’s out there.
There are plenty of online English teaching opportunities. Just google ‘online English teacher job’ and they will come up.
There are also several websites dedicated to teacher training or teaching in general, that have lists of opportunities available for online teaching:
Before you get started, however, consider the following:
- Teaching children versus teaching adults
Some companies work exclusively with young learners, others work with adult learners, and others work with both.
Perhaps you want to try teaching both types of students.
Or maybe, you prefer teaching children rather than adults or vice versa.
Either way, it’s important to understand that teaching one type of student entails a different set of skills and requirements than teaching the other type.
When it comes to teaching young learners, you might need to have a colorful background with images and props that will attract students’ attention. You’ll also have to deal with parents' expectations for how lessons are conducted and the feedback you give about their children.
Overall, teaching children requires a lot of energy.
When you’re teaching adults, you’ll learn that they’re more vocal and critical than children when it comes to your teaching style, knowledge, and professionalism.
Additionally, you’ll likely teach children in one-on-one lessons or you’ll have max 2 students per class.
There’s a higher demand for group classes with adult learners than individual classes since the latter are more expensive.
2. Group classes versus individual classes
Speaking of group classes, when considering online teaching, be aware of which companies will require you to teach group classes.
Group classes take much more energy, as you have to manage your time better to make all your students get speaking practice, and you’ll also have to do your best to meet each student’s expectations to the best of your ability.
It doesn’t mean you need to be perfect or that each class needs to satisfy each student 100%. You’ll have to be more mindful, however, when you’re teaching multiple students at the same time to give them feedback throughout the lesson or afterward.
The great thing about group classes, though, is that there are often more of them available for teachers to teach, much more than individual classes.
Consider teaching for companies that have group classes if you’re looking to teach more than one or two hours per day.
3. Company versus tutoring marketplaces
Online teaching opportunities can be broken down into two separate categories: company teaching jobs and teaching marketplaces.
COMPANY TEACHING JOBS
These are opportunities to teach students who come to a company with a set pricing plan and curriculum: Companies like VIPKID or Lingoda, where the company sets your salary and bonuses, and where the students go through the school before they get to you.
TEACHING MARKETPLACES
Think of these as the Upwork or Fiverr of online teaching. Among these are italki, Verbling, and Preply.
The great thing about these marketplaces is that you set your prices and have the most flexibility when it comes to your schedule.
Students are the ones who decide whether or not they want to learn with you based on your profile. This means more competition. Also, these platforms usually take a percentage of your earnings.
Starting with company-based opportunities might be a better option if you’re new to online English teaching and want to prep for lessons as little as possible since most of these provide the teaching materials.
Tutoring marketplaces are better if you’re an experienced teacher, or if you have a specific teaching skill you want to market. Your income potential is also higher with these platforms.
Applying to Jobs
Now that you have a better idea about the kind of opportunities out there, and you know which companies or tutoring marketplaces you want to go for, it’s time to apply for them!
A note about getting certified
Like I mentioned above, having a teaching certificate is not essential to be able to work as an online English tutor. Being a native speaker, and having some previous teaching experience will certainly be sufficient.
However, having a teaching certification will open more opportunities for you IF you’ve decided that this is a career you want to pursue long term.
There are many TELF training programs online. One of the most expensive and time-consuming ones is the CELTA (which I did).
However, you can find cheaper certificate programs.
Just make sure you do your research since some fraudulent Tefl training programs are out there on the internet.
Working on Your Resume
The first step is to your resume.
If you google ‘teaching resume,’ you’ll see many sample resumes you can use as a model for yours.
As you work on your online English teaching resume, make sure to highlight the aspects of your previous jobs that involved some sort of teaching or management component. And if you have some, mention any relevant teaching experience near the top.
There should also be a Skills section, where you list any relevant skills or knowledge that you possess, that can be used in the online English teaching context.
On top of this, your teaching resume will include your native language and any other languages you speak, as well as your citizenship — as companies often look for teachers from English-speaking countries.
Adding an introduction or objective at the top giving a summary of your experience and your objective can be helpful.
Submitting the Application
Besides your resume, you’ll also want to prepare a brief statement of interest (a small cover letter) stating A) why you want to teach online and B) what makes you a good English teacher.
A short introduction video is required to apply for platforms like italki, Cambly, or Preply. The video should be between one and three minutes long, and you should talk to potential students about your skills and experience, inviting them to book a lesson with you.
When you apply to company-based positions, you’ll get an email telling you to expect a response in a few days or weeks. Sometimes, you’ll be prompted to proceed to the next step (like a demo lesson or to schedule an interview), or you might receive a rejection immediately.
Repeat this same process for all the companies you’ve decided to apply for.
Preparing for Your Interview
The next step after submitting your application to become an online English teacher is an interview. This is most applicable if you’re applying to an online teaching school.
You’ll be required to complete one or more of the following, depending on the company:
A recorded interview: You’re asked a few questions about your experience and background. You record the answers through the company’s website, submit them, and wait for their response via email.
A recorded demo lesson: You prepare a 2 to 10-minute demo lesson based on lesson materials provided by the company, where you’re asked to pretend you’re teaching a type of student (5-year old, beginner, etc.)
A live interview: You’ll receive an email requesting your availability for a live interview through Skype or Zoom. You’ll be asked questions about your background, experience, and why you want to teach English.
A live demo lesson: You’ll receive an invitation or request to schedule a live demo lesson, where you’ll be teaching a live interviewer based on the lesson materials provided by the company.
If you’re nervous about the interview, or unsure how to prepare for a demo lesson, you’ll find many blogs and videos where teachers discuss their experience through these processes and give you tips on how to successfully pass each stage.
Search ‘Company Name’ + ‘Demo Lesson,’ and you’ll find these. (For example — ‘VIPKID Demo Lesson’)
NOTE: Most of these companies set your salary based on your demo lesson. Preparing for this step as much as possible will be important to get a higher starting pay.
If you’re applying for approval for a tutoring marketplace, you’ll receive an email telling you your profile will be reviewed.
Once your profile has been approved, you can search for students, and optimize your profile to attract students to book a trial lesson.
It’s Time to Start Teaching!
If you follow the tips in this article, conduct a bit of research, and put in the effort, you’ll soon be on your way to teaching English online for one or more companies or platforms.
With language teaching companies, once you’ve accepted their job offer, you’ll be asked to complete some training and update your profile and payment information before starting to teach. You’ll also have to set your availability or schedule.
With tutoring marketplaces, you can continue updating your profile, search for students if possible, and market yourself to bring students to your profile (social media, website, etc). Many of these marketplaces also have tutorials and training that will help you get the most out of them.
Technology
Online English teachers are expected to have a laptop, stable internet (preferably wired- though wifi works too), a headset with a microphone, and a webcam.
If your laptop has a webcam you should be fine. If you want a better camera, or your laptop doesn't have one, you can get an inexpensive one on amazon.
I use this headset and this camera to conduct my online English lessons.
You might also need to download Zoom or Skype, or the company’s app, depending on the company or platform you’re teaching with or through.
Getting students
As I mentioned above, if you’re working through a tutoring platform, you’ll need to market your services through social media or other platforms and optimize your profile.
If you’re working for a language company, they will sometimes match students to you. Other times, you have to wait for students (or their parents) to book a lesson for you.
Demand is really important, and at certain times of the year, you’ll have more students than at other times.
It might take some time for you to get your first student. Be patient.
Your First Lesson
Once you have your first lesson scheduled, prepare as well as you can.
You might feel nervous about your first time teaching online. All things seem scary in the beginning, trust me.
I remember my first online English lesson. A few hours before the class, I was panicking and ready to quit.
Afterward, though, I was kicking myself for being so stressed out. It was much easier than I expected.
Your first few lessons might not go smoothly. But little by little, you will get the hang of online teaching.
It took me a while before I went from thinking about online English teaching to actually doing it.
There are so many excuses we set in our minds.
Yet once you get the hang of online English teaching, you’ll realize how rewarding it can be.
Don’t be afraid to give it a try!
Have you been considering online English teaching?
Do you have any other questions about becoming an online English teacher?
Are you an online English teacher?
What other tips would you give to someone starting out?
Do you want me to write about a specific teaching company or platform?
Let me know!
