Earn money online by teaching English online

Earn money online by teaching English online

 Have you heard that teaching English online is a great way to make money from home? If you’re fluent in English and are willing to get the necessary qualifications under your belt, it isn’t hard to get started as a TEFL teacher. Opening windows of opportunity for future careers as well as part-time roles just to supplement your income, teaching English online is a great way to enhance your CV as well as gaining work experience. Read more about what TEFL is, how to get qualified, and where to find online teaching work.

What is TEFL Teaching?

TEFL stands for Teaching English as a foreign language but is also sometimes known as ESL (English as a second language), TESL (Teaching English as a second language), and TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages). Typically, a TEFL teacher will speak English as a first language, but there are also opportunities for those who speak English at a native level (CEFR level C2) and who have a good accent. Many TEFL teachers will have a degree, and for most positions, it’s necessary for candidates to hold a TEFL qualification of some sort.

When you’re a TEFL teacher, your job is to teach English to students who speak other languages. Students range from beginners to intermediate and advanced and can be anyone from toddlers to seniors. For online teaching, students are typically teenagers or adults, although online classes for children are becoming more popular. TEFL students learn for all sorts of reasons and come from all over the world – one of the biggest TEFL industries is China, but you can also find yourself teaching students much closer to home.

Why Teach English Online?

Conducting English lessons online is beneficial for both the student and the teacher. Here are a few reasons why being an online TEFL teacher is a great job:

–          You can fit in your teaching hours around other commitments, even another job.

–          You can work from your own home without much in the way of specialist equipment: most jobs ask you to use a computer, but some platforms allow teaching on your phone. You might need an audio headset with a microphone, to have a plain white background behind you when you’re teaching, or other items depending on who you teach for.

–          You can log on and teach without commuting to work, saving yourself time and money.

–          You can choose how many hours you want to teach, but keep in mind that most online schools have minimum weekly requirements.

–          If you have the travel bug, getting experience of teaching TEFL online will give you a taster of what a teaching career can be like – something you may want to explore if you’d like to live and work abroad.

Now let’s take a look at why a prospective ESL student might choose to study online rather than taking a class face-to-face:

–          The cost of studying online can often be cheaper than taking a lesson in person, enabling students to afford small groups or one-to-one classes instead of being put into a large class.

–          It’s convenient for students to find a teacher at a time to suit them, whereas a physical class would be limited by what’s available in their locality.

–          Some students live in rural areas where they can’t have lessons with a native teacher, but by studying online, they can connect with someone on the other side of the world!

–          With more choices online, students can pick specialist courses (such as English for medical purposes, or Business English) rather than a generic conversation class. Some platforms allow teachers to tailor lesson content to the needs of the student.

How to get TEFL Qualified

Having a TEFL qualification is a must for nearly all TEFL jobs, and is certainly recommended to give you a good foundation of knowledge in the subject. You might have heard that to teach TEFL all you need is to be able to speak English, but this isn’t really true – to be a good teacher, you also need to know something about teaching methodology, different skill sets, how we learn, and how to facilitate learning.

But your TEFL qualification doesn’t need to be a huge undertaking. Courses to obtain this qualification are offered by companies such as The TEFL Org, and you can pick one to suit your needs, whether you want a quick introduction or something that will provide you with a firmer grounding. A 120-hour TEFL course from an accredited provider is a good place to start, but there are also Level 5 and specialist courses for those with a keen interest in education. You can study online, take a classroom-based course, or sign up for a popular hybrid course that offers a face-to-face element alongside online study. Practical courses take place in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick.

Find out more about how TEFL works

Virtual Classroom

Another option you can now choose is The TEFL Org’s new virtual classroom course. The 10-hour training session takes place in real time over two days, facilitated by a professional TEFL tutor, and with a limited number of seats per class, you can rest assured that you’ll get a personal and beneficial experience in the virtual classroom. Recent graduates have said that “There were lots of opportunities to engage and interact with the class” and that they received “valuable feedback on… lesson demonstrations.” Students said that the tutor was “Obviously massively experienced” as well as being “calm” and “supportive”, encouraging quieter students to take an active part in the lesson. Other feedback states that students found the course “well designed” and “very informative”, and that gave them a “good insight into online teaching”.

How Does Online Teaching Enhance Your Career?

If you’re just looking for a part-time job to earn a bit of extra cash, you might wonder whether it’s worth investing in a TEFL qualification. However, there are many benefits to gaining experience as an online teacher, and it can certainly enhance your CV for future jobs. Teaching TEFL online will give you experience that will help you get hired as a TEFL teacher in the future if you’d like to live and work abroad. Going into any sort of customer-based job will utilize the people skills you’ll be enhancing as an online teacher, and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world will broaden your horizons.

Where to Find an Online Teaching Job

Once you’re TEFL qualified, there are a vast number of online teaching platforms to choose from, with options suitable for those looking for flexible freelance hours as well as for those looking for more guaranteed hours, even full-time roles. Here’s a quick introduction to some different online teaching platforms and what they require.

–          Preply. Low minimum hours (4-5 per week). You can set your own rates. You don’t need to be a native speaker to apply. You don’t need a degree. You will need to prepare your own lesson materials. You need a TEFL qualification.

–          Dada. Low minimum hours (4-5 per week). Teaching kids and teenagers. You need one year of teaching experience to apply. Non-native speakers can’t apply. You need a TEFL qualification.

–          VIPKid. Higher minimum hours (7-10 per week). Teaching kids and teenagers. US/Canadian accent preferred. You need a TEFL qualification.

–          iTutorGroup. Higher minimum hours (10 per week). You don’t need to be a native speaker to apply. You need a TEFL qualification. You need a degree. Having teaching experience is preferred.

–          Open English. Higher minimum hours (7-10 per week). You do not need higher education qualifications to work for Open English. It’s preferred if you have a TEFL qualification. Teaching teenagers and adults.

–          Learnlight. You do not need higher education qualifications to work for Learnlight. You don’t need to be a native speaker to apply. It’s preferred if you have a TEFL qualification.

–          Whales. Track record of hiring Irish accent teachers. Higher minimum hours (8 per week). You need a degree. You need a TEFL qualification. You need experience of working with children.

–          PalFish. Low minimum hours (4-5 per week). Track record of hiring Irish accent teacher. You don’t need a degree to work for PalFish. Teaching predominantly children. You need a TEFL qualification.

–          Cambly. You don’t need a degree. No minimum weekly hours. You will need to prepare your own lesson materials. You don’t need a TEFL qualification. Teaching all ages.

Summary

Whether you’re looking to teach English online as a part-time job or if it’s something you’d like to dedicate more of your time to, there are endless opportunities both for getting qualified and then for finding work. Many TEFL teachers switch to teaching online after a stint abroad or use online platforms to gain experience before they travel. The flexibility of teaching online makes it a great way to earn an income while doing something worthwhile that can also be a lot of fun. Check out an accredited TEFL course provider to see if getting qualified is something you’re interested in – courses run frequently and most online platforms hire throughout the year. Here is a Great Place to start.

Follow Us on Google News for Immediate Updates