If you’re an English teacher, you’ve probably thought about teaching online. But you don’t really know what to do and how to get started. I think we can all agree that teaching English online is a great way to make money from home. However, most of us do not have the financial resources necessary to pay for the proper training required for teaching English as a second language. This includes the costs of technology and software languages that are required. With this in mind, we shall begin with how I learned everything I know about teaching English online from nothing – free of charge!
Are you looking to take your teaching business online? Wondering how to improve your online teaching and make it fun, engaging and effective? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Come and read about 10 of my favorite online language teaching tools that I use for language practice, flashcards and making music.
MyLingoTrip
MyLingoTrip is an online language school that lets learners schedule private, one-on-one lessons via Skype. Lessons for two are also available.
The site currently offers 12 languages. Each lesson is scheduled to last 60 minutes.
Using MyLingoTrip as a tutor is completely free. Teachers invoice their students directly for their lesson fee using PayPal or an alternative invoicing service, which means you can receive payment electronically from your students regardless of currency.
Languages you can teach:
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
- Greek
- Swedish
- Dutch
- Russian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Chinese
Requirements:
- A love for teaching languages
- Must enjoy working with international students
- Must be a native speaker of the language you want to teach
- You feel comfortable speaking English if you want to teach a non-English language
- Basic computer skills
PALFISH
Palfish connects young Chinese students with English teachers through a phone app. Teachers lead 25-minute one-on-one lessons. The teaching material is already created, so there is virtually no lesson planning required.
Perhaps the biggest “pro” to teaching for Palfish is that you can create your own schedule. There are peak hours to teach that correlate with your Chinese students’ time zone, but you don’t necessarily have to teach during those hours; these are just the best times to teach to guarantee booking students. This flexibility is ideal for travelers!
One of the downsides to Palfish is that you are essentially marketing yourself. You will initially teach trial lessons to prospective students. If they enjoy your class, they’ll buy a package and begin as a regular student. How much you earn on Palfish is directly related to the effort you put into your trial lessons and how well you promote yourself on the Palfish app platform. Salaries range from $14-$22 per hour.
The earning potential with Palfish is also determined by a points system that can be a little frustrating. You earn a set number of points for every lesson you complete. You also earn points for being on time. At the end of the month, the number of points you have det
SKIMATALK
Skimatalk is designed to help both young learners and adult business professionals in Japan. You set your own hourly rate which means you’ll have to market yourself to attract potential students. The best way to do this is by earning fantastic reviews from your students and being active on the platform. A teaching certificate and experience aren’t necessary, but they do help you stand above the competition (i.e. set you apart from other teachers) online. Skimatalk hires teachers from Ireland, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
ITALKI
iTalki is another great option for teachers from outside of Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. iTalki also has a more diverse student pool, since it supports learners from Brazil and Russia in addition to China.
iTalki operates two different ways. You can either be a language tutor, which doesn’t require a TEFL certificate, or a “professional teacher”, which does require a TEFL certificate of some kind.
You can set your own teaching rate on iTalki, which is a bit of a double-edged sword since it means that you have to keep your rates low to compete with other teachers on the app or you’ll need better qualifications and more teaching experience. Tutors typically make between $9-$13 per hour, whereas those who teach the formal curriculum make as much as $19 per hour. It is worth noting that iTalki takes a 15% fee on all payments.
VIPKID
VIPKID is easily the most popular online teaching company out there.VIPKID is set up so that teachers instruct private, 30-minute lessons. However, upon being hired, you’ll have to commit to a six-month contract.
VIPKID has additional requirements for teachers. You have to wear an orange shirt, have a colorful and well-decorated background, and a headset with a microphone. The other major criteria to consider is that VIPKID also only recruits teachers from Canada and the United States.
The biggest draw for many teachers is the earning potential. Teachers can earn between $15-$22 per hour, making it one of the highest paying online learning platforms.
Lingoda
In case you’re a local French speaker, you should consider Lingoda to sell your administrations. The stage is prevalent with understudies from everywhere throughout the world and from varying backgrounds, which is or more in case you’re searching for invigorating instructing knowledge.
Exercises are held only online through virtual study halls and Skype. Lingoda additionally offers classes day-in and day-out, which enables you to set an adaptable timetable and compose your remaining task at hand all the more effectively
AmazingTalker
If you wish to teach languages online without worrying about how to get students, AmazingTalker is a great platform.
The site boasts 80 languages and subjects and over 500,000 learners, making it one of the most popular language-learning websites. Want to teach Arabic? Looking to teach Vietnamese or Indonesian? You can with AmazingTalker!
Teachers can set their own hours, own rates, and tap into a variety of training resources. All tutors are paid on a monthly basis. You can also join teacher’s groups within the site and get support in dealing with the common challenges of online tutors.
Languages you can teach:
- English
- Japanese
- Chinese
- Korean
- German
- Spanish
- French
- Indonesian
- Italian
- and more
Requirements:
- Must either be a native speaker or have a degree in the language you wish to teach
- Experience in 1-on-1 language tutoring or related classroom experience
- Ability to create your own lesson plan
VivaLing
Created by a team of language and education enthusiasts, the VivaLing Academy is perfect for kid lovers who want to teach languages online. It offers language courses for kids 3 to 15 years old.
It also offers business language courses, exam preparation courses, and conversation courses for adults.
Your skills in child management, language teaching, and online teaching, as well as your character, will be reviewed during the recruitment process. Onboarding includes online language teaching training and teaching practice.
Languages you can teach:
- Mandarin
- English
- Spanish
- German
- French
Requirements:
- Native level of the language you want to teach
- A minimum of two years of experience working full time with children or adults
- A teaching certificate and/or an educational degree in the language you teach (minimum 120 hours)
- High-quality computer and stable internet connection
- At least 12 hours over 4 days of availability per week during after school hours in Europe and weekends
Verbling
You can learn a new language as per your schedule and the teacher you are comfortable with on Verbling.
Started in 2011, it grew to one of the most successful online language teaching websites. Busuu, a popular language-learning app, had acquired Verbling in 2020.
The teachers on this website set their bios and price by themselves. Some even offer the first class free or provide a discount. But not everyone does that.
As a teacher, you can teach anytime and from anywhere and make decent money in the process.
The educators show proof of teaching certificates. If you have experience and you wish to teach your mother tongue, you have an edge. This is to get approved as teachers for the platform.
They have their own video calling service. Plus, the trainers can upload any document they think will be convenient for teaching. Their services also comprise a flashcard service.
You can book a class with them at a decided time and can set a timer for the same time every day. In this way, you don’t need to schedule a class for the same time each day.
Let’s get a payment thing clear.
You won’t end up paying the same amount you get to see at the start. It’s because Verbling takes about 15% commission of each class. This means that if you set your hourly rate at $20, you will earn $17 (85%).
Talking about languages, they offer 70. It covers English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and many more.
You can also learn one of the lesser-taught ones, such as Polish, Persian, Indonesian, Romanian, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish.
As a teacher, you can apply for any language as they are introducing new languages regularly.
Preply
A unique aspect of this website is that they offer tremendous courses for each language. Students can decide whatever they like to pursue.
This means that if you want to learn Spanish, you get to choose from several programs. For instance, conversational Spanish and Spanish for beginners, advanced, study abroad, travelers, kids.
Or if you want to go for a specific accent or Spanish dialect, like Mexican, Argentinian, Caribbean, or any other.
If your dream is to pass the official language exam, you can select that too. Like, IELTS for English, JLPT for Japanese, HSK for Chinese, CILS for Italian, etc.
Preply team manually verify and approve tutor profiles. The teachers also set their own rates and select the timing that suits them.
They also take a 100% commission fee from the tutor for the first trial lesson. It varies from 33 to 18% for all following sessions, as per the number of completed lesson hours with students.
In short, more tutoring with Preply means less commission you will pay.
They allow the most well-known languages, like English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Arabic, and French.
But the list does not end here. As it also has Hebrew, Dutch, Ukrainian, Urdu, Serbian, Czech, and Danish.
Conclusion:
Online teaching tools can help improve students’ learning and enjoyment of your class. See what’s great about online learning, how to get the best out of free online teaching tools and how to use web based solutions to help you manage classroom activities and improve school communication.