Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

I'm sure this has been asked before (quite possibly by myself), but how does one go about teaching online? My hours at my (generally) adult academy have been cut and I keep getting requests from my morning students for some way/how to continue their lessons at a more convenient time. I really want to teach them online.

I'm hoping/assuming that if they pay me via PayPal, then because I'll have to pay taxes on that in the US then it's legal. Technically, I'm not working in the ROK if I'm liable for taxes on that income back in the US.

Besides these local students, I distribute my lesson materials via a blog which gets about 800 hits from various parts of the world, Latvia, Uruguay, etc. This leads me to believe it might be time to hang out an ESL shingle in cyberspace anyway.

So, what are some suggestions for rates. I'm fairly certain that individual students at my current academy current pay between 8,000 to 13,000 Korean won per lesson depending on their contracted rate (i.e., discounts if they join the class for several months at the beginning or pay on a monthly basis).

My classes are general conversation/discussion style but I've got quite a bit of experience (9+ years) and as such 'know what I'm doing'. I'm especially good at coaching accurate pronunciation. I have iBT/TOEFL experience, a TEFL certification and solid references.

[esl_prof]

I'd start by doing Google and Amazon.com searches for "teaching English online." I have a colleague here in the U.S. who teaches overseas via Skype, so that seems like a common approach. As for rates, those will vary depending on where your students are from. A good starting point for your current students would probably be whatever the going rate is for private tutoring in your country of residence.

Two possible sources (which may or may not be worth the bandwidth they occupy) are:

http://iteachenglishonline.com/

http://ultimateteachingposition.com/

You might also check out existing online ESL providers such as https://www.openenglish.com/en/careers/teachers/ to check out their rates and use that as a gauge for setting your own.

Good luck!

[Scott at UW]

You should look into the educational software Moodle. It is open source.

I taught some writing courses through it at one time.

[esl_prof]

[piglet44]

Have been teaching here and there online. You can definitely find students. You can find a ton on sites like italki.com the problem being lots of them want free lessons and don't want to pay you.But if you are persistent and advertize you can definitely build up custom.

[hollysuel]

I have been involved in teaching online since 2006 and started training teachers in 2009. The following are some rules of thumb I would suggest that you keep in mind:

1. Just like private tutoring in a specific country, you need to build a reputation to be successful teaching online, especially if you are freelancing and not teaching for an online school. So, once you start getting students, make sure you are doing your best and if the lessons are truly of value, you will get more lessons through word of mouth and can slowly increase your price.

2. Always have a BACKUP! Have a backup computer and a backup for your internet service. If you do not have quality internet service, your students will not stay with you. I've always had DSL/broadband plus some type of mobile internet. Students forgive occasional outages because they have them too, but it can't be too often.

3. Invest in a good headset. Students will not continue with you if you are echoing because you choose to use the computer microphone. An over the head headset is usually perceived as higher quality and more professional.

4. Don't have all of your eggs in one basket. Consider having your profile up on various live online teaching portals if you are looking to have a full time income. That will also give you an idea of the prices people will pay.

Some of the online schools that seem to be very good (and might actually have a waiting list) are the following:

Myngle http://www.myngle.com/
Verbling http://www.verbling.com
iTalki http://www.italki.com/
Lingueo http://www.lingueo.com/
Verbal PLanet http://www.verbalplanet.com/
Tutor ABC http://recruit.tutorabc.com/program/index.asp
Talk Bean http://tutor.talkbean.com/displayEng.do?cmd=siteMain
WizIQ http://www.wiziq.com

5. Limit the number of free lessons you give. Maybe one hour a day and consider it training for yourself, which gives you an idea of what types of students and lessons you want to teach.

6. Don't just use skype. There are countless resources for teaching online that will give you and your students a better experience. If you are only screensharing, your students can't write on a whiteboard. Consider learning some of the virtual classrooms that are affordable for live online language teachers. Here are some off the top of my head:

WebEx
Fuze meeting
Blackboard Collaborate
Adobe
Microsoft Live

(I've considered offering training on the use of these, so PM me if you are interested...)

7. Get a support network. Teaching online can be isolating. So, get involved in the many online professional development opportunities for language educators. Ones I can think of off the top of my head include:

WizIQ http://www.wiziq.com An online training organization that has a lively, enthusiastic community of teachers.

EVO or Electronic Village Online http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/10708567/FrontPage is part of the TESOL organization. They have teacher training sessions every year for about four weeks. It is a great place to find like-minded teachers and a community. EVO is for all TESOL teachers around the world (not just for online teachers).

VRT or Virtual Round Table http://www.virtual-round-table.com/ is an online conference dealing with teaching languages with technology. Also a great place to network.

Hope these tips will help as you start investigating live online language teaching. BTW, here is a blog post I wrote a couple of months ago about finding online teaching jobs: http://liveonlineenglishteacher.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-can-i-find-job-teaching-english.html

I'll post again if I think of anything else...needless to say this is a passion of mine...

[Xie Lin]

Wow! This is a really helpful, information-packed post, Hollysuel! Brilliant!

.

[piglet44]

Yes really useful.Actually reassuring to see I was doing pretty much all those things. THanks though

[likwid_777]

Regarding the OP's post, I had wondered about legalities of this, too. I'm pretty sure it would be a grey area regarding legislation. If the money goes into an account in your home country, or PayPal as mentioned, it's a bit of an interesting one. It seems to be a good way to supplement income whilst in certain countries. I have even heard of people getting by in the Philippines by doing this exclusively (because it's apparently nigh impossible to land an ESL job there). I think it should be OK, as people check work emails whilst abroad, don't they? They may handle business back home whilst being in another country on vacation or what-have-you. Such working by remote is the same thing, really.

I feel that the biggest potential problem with teaching online would be getting screwed out of money.

+How's that cash goin?+

<Oh sure, I'll pay you...>

<Just fly to Russia to collect it, as my internet banking is down.>

+Man, if those eight Euros were worth it, and I weren't scared, I'd go and get that money!+

[piglet44]

On the sites mentioned it's actually pretty reliable so far.italki money is paid in credits converted to $ goes in automatically.On another one I use verbalplanet I didn't get paid once,sent an email to support and the following day the money went in.It's not a lot of money and they take a bit off for admin but it's negligible.I don't know if I could get by only on that but it's ok.It is also pretty unhealthy sitting on the computer for hours on end.