Job Discussion Forums

[DirtGuy]

This is sort of a "newbie" questions as it is for an area of teaching I have never done or heard of before.

I teach ESL to adults in Silicon Valley at night. Took a year off to work in rural NE Ohio where I bought a mobile home park and am fixing it up. Now, I work my b*** off all day at the park but there is NOTHING to do here at night and I don't watch TV. Also no need for ESL teachers and the thought of working at the local WalMart is revolting. I found some sites where they will pay you to teach EFL over the Internet to students in other countries.

You need to have a high-speed connection (yes), Skype account (no, but will get), and a PC (I love my Mac but I guess I'll have to cross over to the dark side).

Some questions:

Has anyone heard of or done this?

If so, is it legit and do you get paid?

Am I likely to get students if I want to work 5-midnight Eastern time?

Do adults or children use this service?

Thanks for any help you can give me and I'll probably have more questions for you.

Rolf

[Glenski]

Some companies do this already. So, you already have deep pockets of money to compete with.

Your hours are almost irrelevant, since the world is awake 24/7. If you can establish a contact/client in any part of the world willing to take you on, just be awake then.

If...that's the problem.

Payment scheme can also be iffy. Try PayPal.

How will you ensure that customers have the right equipment to deal with you? Even a $20 webcam can make somebody cringe at the cost, but you also have to be concerned about having equivalent software and hardware (PC vs. Mac).

[DirtGuy]

Glenski,

Thanks for the info. It looks like these companies and this method of teaching actually do exist. The companies, as far as I can tell, act as sort of a clearinghouse or go-between for the students and the teachers. Both are required to have the same computer equipment and both have to have a PayPal account.

A number of companies doing this are advertising on the site run by Jacob Peebles. ESLJobFinder or something like that. Have you ever seen it?

If you know of anyone (or anyone reading this) that has actually worked for one of these companies, how about kicking in your $.02?

Thanks.

[Glenski]

I don't know anything about Peebles or ESLjobfinder.

My knowledge is limited to NOVA, the largest chain conversation school in Japan. Part of their service (called Multimedia Center) is exactly this sort of thing. Might want to check them out before they fold. They are on the verge.
www.teachinjapan.com