Online English teachers, is this the latest trend?
October 16, 2013 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under A Note for You, Front Page
Article by Thomas Peterson
Online English teachers, is this the latest trend?
I would like to talk a little bit about something I have observed on the internet recently. It seems to me that there is a growing industry that is all to do with teaching online. When you think about it it makes perfect sense doesn’t it? I mean Skype is so reliable these days and so many more people have it that is seems to make sense that there would be an increase in language lessons.
I have found a few language schools that have been really interesting in the sense that they have really made it easy for me to start teaching right away. One that I would like to talk about is “Our language cafe” http://www.ourlanguagecafe.com this site is one of the first sites I went to when I was looking for a good way to get lots of students fast. The site seemed very clear to me unlike many others. I was able to get students within 3 days of registering.
I have always taught English around the world, but of course this has mainly been in the classroom. Since living in the countryside I have been more and more inclined to teach online as it is just such a convenient way of making some part time money.
I do think that since I started teaching 3 years ago I have seen a steady trend in this industry. There is more and more competition amongst teachers to get students and this is why having the platform sites is a great thing as they do the hard work for you.
One of the joys of teaching is that you can be your own boss and you can set the hours that you work. Of course some of the downsides are that you never know how much work you will get. But I think if you register with some online language platforms like the one above you will have a steady stream of students.
Also another thing is sometimes students do not turn up for lessons. This occasionally happens but when you get payment from students beforehand you can charge them something for this “no show” lesson.
I have found it really is a great fun way to meet interesting people and also have a lot of fun teaching. I think it can be rewarding when you see students progress as well. There’s lots of sides to teaching online. You can get specific if you wish and you can teach Business English or maybe help people prepare for tests. On the other side of the coin you can just do conversational lesson. I have found that a lot of people really just want a mix of things, some of this and some of that, but students always like it when you correct their mistakes.
All in all, I really recommend this kind of work. Good luck!