Teaching English online is a welcoming and lucrative side hustle that you can begin from the comfort of your home. There is a massive desire to study English from native speakers. Globally, there are lots of different ways to make money teaching English online.
For non-English speakers, knowing English improves the chances of getting a good career in their home country or finding work abroad in a multinational company. English is also the language for international communication, the media, and the internet.
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There are several countries where English teachers are in strong demand. It is estimated more than 2 billion people will be learning and using English worldwide in 2022. Non-native English students in a school or college are expected to learn and speak English.
Likewise, English is the global business language. Many multinationals demand English as their business language. About 1.75 billion people worldwide understand English, and only about 385 million native speakers live in countries such as the United States and Canada.
There is a high demand for English teachers, as more people worldwide have been learning English. America’s native speakers have a unique advantage because their accents and fluency are the most sought-after. Because of the strong demand, there are plenty of freelance and employment opportunities for teaching English online.
In Asian countries, there is an even stronger demand for learning English.
The students are learning English at a young age. Parents are also willing to spend money on tutoring to jump-start kids’ English learning to gain an academic advantage. Several platforms have emerged to serve the online English learning demand specialized for kids.
You have the freedom to work from home. You can operate from anywhere you want, meet distant relatives, or even go wherever you’ve always wanted to go.
You control your work schedule; you can work as much as you want, take a break, or work as little as you want. You can make it work even if you have a full-time job. When you teach at night, it will be daytime for Asian countries.
There is no up-front cost to get started. However, you will need essential technical equipment that you most likely already have, including a laptop and a headset.
There are hundreds of companies recruiting native English speakers to teach English online. Ultimately, it created plenty of job opportunities for native English speakers. However, teachers with a bachelor’s degree will have more opportunities. Some firms will only recruit teachers with a bachelor’s degree, although there is no requirement for subject majors.
There are many factors, such as your educational background, teaching experience, the company you affiliate with, and your availability, that will impact the compensation. If you have a bachelor’s degree without teaching experience, you can generally expect to earn from $14 to $23 per hour on average. If you are a virtual primary and secondary school teacher, you can expect to receive about $40 per hour. Not bad at all compared to the U.S. minimum hourly wage.
You will need to have the necessary computer equipment and a comfortable room to conduct a virtual class.
When choosing an online teaching platform, you want to partner with those that are reliable. Here are four reputable and trustworthy platforms that you can count on to start teaching English online. All these companies have an office in the U.S. and will pay you in U.S. dollars.
Glassdoor rated VIPKid as one of the top 10 best places to work in 2020. VIPKid provides a one-on-one learning experience for kids aged 4-12 in China with teachers all over the U.S. and Canada. VIPKid has offices in Beijing and San Francisco. In 2020, VIPKid will have around 100,000 teachers and 700,000 students and will run over 5 million classes monthly.
You renew the contract every 6 months and have flexibility with your schedule. VIPKid offers company training to help you teach children at different levels. All the teaching material will be designed and prepared for you. All classes will be one-on-one teaching.
You can expect to earn between $15 ~ $22/hr.
Preply is an online educational network that pairs students globally through an online chat with private tutors connected from all over the world. There are over 100 subjects, including language, school and university subjects, hobbies, and art.
On average, the rate is $20/hr. According to Preply, a popular tutor can earn up to $550/week. Your earnings will depend on the hourly rate you set in your profile, how often you teach, and student retention.
PREPLY will charge 100% commission fee from the first lesson payment of every new student. The fee ranges from 18% to 33% percent for all subsequent lessons. The more you teach, the less commission you pay.
After the merger of Elance and oDesk, the company rebranded as Upwork in 2015. Upwork is the largest freelance platform, with its headquarters in Santa Clara, CA.
You register yourself as a freelancer on Upwork.
Completing and creating a compelling personal profile and portfolio with your expertise is important. You can simply make a gig for English teaching or include other services such as translation, proofreading, and transcribing videos.
Unlike Fiverr, Upwork will display your hourly rate, and it is up to you if you want to agree to a fixed price and define milestones for a bigger project with partial payments.
You set your own hourly rate. Generally, you can expect to earn between $18-$26/hr.
Upwork offers a tier service fee:
Fiverr is one of the largest freelance platforms. The company was founded in 2010 with a global footprint, including New York and San Francisco offices.
All you have to do is to register yourself as a seller, make an ESL teaching gig, publish your rates for the gig, and start working. You can also create other English-related gigs, such as proofreading, transcribing, or editing. You can bid on the project when a buyer posts a request, or a buyer can find you via your advertised gigs. Although your standard gig has a fixed price, you can also have custom offers. As you move up your level, you can demand a higher rate and create more gigs.
You define how much you want to charge for your gig. Generally, you can expect $10-20/hr.
Fiverr charges a 20% service fee for the amount you earn.
Still cannot decide which one to start? There is no cost to register; why not try all of them if you have the bandwidth?
Each of the platforms has its own strengths and weaknesses. With Fiverr and Upwork, you can start earning the first day and set up multiple gigs, but you will have to compete with other freelancers for clients. Preply will provide more global exposure to students of all levels and ages but charges a higher commission. VIPKid may provide a more steady income with a supportive environment, but you have to sign a contract, and more restrictive.
You will need to try them out and find out which platform offers you the most success.
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