To teach is to learn twice over. Do you agree with this?
Whether you're a teacher or not, teaching is indeed a fulfilling role. Not only do you get to impart kids with kind words and practical wisdom, but you also have the chance to shape their minds and influence the role they want to be in this world.
Nowadays, teaching doesn't just take place physically in the four corners of a classroom. You can now reach out to the other side of the world teaching languages, sciences, or math. You can also tutor online, which is a good side-hustle when you're in college.
The economic recession, layoffs, lockdown measures, and the risk of illness caused by COVID-19 make self-employed, remote jobs like online teaching very attractive.
However, with so many online platforms to begin with, where should you start?
This article will lay out for you the best online teaching jobs platform that will allow you to teach at home. Besides that, you will learn the requirements for teaching online and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of this remote job.
Without further ado, let's get started?
Why Teach Online?
First of all, let's define online teaching. In simple words, it is the process of educating someone via the internet. Various methods can be used, such as one-on-one video calls, group video calls, and webinars.
In addition to that, once you start teaching online, you can start teaching from any location (home, coffee shop, co-working space) and enroll students from various backgrounds and geographical areas.
Usually, you can teach any topic or skill online, but popular subjects include languages, maths, sciences, and business, mainly English.
There is a high demand for learning the English language in most Asian countries, specifically China. Since English is spoken in most parts of the world and the reality of the globalized economy is such that if you want to do any work with someone in another country, the most straightforward language to talk in is English.
But, generally, you can teach more than just languages, of course.
How online teaching/tutoring works?
The best thing about online teaching is that it's accessible to most people. For starters, you have to be technically adept at using computers and the internet.
Student-teacher interactions typically happens through messaging platforms, email, and video calls.
As a teacher, you should also know how to create digital resources to share with your students, such as PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio lectures, and PDF guides.
Moreover, you should know how to engage your students since online teaching is very different from face-to-face learning. Actual delivery of presentation and knowledge transfer is via live stream video, video chat or call, or recorded online video course.
However, some teaching platforms, like the one we will tackle today, no longer require you to create a module or lesson plan; they provide it to you. You have to plot your available schedule and ready your teaching props if your audience is younger kids.
Ultimate Online English Teacher Checklist
Here is the ultimate online English teacher checklist ready to guide you to give you a brief of what have and do's and don'ts in starting your online teaching career. Read on!
- Hardware: Up and running technical equipment (make sure to check that your laptop or desktop has the ideal specification to handle heavy online meeting bandwidth, required unit model, among the few.
- Get ready with your software and get familiarize with the platform.
- Design a module or course lesson aligned with the topic to be discussed (some companies provide this at your end so less-hassle).
- Invest in a good quality headphone or microphone and webcam.
- Ensure internet connection is stable.
- Prepare your teaching props and any other visual aids; especially if your class is for younger kids.
- Make sure that your teaching space is quiet, ventilated, and has enough proper lighting.
- Finish any required certifications like TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) or ESL (English as a Second Language) and get a license. Even though you don't have a formal degree in teaching, (at least a Bachelor's degree is accepted), these certifications will become your ticket to teach online and earn more money. It's like a preferred qualification.
- Mastery of the subject. Prepare at least 10 minutes before your class and show up!
- Patience, good communication skills, and an engaging personality
There you have it, folks! Were you able to tick off a thing or two from the checklist above?
10 Best Online Teaching Jobs Platform To Get Started With Right Away
1. GOGOKID
GOGOKID provides a virtual classroom infused with their cutting edge AI-technology. They offer one-on-one online language lessons from teachers based in the U.S. who will teach Chinese students (4-15 years old). And they have flexible scheduling and some of the best pay in the industry.
Teach English Online and Work at your own pace and space.
- Average Salary: $14-$25/ hourly
- The Good: Great pay, flexible schedule, and painless preparation (lessons plans ready, all you have to do is book your available time slot and show up!)
- The Not-So-Good: Difference in time zones, no limit on the number of hours to teach within a day (yes, you are in full control of your schedule, but you may get burn out if you work overtime)
2. Qkids
Teach online from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada paired with a fun and rewarding experience.
Qkids makes learning more fun through their interactive gaming-based learning platform. The teaching schedule is set weekly with 1-4 students per lesson. All curricula are preset and incorporated with animated characters and games. You will be teaching Chinese kids aged 4-12 years old.
- Average Salary: $16-$20 an hour. Each in-lesson time is 30 minutes.
- The Good: Creative and engaging way to learn and have fun; accepts current college students as teachers.
- The Not-So-Good: Fixed schedule. The pay is per lesson, min of 15 lessons weekly
3. VIPKid
Join the most extensive online global teaching company.
VIPKid is an online teaching company like one global classroom for Chinese kids who want to learn English. It hires highly-qualified native English speakers as tutors and enables them to teach anytime, anywhere. It currently has 100,000 teachers, 800,000 students and offers over 5 million classes in a month.
- Average Salary: $14-$18 per hour
- The Good: Offers various training opportunities, so you’re not left hanging—no required hours to teach; 6-month commitment only.
- The Not-So-Good: No benefits, like health care or retirement benefits; you have to manage to pay taxes on your own since you're an independent contractor
Further reading: VIPKid Teach English Online Review- Is it worth it?
4. DaDa (DaDaABC)
Turn your home into the classroom. Teach English online with DaDa
Founded in 2013, DaDa is one of the leading online English education platforms in China. DaDa is partnered with Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill Education, Oxford University Press, National Geographic Learning, Highlights, and many other prestigious publishers and learning centers.
It offers one-on-one student-teacher pairing, world-class teaching content, and an industry-leading two-way interactive learning platform.
- Average Salary: $15-$25 per hour
- The Good: Work at your convenience; teachers from countries other than the U.S. or Canada are eligible to apply,
- The Not-So-Good: Half-pay rule for standby time or when a student cancels beforehand.
5. Lingoda
Teach adult students online. Join Lingoda's International Language Teacher Team.
Lingoda is an online language school that offers English language lessons and German, French, and Spanish lessons.
It allows its teachers to work as much as possible; hence, this can be an ideal freelance gig. Classes are taught via Zoom, and you may need to cater for more than one student at each time (max. 5 students per group class)
- Average Salary: $10-$11 per hour
- The Good: You can provide tutorial other than English if you are multi-lingual
- The Not-So-Good: Requires at least two years of teaching experience. Each class session lasts 60 minutes.
6. italki
Become fluent in any language and connect with more than 10,000 teachers.
italki is the world's largest marketplace for online language teachers, with over 5 million students and 10,000+ teachers teaching more than 130 languages.
- Average Salary: $25
- The Good: Not limited to teaching the English language, no contract, flexible time
- The Not-So-Good: You have to create your lesson plan
7. 51talk
Be a home-based online teacher today!
51talk is the leading online English education platform from China specializing in providing learners with live online English lessons. The platform enables students all over China to take fun, interactive English lessons from highly qualified teachers.
A little trivia: 51talk is a part of the China Online Education brand alongside HAWO American Academy, which is for group class product. Currently, 51talk is catering to Filipino teachers. So, for our Asian friends out there, you may check out 51talk.
But, for our North American educators, HAWO American Academy is the right platform for you. Although HAWO almost adopts the same process and technology as its sister brand 51talk, HAWO is currently improving to develop its positioning in the market.
- Average Salary: $22 per hour or 100PHP
- The Good: 51talk and HAWO American Academy are separate companies under the China Online Education Group (COE) umbrella; 51talk is one-on-one tutoring while HAWO is catering group class teaching.
- The Not-So-Good: Confusion between the two brands since it's still relatively in their early years.
8. Preply
Learn to speak any language confidently.
Another best online teaching job to check out is Preply. They offer private tutoring, and you can start earning money by sharing your knowledge with students. You can also teach languages other than the English language.
There are more than 100,000 active students on this platform every year.
- Average Salary: Up to $60
- The Good: Not limited to teaching the English language, students schedule lessons with your available time slots, free to set your rate
- The Not-So-Good: There is a commission fee
9. SkimaTalk
Earn money by sharing your knowledge.
SkimaTalk is a famous online English company that offers one-on-one lessons to thousands of students worldwide. Students can browse through the extensive network of SkimaTalk tutors and book 25-minute sessions with teachers that interest them.
- Average Salary: $10-$15 per 25-minute session
- The Good: Full control over your work, flexibility in time, and setting rates
- The Not-So-Good: First three lessons on the platform are unpaid, may take a few weeks to get consistent student bookings
10. English First
Teach anytime and anywhere in the world.
Last but not least, we have English First on our top best online teaching jobs list. It is well-established since 1956 and is a world leader in English education. Thereby making it a famous learning center in China.
- Average Salary: $12/hour
- The Good: Course materials are provided, paid training session, no commission fee.
- The Not-So-Good: It accepts only teachers from the US or UK who are authorized to work in the US or UK. Mo benefits, and you must file your taxes. Timezone adjustments, pretty tight in their certifications requirement.
Is Teaching English Online worth it?
Elliot Masie says that “We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning.” Nowadays, transitioning into a digital economy, remote learning, and home-based jobs is the new normal.
If you don't want to get left behind, it's better to adapt and thrive in these new practices we are dealing with. Besides, the pay is fairly decent, and online learning is convenient, and often enough might include various tools to help the learning process.
Overall, teaching English online is worth it since you can work anywhere and anytime you want. You are in control of your schedule, hours, and how you want to build your online teaching business. However, there are still considerations to take.
As an independent contractor, you pay for your taxes yourself; as mentioned earlier, most of these best online teaching job platforms do not deduct taxes from your pay. There are no health benefits, pension plans, or anything like that except some companies' incentives.
Working from home can be isolating at times too, and you have to adjust to various time zones, and bookings may vary between companies and teachers.
Indeed, online teaching may not be for everyone. If you have the right mindset and a great passion for working with kids, this can be a rewarding job and a great teaching experience.
The ability to get paid to teach from home, is for many people, undobtedly worth it!
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