Are you thinking about teaching English online in 2022? In this post, you’ll learn the three ways you can teach online in 2022. I’ll also help you decide if online teaching is a good fit for you.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I receive a small commission when you make a purchase using my link or sign up to be a teacher with my referral link – at no extra cost to you. This helps me continue to provide free content for teachers. Thank you!
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Ways to Teach Online in 2022
To begin, there are three main ways to teach online in 2022 – online ESL companies, teaching marketplaces and freelance online teaching.
Let’s look at the difference between these 3 options.
Online ESL Companies
Online ESL companies are best for people who are new to teaching online. Examples include Engoo, Cambly, and Open English. These companies often provide a curriculum for teachers to use, pay hourly and connect teachers with students from specific parts of the world.
Each company has different requirements, but these are the most common ones:
- Be a native English speaker or a fluent non-native speaker with a neutral accent
- Have a 120 hour TEFL certificate. (If you don’t have one yet, I recommend International Open Academy for online teaching only and The TEFL Academy if you also want to teach abroad.)
- Have a stable internet connection
- Have a computer with a webcam, headset with a microphone and an inviting teaching background. You can find equipment I recommend for online teaching here.
- Some companies may also require a bachelor’s degree in any subject and previous teaching experience
- If you are a native speaker, the easiest company to start with is Cambly – no experience or degree is required!
If you’d like a PDF with these requirements plus links to online ESL companies and tips, then download my free Online Teaching Cheat Sheet.
Tips for Teaching with Online ESL Companies
- Apply to and work for multiple companies if you’d like to have a full schedule
- Most companies pay native speakers $10-15 per hour and less to non-native speakers – if you want to earn more, then once you are comfortable with online teaching, try an online teaching marketplace or freelance teaching
- Companies are quite saturated at the moment and may go on hiring freezes. Apply to as many companies as you are eligible for.
Online Teaching Marketplaces (Outschool & Allschool)
Next, online teaching marketplaces are platforms where teachers can create and list classes to attract potential students. Examples include Outschool, Preply, and Italki.
When teaching on an online teaching marketplace, you’ll want to choose a specific niche, or topic, to help your classes stand out from all the others. I tell my online teaching coaching clients to think of something that is the perfect mix of what they love to teach, what they are qualified to teach, and what’s in demand.
Online teaching marketplaces are more flexible than online ESL companies because you can often teach without a degree and are able to teach subjects besides ESL like music, science, hobbies and more. I currently teach dance on Outschool.
Online teaching marketplaces are best for teachers who are comfortable creating their own classes. If you want to teach ESL on this platforms but don’t want to create your own materials, I recommend ESL Pals. You can try out ESL Pals lesson plans for free here.
The earning potential is much higher on online teaching marketplaces because you decide how much to charge per student, how many students to have in your class and how long your classes are.
Marketplaces take a percentage of your earnings to market your classes, pay for the teaching platform like Zoom and training for teachers, but you can factor this fee in when you are pricing your classes.
I currently make over $100 an hour teaching on Outschool, so check out my blog posts below if you’d like to find out how you can do the same.
How to apply to teach on Outschool
7 Tips for Success on Outschool
Freelance Online Teaching
The last way to teach online in 2022 is freelance online teaching. You’ll need to have some solid teaching, planning and business skills to teach online as a freelancer, but it’s a great job if you are looking for something that allows you to charge your worth, set your own schedule and have more freedom to spend time with loved ones and travel.
I first started as a freelance teacher in 2020 when I lost my in-person job while living abroad in Australia and I can tell you that it’s both challenging and rewarding. My favorite thing about freelance teaching is I can teach what I am most passionate about and only work with students who are a good fit for me and my teaching style.
If you’d like to learn how to get started as an online freelance teacher, then watch this video where I go through the process step by step. I wish I’d had this video when I was first starting out!
Is online teaching right for me?
Now that you know about the three ways to teach online in 2022, I want to help you decide if online teaching is right for you and which way is best.
If you are looking for a job where you can work from home, exchange cultures with people from around the world and have excellent teaching skills, then online teaching is a great fit.
If you are looking for a stable income then I don’t recommend online teaching. Enrollments ebb and flow throughout the year based on if schools are open or closed, holidays, seasons and even trends, so keep this in mind.
If you are brand new to teaching online, your first step should be to get your TEFL certificate and then apply for online ESL companies. Once you have some experience and are confident in creating your own teaching materials, then the next step is to apply to teach on marketplaces or consider freelance teaching.
If you are an experienced teacher, I highly recommend starting on online teaching marketplaces and/or freelance teaching. If you are a non-native speaker, then freelance teaching is the best option for you to earn what you deserve without being taken advantage of.
If you’d like help getting started as a freelance online teacher, I do offer 1:1 coaching and a self-study online mini-course called Teach Online in 10 Days.
My goal is to help as many people as possible teach online because teaching online has given me much more freedom and income than teaching in-person.
Happy teaching!
Jamie
