Teach English Online

Be A Stay At Home English Teacher - Teach English Online

Nowadays, it’s possible to teach English to people in foreign countries without ever leaving the safety and comfort of your desk. This may sound unusual, but for people who teach English online, it’s just another day at the office.

Actually, online English is great for students who don’t have a chance to talk to real live native speakers. In countries such as Korea, China, Egypt or Saudi Arabia there aren’t many westerners. Especially in remote areas, it may be impossible to find someone to practice their English with.

Teaching English online used to be more of a hassle than it is now. It used to involve long-distance phone calls, and the costs of running these companies made them pretty unprofitable. Now, however, with free communication services such as Skype, the world of online English teaching has come of age. Skype is a free service where you can talk to anyone in the world through your internet connection. If your computer has the right specifications, you can even see them so that you are chatting face to face.

There are as many different styles of online teaching as there are companies. Some services allow you to log on whenever it’s convenient for you, and others have set class times. Some provide online materials or software for you to use, and with others you are largely on your own.

It sounds great, but it’s not all fun and games. There are some problems English teachers encounter when they start teaching English online.

- Scheduling. So, you want to teach from your comfy home in the US to students all over the world. The only problem is that there’s a time difference. Unless you’re a night owl or an early riser, it might be hard to schedule your lessons with your students.

- Pay. Although there are increasingly more online teaching opportunities, they just don’t pay as well as the regular classroom. It’s hard to make a full time teaching schedule unless you work for one of the big companies.

Another problem with payment is currency. Services like Paypal deal in US dollars, and charge high fees for money transfers. It may be difficult to get the payments from your students.

- Technical Problems. Teaching online requires a very reliable computer system. You may have to do some troubleshooting, and there will be times when your system is down for some reason.

Teaching English online is probably best done as a part-time job for extra money. If you are already teaching English and have a good computer set-up, you may consider moonlighting with online teaching. It saves you the trouble of having to run around and teach private lessons in different places. It’s also great for those who are staying home and taking care of kids.

All of the major teaching English job websites have sections for online teaching jobs. Get online and check a few out. If you contact them for more information, they can tell you what kind of technological stuff you need to get started.