So you’re considering teaching ESL online? That’s great! Being an online ESL teacher is an amazing and rewarding career. But when you’re first starting out, you probably have a lot of questions such as:
- Where are teaching ESL online jobs?
- Who can I teach as an online teacher??
- How much money can I make teaching ESL online?
In this post, we’ll answer all of these questions and more, including the qualifications you need, what set up to have at home, and the next steps you can take to launch your career teaching ESL online.
Hi, I’m Catherine from theOET. I’ve been in the education field for 10 years now and have taught over 5000 classes. I grew from teaching with multiple ESL companies to launching my own freelance business.
Now, I help people just like you start and succeed with an online ESL teaching career. Thanks for being here. I look forward to connecting with you.
What is ESL?
First things first, let’s make sure we are all on the same page. What actually is teaching ESL online?
ESL refers to “English as a Second Language”. ESL learners are generally people who are learning English with the goal of opening up their opportunities later in life e.g. studying abroad or for better career prospects in an English speaking country,
Teaching however isn’t solely limited to ESL learners. You may also come across EFL and ELL students too.
EFL refers to “English as a foreign language” and are people who are studying English in their home country, with the goal of learning for more interest-based purposes rather than moving to an English speaking country.
ELL refers to “English Language Learners” and is a more inclusive term more modernly used within the U.S. It encompasses all individuals who are studying English, regardless of whether they want to use it for academic or career purposes. This term can also cover those from bilingual or multilingual homes where English may be one of the spoken languages.
What is Teaching ESL Online?
When we talk about teaching ESL online, we are referring to one individual teaching English to another person or group of people via the internet.
So long as both the teacher and student have internet access and a device with a microphone, then an online English class can take place. Now, this is the very simplest of resources needed. But later in this post I will take you through the standard technical requirements online ESL teachers actually need.
Depending on who you teach with e.g. a company, marketplace, or independently, you will often use some form of meeting software e.g. Zoom to connect with non-native speakers around the world.
Thousands of people from the ages of 3 upwards are choosing to learning English. So there are plenty of teaching opportunities online for anyone who is considering this career.
Who Can Teach ESL Online?
If you a native English speaker or fluent to near-native level, you can teach ESL online.
There is a little bit more to it than that in terms of if you are applying to work with a company, key general skills an online teacher should possess, and technical requirements and knowledge.
But, pretty much, it’s one career where it’s very open to almost anyone being able to teach ESL online, if they wanted to.
What Qualifications Do You Need?
Depending on the path you choose to start teaching ESL online, can then depend on exactly what qualifications you need.
In a nutshell, the very minimum standard qualifications for an online ESL teacher are:
- A TEFL / TESOL certification
- TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language and TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
- This is a bare minimum and most online ESL companies will ask for at least 120 hour qualification.
- Either qualification gives you the foundational knowledge of teaching ESL online.
- Degree
- If you choose to apply for a role with an online ESL company, most, not all, will require you to have a degree.
- Your degree does not have to in teaching or English.
You don’t need:
- CELTA / DELTA qualification
- CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults and DELTA: Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
- Both of these are qualifications from Cambridge English.
- They are a big level up from a TEFL / TESOL and are not a requirement for teaching ESL online.
- People generally take these level 5 and level 7 qualifications for in-person positions teaching English abroad and if they want better pay or a senior position.
What Skills Do You Need?
As with any career choice, there are certain skills that will help you have a successful online teaching career. Some skills such as technology, you can learn on the go. Whereas others are transferable skills you might have gained from your career so far, that will aid you substantially in your online classes:
- Patience: as an online teacher, you definitely need a lot of patience, especially if choosing to teach children. As part of your role, you’ll be teaching the same concept multiple times, have to adapt your way of teaching per student, change your explanation of new materials, and adjust when students are bored, tired, or over-excited.
- Communication: you’ll be meeting people all around the world from different cultures. It’s important to be able to communicate not only verbally, but also using TPR (total physical response), using lots of hand gestures, all while keeping in mind cultural differences and etiquette.
- Adaptability: Not everyone learns the same way. So you need to be flexible and adapt how you teach each student. Students might also be struggling that day with their energy levels or tiredness, so you need to be creative and change the flow of the lesson or activities planned that day. Some students may move through lesson materials at a different pace to how you planned, which also requires you to often think on the spot of ways to extend material or incorporate a different activity to practice a concept further.
- Good time management: due to students highly likely to be in a different country to you, they may be in a different time zone. You need to be aware of time differences, which countries participate in Daylight Saving Hours and which don’t. Plus, ensuring as with any job, you arrive to class prepared and on time, and finishing on time for your next lesson.
- Organisation: you’ll be teaching different students and potentially different levels each week. Your materials, planning, lesson props, and feedback to students can get very messy and chaotic if not organised properly. Keep a spreadsheet to track your hours, income, and students each week. Use digital and physical folders to organise your props, rewards, and planned activities.
What Tools and Tech You’ll Need?
Teaching ESL online requires – you guessed it – tools that enable you to connect with students via the internet.
Generally speaking, the minimum digital set up required for online ESL teachers is:
- A teaching device: usually a laptop / computer
- Webcam: so your students can see you clearly
- Headset: enables you to hear them clearly and remove your background noise
- Microphone: so your students can hear you
You also need a few different tools, depending on how you choose to teach e.g. with a company or independently. Here are some general tools that many teachers use:
- Zoom: this is a standard teaching platform many independent teachers use to connect with their students
- Canva: an amazing creative tool where you can develop your lesson materials, props, and additional resources
- Google Slides: for presenting materials to your students
- Google Sheets: to keep track of hours worked, income, students taught, lesson materials, etc.
Depending on who and how you teach, you may also incorporate extra digital tools to level up your student’s learning experience:
- Wordwall: an interactive game platform where you can create simple games with given templates for your students to complete e.g. WordSearches, Quizzes, Click the answer, sorting, etc.
- Genially: turn your slides into clickable, interactive lessons. It’s great for building digital Escape Rooms as well.
Ways to Start Teaching ESL Online
There are three main options when it comes to teaching ESL online:
- Online ESL Companies
These are companies with an already established student base. They hire teachers, usually on a self-employed contract, to teach their students.
- Pros: minimal preparation time, no marketing needed, often their own teaching platform and materials included
- Cons: lower pay, less control, pay can be docked for lateness, tech difficulties, and even illness or emergency cancellations
When you think of online ESL companies, you may have heard of names such as:
- Online Marketplaces
An online marketplace is a website where teachers can apply, create their own profile, and list the services that they offer. Students can then visit the website, search for, and select a teacher to book a class with.
- Pros: great for teaching conversational classes, not as much marketing needed, students are already familiar with and trust the platforms
- Cons: highly competitive, may have to offer low rates in the beginning to gain reviews, most marketplaces are designed for adults learners rather than children
Online marketplaces you may have heard of are:
- Freelance Tutoring
The final option is not one I recommend for beginner ESL teachers, but is a great choice for those already experienced teaching ESL online and that’s freelance tutoring.
Freelance teaching is where you set up your own business in order to connect with students online. You are responsible for all aspects of your business, from finding students to creating or resourcing lesson materials, setting up payment links to dealing with complaints.
- Pros: you are in complete control of everything. You get to teach who you want, when you want, and what you want. You also get to choose how much you charge as well
- Cons: without an established audience base it can take a long time to market and gain your first student. If you aren’t prepared to put in the work i.e. business minded, it’s a lot of extra stress and responsibilities to juggle outside of simply teaching.
The best option for people like you who are new to teaching ESL online, would be to start with an online ESL company or choose a marketplace.
Personally, I recommend an online ESL company. They provide the teaching materials, the students, the platform, etc. Yes, the pay can be a lot lower than what you would make as a freelance teacher. However, you actually need students to make that income.
When teaching with an established ESL company, you are giving yourself time to gain experience, build your confidence, to then branch out later on onto Marketplaces and/or launch your freelance business alongside working for a company.
I would usually recommend giving yourself at least 2 years of working with a company before trying to set up your own tutoring business, especially if you are coming into this industry with little to no experience.
How Much Can You Earn?
Income potential can vary drastically depending on a few different factors:
- Native / non-native speakers: unfortunately there is a huge discrepancy between pay rates for native or non-native English speakers, regardless of whether you are fluent and an experienced teacher. The majority, if not all, companies offer significantly reduced rates per hour for non-native speakers.
- Location: again, as with the previous point, your location can lead to a different pay rate offered. Teachers located in the U.S. and UK tend to be offered a much higher pay rate per hour than those in South Africa or the Philippines, for example.
- Where you teach: if you are teaching with an ESL company, your pay rate is largely dictated by the company. When you teach on a marketplace, you are competing against many other teachers and your pay rate will shift based on market demand. Freelance teaching is completely flexible as you are in full control and can charge what you want.
- Specialism: conversational English classes tend to be the easiest to teach, but then come with the lowest pay rate. Teaching children English with a company also is on the lower side of pay. However, the more experienced you are, the more opportunities you have to specialise and narrow down your target audience. For example, if teaching kids to pass Cambridge KET and PET exams, or perhaps you are teaching business English to adults, you can charge a higher rate.
- Group classes vs. 121: setting up group classes also leads to a higher rate per hour and can be a good choice for freelance teachers. It’s better for your students as they pay a lower rate than a private class, plus they get to practice their skills with fellow English language learners. But it benefits you as you can work less hours to earn the same income e.g. one private class is $45 per hour, but a group class of six students each paying $15 per hour leads to $90 per hour.
Of course, as we have mentioned, your rates can vary as well depending on how you are choosing to teach:
- Online ESL Companies: for native English speakers, rates can be around $12-20 per hour. But for non-native speakers, rates can be as low as $2 per hour!
- Marketplaces: you can charge what you want on these platforms, however, charge too much compared to other teachers and no one will book you. Charge too little, and people will also question why you are cheap compared to other teachers, but also you won’t earn much for your time. On average, teachers on marketplaces offering general English classes charge $10-30 per hour. If you choose this route, make sure to charge your worth. Your time is valuable!
- Freelance teaching: you can set your own rates when running your own business. But it is a good idea to research the market first to know what your audience is willing to pay. The more niche classes you offer e.g. passing exams or teaching Doctors English, the higher rate per hour you can charge. A general rule of thumb is to charge a minimum of $1 per minute as a freelance teacher or $50 per hour. Remember, as a freelance teacher you have other fees to take into consideration e.g. your lesson materials, website costs, marketing expenses, pension, etc.
How does this look in real terms?
- Online ESL Company: let’s say you receive a rate of $10 per hour. Working 10 hours per week, you would earn $100 per week (minus payment processing fees e.g. Payoneer, Stripe, PayPal).
- Marketplaces: focusing on an average of $15 per hour, working 10 hours per week you would earn $150 per week (minus teaching materials, platform fees and payment processing fees).
- Freelance teaching: going with the average recommendation of $50 per hour, working 10 hours per week would earn $500 per week (minus marketing fees, website fees, teaching materials, platform fees e.g. Zoom / KoalaGo, payment processing fees, etc).
A quick note to mention, as an online ESL teacher unless you are working on an employed contract (which is very rare and may be limited to online schools), you are 100% responsible for your own taxes, national insurance, and pension contributions.
Set aside a percentage of money from every pay check to cover these costs. This will differ depending on where you’re located and that country’s fees. For example, in the UK, it’s a good idea to set aside 30% of each payment so that you aren’t surprised by a big tax bill when you complete your self assessment. If setting your own rates, take this into account to cover yourself so you aren’t losing money.
So, freelance teaching does appear at face value to offer the largest income potential. But with that comes higher fees and more responsibilities.
Common Beginner Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Here are a few mistakes I want to highlight that many people make when they first start teaching ESL online and how you can avoid doing the same:
- Not gaining the necessary qualifications
The industry has minimum requirements that even if you choose to teach on a marketplace or independently, you are still expected to have. Make sure you have completed a 120-hour TEFL / TESOL qualification before you try to start teaching ESL online.
- Applying to one company
If you are going to teach with online ESL companies, please do not limit yourself to focusing on one single company. Back in 2021, China was the leading industry and highest paying when it came to teaching ESL Online. But, the government brought in a new policy known as the double reduction policy. Its aim was to lower the academic pressures on Chinese students. What that meant was that overnight, 100s of online ESL companies closed down and 1000s of teachers around the world lost their jobs instantly. Please ensure that you apply for multiple companies and work for 2-3 at any given time so that your income is diversified and you can increase your hours if one of the companies closes or goes quiet.
- Expecting high rates
A few years ago, you could easily negotiate $20-25 an hour as a native English speaking teacher with experience and the right qualifications. Now that sort of rate is few and far between. The companies paying a decent amount usually require very experienced teachers with teaching specific qualifications and teachers have more responsibilities such as creating lesson resources. When you are just starting out, especially if you haven’t taught before, then rates will feel quite low. Over time, you can negotiate a higher pay rate, or start teaching privately.
- Launching a freelance business too soon: if teaching ESL online is a whole new career path for you, then starting a freelance business is not the first step to take. No one is going to choose to book with you if you don’t have any teaching experience compared with someone who does. You also are highly unlikely to gain students right away. It takes time to develop your business, market to students, and gain trust to then expand via word of mouth.
Next Steps for Growing as an ESL Teacher
My biggest advice is to map out a career path. Here is a suggested plan:
- Start teaching with online ESL companies: build your experience for your CV and confidence. Don’t pay for lots of resources and unnecessary tools until you have taught a few classes and are sure this is the right career for you.
- Figure out what you enjoy: teach a few different types of classes. Teach kids and adults. Do you prefer a particular age group or topic? Maybe you really enjoy general conversations or more formal business English?
- Introduce a marketplace: take baby steps towards freelance teaching and join a marketplace. Outschool is great for teaching kids, or choose any of the other marketplaces for adults.
- Learn a new skill: when starting a freelance business, you need additional skills such as marketing or building a website. It’s a good idea to develop these skills whilst you already have a stable income coming in.
- Launch your freelance business: after a few years teaching online, gaining confidence and new skills, you are ready to start a freelance business. Build this on the side of your existing income streams to gradually build up your student base and reputation to replace them.
- Go fully independent: now you have some testimonials behind you and your freelance business is running well, you can focus solely on growing your business.
Helpful Resources and Links
From Me at theOET
For more details about Teaching ESL Online, that you can read any time on the go, you can grab my Online ESL Teacher Roadmap Ebook. The ebook takes you step by step through what is ESL, comparisons between teaching opportunities, kids vs. adults, the application process, and more, all in one handy pdf. There’s also a fun mini GPT quiz to help you decide if ESL teaching is the right career for you.
Certification
If you are still not 100% sure whether this is the right path for you, I don’t recommend committing to a paid TEFL course (though you should complete an official 120-hour professional course if you are looking to teach online). Here are a couple of free options to dip your toes in before making a financial commitment:
Tools for Online Teaching
During this post there were a few tools I mentioned briefly. Here are those below:
- Zoom: video platform many teachers use
- Canva: a brilliant tool that you can use to create lesson materials, props, marketing material, etc
- Wordwall: able to create interactive games
- Google Slides / Sheets: create lesson presentations and track your classes / income
- Genially: perfect for editing your presentations / lesson material into interactive content
- KoalaGo: a teaching platform designed specifically for freelance tutors teaching kids
Where to Find Work
Above I mentioned a range of companies and marketplaces that are often hiring new teachers.
Online ESL Companies:
If you’d like a list of some more ESL companies to consider, check out this list of 10 ESL Companies Hiring.
Online Tutoring Marketplaces
Next Steps
This post has given you a really good overview of what is means to teach ESL online. We’ve covered different opportunities, requirements, and recommended path to take for someone just starting to consider this career.
For more support, come and join the Facebook Community, The Online ESL Teacher Lounge, to find out more about being an online ESL teacher, be a part of a friendly community, and ask any questions you might have.
Will you choose to become an online ESL teacher?
