Photo by Tra Nguyen on Unsplash
Today we are going to discuss a terrific way to earn money for travel. I alluded to this as a way to earn cash here. Teaching online is a flexible way to earn money to travel.
One reason I like teaching is that I can set my own hours and it pays decent for a part-time gig. I like being able to meet new people and help them improve their English language skills. Teaching allows me to earn money while I remaining in the home. It also does not interfere with my fulltime job. I schedule my classes around my main job responsibilities.
The going price for teaching English online with little or no teaching experience seems to be about $16 per hour or $8 a class. Classes generally last a minimum of 30 mins. The requirements to teach English online are at least a bachelor’s degree, a TEFOL, TEFL or CELTA certificate and some companies require that you be a native English speaker.
The Celta is rather expensive to obtain stateside. I know for a fact that the TEFOL and the TEFL are not hard at all to obtain. I got my TESOL by purchasing a course on Groupon for around $24. I completed the course and obtained my certification.
I have taught with two different companies online. DaDaABC, and 51Talks. There are a bunch of other companies in the online teaching community. Therefore my advice to you would be to do your research and try to join Facebook groups like DigiNo prior to signing a contract with any given company. In the FB groups, you will be able to get information on different companies and discover how they treat their teachers.
As the old folks say anything that sounds too good to be true probably is and that is certainly true of online teaching. While online teaching affords one a lot of flexibility. It is essential that if you are going to get into the online teaching game that you get into it with your eyes open. I have always been paid but I have heard stories of people not being paid or payment being short what was expected with no recourse. A lot of these companies will fire you or block your access to their platform with little or no warning. When you do get paid you are paid in the home country’s currency and when it is converted to US dollars you may lose money. Also, the transfer fees to get paid usually come out of your paycheck. You check is not increased to account for this loss in currency conversions and transfer fees.
Another thing that some online teachers have to deal with is racism. Particularly when dealing with other cultures who have little or no contact with Blacks. It is not overt and need not be a deal breaker, but it is something to be aware of. Just know that you may not get as many students as your other ethnicity counterparts.
If you are still keen on obtaining an online teaching gig then make sure that you prepare for the interview which is usually done online via Skype or some other platform. Watch a few teaching interview videos on Youtube and make sure you are animated and engaged during your interview. Good Luck and go make that travel money!
