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English teacher is one of the jobs that will never disappear. English teachers will be always in demand until there is more than 1 language in the world. Children in many countries study English at school. Therefore, you can become an English teacher and make money by tutoring. Below I will tell you all you need to know about teaching English.
How to become an English teacher
Everyone can become a teacher, everyone can become an English teacher. But of course, you need to have enough English language proficiency first. You can’t teach English or any other subject if you don’t have enough knowledge and experience. Just imagine you decided to study, for example, Spanish, but your tutor doesn’t know even a word in Spanish.
Therefore, first of all, you need to have an appropriate English proficiency level. As higher your level and skills, the more teaching opportunities you will have. If you are fluent or have an advanced level in English then you can teach students who want to study advanced English.
Of course, it is important to have teaching skills too. As with any other profession, tutoring has required skills and knowledge.
If you plan to teach online, you need to have equipment like a PC or laptop or tablet. You will need a mic and a camera as well because you will need to see your students, and students would like to see you as well. And of course, the internet is compulsory too. But if you plan to teach English face to face, then you need to have the right place to do it. You can invite students to your home, or find a good cafe, or rent a special space.
Depending on your lesson plan, you will need textbooks or other teaching materials.
How to find students
There are hundreds of different ways how to find your first students. First of all, tell your friends that you started teaching English, and maybe they know people who are looking for English courses.
In today’s globalized world many non-English speaking people live in different corners of the world. Students are going abroad, professionals are going to other countries for work, many businesses have partners or branches abroad. And English is a common language that is required of them. All of them study English. Foreigners have expats communities in the country they live in. Therefore, find local expat’s communities, and offer your tutoring service to them.
Digital innovations created various opportunities for online work and study. There are a lot of studying platforms today. Today we can study online whatever we want. We can teach and study people from any part of the world. For example, Edureka, John Academy, Ecourses4you. Also, there are special language studying platforms, like Babbel.
Besides it, there are platforms for freelancers, where everyone can offer their services to others. For example, Fiverr, Freelancer.com.
There are also ‘traditional methods’ of teaching English. Language academies, centers, or schools. Some people prefer to study at academies with other students. And today such language centers provide both offline and online classes.
If you are a professional teacher you can try your chance at university. Many big universities have online courses too. Teaching at universities has a weak side like schedule. So, you will need to follow the university rules, and adjust your schedule to university.
How to receive payments
There are a lot of different methods of how you can receive the payments. Depends on how you teach (online or offline), and where are your students located. So, you can get paid with cash or a wire transfer. Money can be transferred via a bank or other systems. There are lots of payment platforms today like PayPal, Payoneer.
If you create an account in Payoneer using that link now and when you receive your first 1,000 USD, you will get a 25 USD bonus.
The big advantage of Payoneer is that you can receive payments in different currencies: USD, CAD, EUR.
If English is not my first language…
Even if English is not your first language, you still can teach it. But of course, as I already told you that you need to have an appropriate level of English by yourself. Many people who just started studying English may prefer to have a teacher who can explain everything in their native language.
Also, you can continue studying English by yourself to improve your skills. You can become fluent in English if you study it.
If I don’t have an experience
Experience is something that we get by working. When we start something new we learn and get experience. But important thing is to start. You can start teaching for a lower price or for free and get experience. You can ask your family to help you. You can teach them whatever you want or can.
Teaching other languages
There are so many different languages in the world, and if you speak at least more than 1 language, you can teach it too. You can teach any language you speak. And some rare languages can be paid even more than English.
You can teach students online and offline. Online tutoring opens more opportunities. And you can find more students, from any part of the world.
